Atisa

Atisa Dipamkara Srijnana^[2] (Sanskrit: atiish diipngkr shriijnyaan Atisa Dipankara Srijnana, c. 982-1054 CE) was a Bengali Buddhist religious teacher and leader.^[3] He is generally associated with his body of work authored at Vikramasila Monastery in modern day Bihar, India.^[4] He was a major figure in the spread of 11th-century Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism in Asia and traveled to Sumatra and Tibet. Atisa, along with his chief disciple Dromton, is regarded as the founder of the Kadam school,^[5] one of the New Translation schools of Tibetan Buddhism. In the 14th century, the Kadam school was supplanted by the Gelug tradition, which adopted its teachings and absorbed its monasteries.^[6]

Atisa was born as Candragarbha in c. 982 CE as the second of three sons to a ruling family in Bengal in the city of Vikrampura.^[7] His father was a king known as Kalyanasri and his mother was Prabhavati Sri.^[8][9] The early part of his life was typical of noblemen of the period, and he was trained in various fields, including art.^[10] He is referred to as a "Bangali" in his two books named Ekavirasadhana and Balavidhi.^[11]

As a young man, he began to study tantra in what is now Rajgir, where he was tutored by a monk named Rahulaguhyavajra. Under Rahulaguhyavajra, Atisa was initiated into Hevajra and taught specific meditations. He then studied for seven years under a master named Avadhutipa, where he focused on yoga and engaged in tantric feasts known as Ganachakra.^[10]

According to Tibetan sources, Atisa was ordained into the Mahasamghika lineage at the age of twenty-eight by the Abbot Silaraksita 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 Asanga and Vasubandhu, the Lineage of Profound View transmitted by Nagarjuna and Candrakirti, and the Lineage of Profound Experience transmitted by Tilopa and Naropa.^[12][13] Atisa engaged with many notable teachers during this period, including Ratnakarasanti,^[14] Naropa and Jitari. He also studied Dharmaraksita at the monastery of Odantapuri.^[10]

Atisa rose to become a senior scholar at the monastery of Vikramasila 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 Vikramasila, 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 Vikramasila to invite scholars to visit Guge so that they could teach the "pure form of Buddhism".

Atisa finally departed Vikramasila in 1040 CE. The then abbot of Vikramasila, Ratnakara, gave his permission for Atisa to leave but on the condition that he return in three years.^[10]

Tibetan sources record that Atisa 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.^[15]

Upon his return, he received much attention for his teachings and skills in debate and philosophy. On three separate occasions, Atisa was acclaimed for defeating non-Buddhist extremists in debate.^{[citation needed]} 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 Vikramasila which was established by Emperor Dharmapala.^{[citation needed]} He is also said to have "nourished" Odantapuri.^[16]

Atisa's return from Suvarnabhumi, where he had been studying with Dharmakirtisri, 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 Atisa's influence contributed to these developments. According to the Blue Annals, a new king of Guge by the name of Yeshe-O sent his academic followers to learn and translate some of the Sanskrit Buddhist texts.^[17] Among these academics was Naktso, who was eventually sent to Vikramasila to study Sanskrit and plead with Atisa to come teach the Dharma in his homeland.

Travelling with Naktso and Gya Lotsawa, Atisa journeyed through Nepal on his way to Tolung, the capital of the Purang Kingdom. (Gya Lotsawa died before reaching Tolung.) On his way, he is said to have met Marpa Lotsawa. He spent three years in Tolung and compiled his teachings into his most influential scholarly work, Bodhipathapradipa, or Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment. This short text in sixty-seven verses lays out the entire Buddhist path in terms of the three vehicles: Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana, and became the model for subsequent texts in the genre of Lamrim, or the Stages of the Path,^[18] and was specifically the basis for Tsongkhapa's Lamrim writings. Here Atisa met Dromton, or Dromtonpa, who would become his primary disciple, regarded as both an enforcer of later propagation ethical standards and a holder of Atisa's tantric lineage.^[19]

According to Jamgon Kongtrul, when Atisa 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."^[20]

In 2004, Atisa was ranked 18th in the BBC's poll of the greatest Bengalis of all time.^[21][22][23]

His writings include:

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

• Nyethang Drolma Temple
• Bikrampur Vihara

• Buswell, Robert Jr. (2014). Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691157863.
• Khenpo Konchog Gyaltsen, Great Kagyu Masters: The Golden Lineage Treasury, Snow Lion Publications
• Geshe Sonam Rinchen, Atisa'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.

• Works by or about Atisa 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 Atisa's Heart
• Atisa Dipamkara on Banglapedia
• English Translation of Lamp to the Path of Enlightenment (by Dr. Alexander Berzin)

• 982 births
• 1054 deaths
• Indian scholars of Buddhism
• Monks of Vikramashila
• Tibetan Buddhist spiritual teachers
• Buddhism in Bangladesh
• Madhyamaka scholars
• Kadampa lamas
• People from Bikrampur
• Indian Buddhist monks
• 10th-century Indian people
• 11th-century Indian people
• History of Tibetan Buddhism
• Founders of Buddhist sects
• People from the Pala Empire

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