Tib., Jo-nang-pa
A school of Vajrayana, named after the monastery Jo-mo-nang, that was considered to be entirely heretical by most other schools. Jonangpa teachings were rooted in Kashmir Shaivism - although it originated, more or less, from the Sakyapa.
The school's best known adepts were Sherab Gyaltsen (Shes-rab rGyal-mtshan) of Dolpo (1292-1361), and the Sakya trained Taranatha (Kun-dga snyang-po; b. 1575).
According to the school's teachings, and too radical for the rest of Tibet, all that is conceivable by the human mind is but an illusion - and nothing exists but essence itself.
The major texts of the Jonangpa are the Kalachakra Tantra and the One Hundred and Eight Instructions of the Jonang. After Taranatha's death, during the reign of the 5th Dalai Lama (1618-1682), all Jonangpa monasteries were closed and transformed into Gelugpa centers; and many of the Jonangpa texts were locked away - some apparently even burnt.
However, in the 19th century this ban was lifted, and some of the Jonang scriptues have since then been printed again, although mainly in Tibetan.