Buton was born in 1290, "to a family associated with a monastery named Sheme Gomne (shad smad sgom gnas) in the Tropu (khro phu) area of Tsang ... [his] father was a prominent Nyingma Lama named Drakton Gyeltsen Pelzang (brag ston rgyal btshan dpal bzang, d.u.). His mother, also a Nyingma master, was called Sonam Bum (bsod nams 'bum, d.u.)." Buton catalogued all of the
Buddhist scriptures at Shalu, some 4,569
religious and
philosophical works and formatted them in a logical, coherent order. He wrote the famous book, the
History of Buddhism in India and Tibet at Shalu which many Tibetan scholars utilize in their study today. After his death he strongly influenced the development of
esoteric studies and
psychic training in Tibet for centuries. The purpose of his works were not to cultivate
paranormal magical abilities but to attain
philosophical enlightenment, a belief that all earthly phenonoma are a state of the mind. He remains to this day one of the most important
Tibetan historians and
Buddhist writers in the history of
Buddhism and
Tibet. Panchen Sönam Drakpa (1478-1554), the fifteenth abbot of
Ganden monastery, became known as an incarnation of the great lama and historian, Bütön Rinchen Drupa. ==See also==