Atiśa

Atīśa
This portrait of Atiśa originated from a Kadam monastery in Tibet and was gifted to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1993. In this depiction, Atiśa holds a long, thin palm-leaf manuscript with his left hand, probably symbolising one of the many important texts he wrote, while making the gesture of teaching with his right hand.
Personal
Born	c. 982 CE possibly Vikrampura
Died	c. 1054 CE Nyêtang, Tibet
Religion	Buddhism
Education	Odantapuri, Madhyamaka
Senior posting
Students Dromtön

Atīśa (c. 982–1054) was a Buddhist religious leader and master. He is generally associated with his work carried out at the Vikramashila monastery in Bihar. He was one of the major figures in the spread of 11th-century Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism in Asia and inspired Buddhist thought from Tibet to Sumatra. He is recognised as one of the greatest figures of medieval Buddhism. Atiśa's chief disciple, Dromtön, was the founder of the Kadam school, one of the New Translation schools of Tibetan Buddhism, later supplanted by the Gelug tradition in the 14th century which adopted its teachings and absorbed its monasteries.

Biography

Early life

Atiśa was born in c. 982 CE as the middle child of a ruling family in Bengal in the city of Vikrampura. His father was a king known as Kalyānaśrī and his mother was Prabhavati Sri. One of three royal brothers, Atiśa went by the name of Candragarbha during the first part of his life. The early part of his life was typical of Indian noblemen of the period and he was trained in various fields including art.

Studies

As a young man, he began to study tantra in what is now Rajgir where he was tutored by a monk named Rāhulaguhyavajra. Under Rāhulaguhyavajra, Atiśa was initiated into Hevajra and taught specific meditations. He then studied for seven years under a master named Avadhūtipā where he focused on yoga and engaged in tantric feasts known as Ganachakra.

According to Tibetan sources, Atiśa was ordained into the Mahāsāṃghika lineage at the age of twenty-eight by the Abbot Śīlarakṣita in Bodh Gaya and studied almost all Buddhist and non-Buddhist schools of his time, including teachings from Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Tantric Hinduism and other practices. He also studied the sixty-four kinds of art, the art of music and the art of logic and accomplished these studies until the age of twenty-two. Among the many Buddhist lineages he studied, practised and transmitted the three main lineages were the Lineage of the Profound Action transmitted by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu, the Lineage of Profound View transmitted by Nagarjuna and Candrakīrti, and the Lineage of Profound Experience transmitted by Tilopa and Naropa. Atiśa engaged with many notable teachers during this period including Ratnākaraśānti, Naropa and Jitari. He also studied Dharmarakṣita at the monastery of Odantapuri.

Vikaramashila

Atisa rose to become a senior scholar at the monastery of Vikramashila at a time when it had no more than one hundred ordained monks present. Tibetan hagiographies on his life have a tendency to portray him as one of the greatest scholars to stay at Vikramashila who would be noted for his strict adherence to the ethics of Mahayana Buddhism. It was during this period that the King of the Tibetan polity of Guge, Lha bla ma Ye shes ’od began to send missions to Vikramashila to invite scholars to visit Guge so that they could teach the "pure form of Buddhism". Atiśa finally departed Vikramashila in 1040 CE. The then abbot of Vikramashila, Ratnakara, gave his permission for Atiśa to leave but on the condition that he return in three years.

Teachings in Sumatra and Tibet

Mural of Atiśa at Ralung Monastery, 1993.

Tibetan sources assert that Atiśa spent 12 years in Sumatra of the Srivijaya empire and he returned to India in 1025 CE which was also the same year when Rajendra Chola I of the Chola dynasty invaded Sumatra. Atiśa returned to India. Once back, the increasingly knowledgeable monk received much attention for his teachings and skills in debate and philosophy. On three separate occasions, the monk Atiśa was acclaimed for defeating non-Buddhist extremists in debate. When he came into contact with what he perceived to be a misled or deteriorating form of Buddhism he would quickly and effectively implement reforms. Soon enough he was appointed to the position of steward, or abbot, at Vikramashila which was established by Emperor Dharmapala. He is also said to have "nourished" Odantapuri.

Atiśa's return from Suvarnabhumi, where he had been studying with Dharmakīrtiśrī, and his rise to prominence in India coincided with a flourishing of Buddhist culture and the practice of Buddhism in the region, and in many ways Atiśa's influence contributed to these developments. According to traditional narratives, King Langdarma had suppressed Buddhism's teachings and persecuted its followers for over seventy years. According to the Blue Annals, a new king of Guge by the name of Yeshe-Ö sent his academic followers to learn and translate some of the Sanskrit Buddhist texts. Among these academics was Naktso, who was eventually sent to Vikramashila to study Sanskrit and plead with Atiśa to come teach the Dharma in his homeland. Travelling with Naktso and Gya Lōtsawa, Atiśa journeyed through Nepal on his way to Tolung, the capital of the Purang Kingdom. (Gya Lōtsawa died before reaching Tolung.) On his way, he is said to have met Marpa Lōtsawa. He spent three years in Tolung and compiled his teachings into his most influential scholarly work, Bodhipathapradīpa, or Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment. The short text, in sixty-seven verses, lays out the entire Buddhist path in terms of the three vehicles: Hīnayāna, Mahāyāna, and Vajrayāna, and became the model for subsequent texts in the genre of Lamrim (lam rim), or the Stages of the Path, and was specifically the basis for Tsongkhapa's Lamrim writings. Here Atiśa met Dromtön, or Dromtonpa, who would become his primary disciple, regarded as both an enforcer of later propagation ethical standards and a holder of Atiśa's tantric lineage.

According to Jamgon Kongtrul, when Atiśa discovered the store of Sanskrit texts at Pekar Kordzoling, the library of Samye, "he said that the degree to which the Vajrayana had spread in Tibet was unparalleled, even in India. After saying this, he reverently folded his hands and praised the great dharma kings, translators, and panditas of the previous centuries."

Legacy

In 2004, Atiśa was ranked 18th in the BBC's poll of the greatest Bengalis of all time.

Writings

His books include:

• Bodhipathapradīpa (Wylie: byang chub lam gyi sgron ma)
• Bodhipathapradipapanjikanama (his own commentary on Bodhipathapradīpa / byang chub lam gyi sgron ma)
• Charyasamgrahapradipa contains some kirtan verses composed by Atiśa.
• Satyadvayavatara
• Bodhisattvamanyavali
• Madhyamakaratnapradipa
• Mahayanapathasadhanasangraha
• Shiksasamuccaya Abhisamya
• Prajnaparamitapindarthapradipa
• Ekavirasadhana
• Vimalaratnalekha, a Sanskrit letter to Nayapala, king of Magadha.

See also

• Nyethang Drolma Temple
• Bikrampur Vihara

References

Bibliography

• Buswell, Robert Jr. (2014). Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691157863.
• Khenpo Konchog Gyaltsen, Great Kagyu Masters: The Golden Lineage Treasury, Snow Lion Publications
• Geshe Sonam Rinchen, Atiśa's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, Snow Lion Publications
• Khyentse, Dilgo (1993). 'Enlightened Courage. Ithaca, New York: Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 1-55939-023-9.
• Tulku, Ringu; Helm, Ann (2006). The Ri-Me Philosophy of Jamgon Kongtrul the Great: A Study of the Buddhist Lineages of Tibet. Boston: Shambhala Publications. ISBN 1-59030-286-9.
• Apple, James B. (2019). Atisa Dipamkara: Illuminator of the Awakened Mind. Boston: Shambhala Publications. ISBN 978-1611806472.

External links

• Works by or about Atiśa at the Internet Archive
• Works by or about Atisha at the Internet Archive
• Bibliography of Atisha's works, Item 596 Archived 13 November 2021 at the Wayback Machine, Karl Potter, University of Washington
• Advice from Atiśa's Heart
• Atiśa Dipamkara on Banglapedia
• English Translation of Lamp to the Path of Enlightenment (by Dr. Alexander Berzin)