A spark that once flickered nearly out has been fanned into flame again. After centuries of dormancy—when political shifts pushed Jonang teachings to the margins—a 20th-century renaissance quietly began in exile. Monasteries in India, Nepal and Bhutan reopened under the care of committed lamas, restoring Taranatha’s intricate Kalachakra cycle and its radical view of all sentient beings as innately buddha-natured.

A key turning point arrived in the 1980s, when the Tibetan Government-in-Exile formally recognized Jonang as Tibet’s fifth major school. That seal of approval unlocked funds and international goodwill. Fresh-faced monks at Taranatha’s reestablished seat in Dolma Lhakpa started churning out manuscripts, while traveling teachers offered week-long retreats in Dharamsala and Kathmandu.

This resurgence bore new fruit online. Today’s practitioners tap into live-streamed teachings by Khenpo Phuntsok Tashi, dive into digital archives hosted by the Jonang Foundation, or browse translations by Western scholars eager to make sense of the “shentong” view of empty yet luminous mind. During the pandemic, Zoom rooms buzzed with global students exploring the lineage’s bold assertion that one’s true nature is already awake—a message resonating as fresh as a daisy in a stressed-out world.

Conferences in 2019 and 2022—held in Europe and North America—put Jonang scholarship on the map alongside Gelug and Kagyu peers. A September 2023 Kalachakra gathering in Bodh Gaya even saw high lamas applauding Jonang’s role in fostering inter-lineage dialogue. Over in Coquitlam, British Columbia, a small retreat center now hosts annual winter sessions, attracting North American Buddhists eager to dip into a tradition once thought lost.

So, while the road has been winding, today’s Jonang faces forward with renewed vigor. Texts are being edited, monasteries rebuilt, and remote communities everywhere invited to glimpse a teaching that proclaims: enlightenment isn’t someplace to reach—it’s already right here.