Atisha

Agora

Atisha

c. 982–1054

A first way ina deliberate simplification – the portrait says more

The Buddhist path should be climbed in ordered stages, from seeking a better rebirth to freeing all beings through compassion and insight.

Placement

South Asian & Tibetan Philosophy · South Asia · Religion, Ethics

Bengali master of Vikramashila who taught in Tibet from 1042: his “Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment” orders Buddhist practice into graded stages.

Key ideas

Graded path (lamrim)
Three scopes of practitioners
Bodhicitta and emptiness

Open in the star map

Influence

Influenced by 3

Nagarjuna

influenced by
Atisha placed Nagarjuna’s Madhyamaka view of emptiness at the summit of the path and taught it in Tibet, in the reading of Chandrakirti. Atisha, Bodhipathapradipa, tr. R. Sherburne, A Lamp for the Path and Commentary (1983); Satyadvayavatara, tr. C. Lindtner (1981)
Evidence: AI draft
Nagarjuna › c. 150–250
Chandrakirti

influenced by
Atisha helped bring Chandrakirti’s reading of Nagarjuna to Tibet; his Introduction to the Two Truths draws on Chandrakirti for the view of emptiness. Atisha, Satyadvayavatara, tr. C. Lindtner, “Atisa’s Introduction to the Two Truths, and Its Sources”, Journal of Indian Philosophy 9 (1981)
Evidence: AI draft
Chandrakirti › c. 600–650
Shantideva

influenced by
Atisha’s Lamp for the Path (c. 1042) draws on Shantideva’s Compendium of Training for the bodhisattva vows and the cultivation of the awakening mind. Atisha, Bodhipathapradipa, tr. R. Sherburne, A Lamp for the Path and Commentary (1983)
Evidence: AI draft
Shantideva › c. 685–763

Influenced 1

Tsongkhapa

influenced
Tsongkhapa’s Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path (1402) expands Atisha’s Lamp for the Path to Awakening, following its scheme of three kinds of persons. Tsongkhapa, Lam rim chen mo (1402), tr. Lamrim Chenmo Translation Committee, The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path (2000–04); Atisha, Bodhipathapradipa
Evidence: AI draft
Tsongkhapa › 1357–1419

Works

c. 1042Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment
Sixty-eight verses that order Buddhist practice by the capacities of practitioners – the model of all Tibetan “stages of the path” texts.

Position

Atisha came to Tibet at a time when monastic discipline, philosophical study and tantric practice were felt to be in conflict. His Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment ordered them into one graded path for three kinds of practitioner: those seeking a better rebirth, those seeking their own liberation, and those who, moved by compassion, strive for awakening for all. At the top stand bodhicitta and the view of emptiness of Nagarjuna’s Madhyamaka as read by Candrakirti; tantric practice presupposes ethics and insight. His disciple Dromtonpa founded the Kadam school, whose mind-training (lojong) teachings trace back to Atisha. Tsongkhapa’s Gelug order saw itself as the new Kadam.

Life & context

Atisha Dipamkara Shrijnana was born in 982 into a noble family in Bengal. He studied with many teachers; according to Tibetan biographies he spent twelve years in Suvarnadvipa, probably Sumatra, with the master known as Serlingpa. He became a leading teacher at the monastery of Vikramashila. Invited by the rulers of Guge, he went to western Tibet in 1042, later taught in central Tibet and died near Lhasa in 1054.