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Vikramaśīla
Vikramashila (IAST: ) was a Buddhist monastery situated in what is now modern-day Bihar in India. It was founded by King Dharmapala between the late eighth and early ninth century. It was one of the three most important Buddhist Mahaviharas of its time in India, along with Nalanda and Odantapuri. Its location is now the site of Antichak village near Kahalgaon, Bhagalpur district in Bihar. It was one of the largest Buddhist mahaviharas, with more than one hundred teachers and about one thousand students. It produced eminent scholars who were often invited by foreign countries to spread Buddhist learning, culture and religion including Atiśa and Ratnākaraśānti. Vikramashila was established by the Pala emperor Dharmapala (783 to 820 CE) in response to a supposed decline in the quality of scholarship at Nalanda. It was destroyed by the forces of Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji around 1193. History A number of monasteries grew up during the Pāla period in medieval Bengal and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atiśa
Atish Dipankar Shrijnan (Sanskrit transliteration: Atiśa Dipankara Shrijnana) (c. 982–1054 CE) was a Bengalis, Bengali Buddhist religious teacher and leader. He is generally associated with his body of work authored at Vikramashila, Vikramaśīla Monastery in modern day Bihar, India. He was a major figures in the spread of 11th-century Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism in Asia and traveled to Sumatra and Tibet. Atiśa, along with this chief disciple Dromtön, is regarded as the founder of the Kadam (Tibetan Buddhism), Kadam school, one of the Sarma (Tibetan Buddhism), 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. Biography Early life Atiśa 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. His father was a king known as Kalyānaśrī and his mother was Prabhavati Sri. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ratnākaraśānti
Ratnākaraśānti (also known as Ratnākara, Śāntipa, and Śānti) (late 10th-century CE to mid 11th-century CE) was an influential Buddhist philosopher and vajrayana tantric adept and scholar. He was the "gate scholar" of Vikramaśilā university's eastern gate (modern-day Bihar in India), a key post in the university's leadership. Ratnākara was known by the title ''kalikālasarvajña'' ("the Omniscient One of the Degenerate Age") and is depicted as one of the eighty-four mahāsiddhas (great yogic masters). Ratnākara wrote over forty works which include several influential commentaries to Mahayana sutras and tantras (especially the '' Hevajra tantra''), treatises on Yogācāra, Madhyamaka, and Pramāṇa. Because his unique philosophy attempts to merge the insights of both Yogācāra and Madhyamaka, Ratnākara referred to it as Trisvabhāva-mādhyamaka ("the middle way of the three natures"). He also known as a major defender of the "nirākāravāda" (without images") in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jñanasrimitra
Jñānaśrīmitra (fl. 975-1025 C.E.) was an Indian Buddhist philosopher of the epistemological (''pramana'') tradition of Buddhist philosophy, which goes back to Dignāga and Dharmakīrti. Jñānaśrīmitra was also known as a Yogācāra Buddhist who defended a form of Buddhist idealism termed ''Sākāravada'' which holds that cognitive content or aspects of consciousness ("ākāras") are real and not illusory.Tomlinson, D.KThe Marvel of Consciousness: Existence and Manifestation in Jñānaśrīmitra’s ''Sākārasiddhiśāstra''.''J Indian Philos'' 50, 163–199 (2022). In addition to his philosophical works, Jñānaśrīmitra was also a skilled poet and a ''dvāra-paṇḍita'' (gate-scholar) of Vikramaśīla university. Among his many students who declared themselves to be his students or were declared by others include Ratnakīrti, Atiśa and Advayavajra among others. Jñānaśrīmitra was also well-known by Hindu and Jain thinkers and his name has been referenced in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bhagalpur
Bhagalpur, historically known as Champapuri, Champa Nagari, is a city in the Indian state of Bihar, situated on the southern bank of the Ganges river. It is the Bihar#Government and administration, third largest city of Bihar by population and also serves the headquarters of Bhagalpur district, Bhagalpur division, and Bihar Police, Eastern Range. It is known as the Bhagalpuri silk, Silk City and also listed for development under the Smart Cities Mission by Government of India. It is the only district in Bihar after capital city Patna where three major higher educational institutions Indian Institute of Information Technology, Bhagalpur, IIIT Bhagalpur, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Bhagalpur, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University, TMBU, and Bihar Agricultural University, Agriculture University (BAU) are located and also Vikramshila, Vikramshila Central University is under construction next to the ruins of the medieval Vikramshila, Vikramshila Mah ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Odantapura
Odantapuri (also called Odantapura or Uddandapura) was a prominent Buddhist Mahavihara in what is now Bihar Sharif in Bihar, India. It is believed to have been established by the Pala Empire, Pala ruler Gopala I in the 8th century. It is considered the second oldest of India's Mahaviharas after Nalanda and was situated in Magadha (Mahajanapada), Magadha. Inscriptional evidence also indicates that the Mahavihara was supported by local Buddhist kings like the Pithipatis of Bodh Gaya. The ''vihara'' fell in decline in the 11th century, and was looted and destroyed by Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji, a Turkic Muslim invader in the late 1100s, when he launched multiple raids on Bihar and adjoining territories. Location Joseph David Beglar first identified the city of Bihar (Bihar Sharif) with Odantapuri; as the city used to be called ''Bihar Dandi'' or ''Dand Bihar'', which is a contraction of ''Dandpur Bihar'' (derived from "Dandpura Vihara"). A small brass image of Buddha's birth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buddhist
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or 5th century Before the Common Era, BCE. It is the Major religious groups, world's fourth-largest religion, with about 500 million followers, known as Buddhists, who comprise four percent of the global population. It arose in the eastern Gangetic plain as a movement in the 5th century BCE, and gradually spread throughout much of Asia. Buddhism has subsequently played a major role in Asian culture and spirituality, eventually spreading to Western world, the West in the 20th century. According to tradition, the Buddha instructed his followers in a path of bhavana, development which leads to Enlightenment in Buddhism, awakening and moksha, full liberation from ''Duḥkha, dukkha'' (). He regarded this path as a Middle Way between extremes su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naropa
Nāropā (Prakrit; , Naḍapāda or Abhayakirti) was an Indian Buddhism, Buddhist Mahasiddha. He was the disciple of Tilopa and brother, or some sources say partner and pupil, of Niguma. As an Indian Mahasiddha, Naropa's instructions inform Vajrayana, particularly his six yogas of Naropa relevant to the completion stage of anuttarayogatantra. He was also one of the "gatekeepers" of Vikramashila monastery which is located in Bihar. Although some accounts relate that Naropa was the personal teacher of Marpa Lotsawa, other accounts suggest that Marpa held Naropa's lineage through intermediary disciples only. Names According to scholar John Newman, "the Tibetans give Nāro's name as ''Nā ro pa, Nā ro paṇ chen, Nā ro ta pa,'' and so forth. The manuscript of the ''Paramarthasaṃgraha'' preserves a Sanskrit form ''Naḍapāda'' (''Paramarthasaṃgraha'' 74). A Sanskrit manuscript edited by Tucci preserves an apparent Prakrit form ''Nāropā'', as well as a semi-Sanskritic '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vajrayana
''Vajrayāna'' (; 'vajra vehicle'), also known as Mantrayāna ('mantra vehicle'), Guhyamantrayāna ('secret mantra vehicle'), Tantrayāna ('tantra vehicle'), Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, is a Mahāyāna Buddhism, Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition that emphasizes Eastern esotericism, esoteric practices and rituals aimed at Sudden awakening, rapid spiritual awakening. Emerging between the 5th and 7th centuries CE in medieval India, Vajrayāna incorporates a Tibetan tantric practice, range of techniques, including the use of mantras (sacred sounds), dhāraṇīs (mnemonic codes), mudrās (symbolic hand gestures), mandalas (spiritual diagrams), and the visualization of Buddhist deities, deities and Buddhahood, Buddhas. These practices are designed to transform ordinary experiences into paths toward Enlightenment in Buddhism, enlightenment, often by engaging with aspects of Taṇhā, desire and Dvesha, aversion in a ritualized context. A distinctive feature of Vajrayāna is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Logic
The development of Indian logic dates back to the Chandahsutra of Pingala and '' anviksiki'' of Medhatithi Gautama (c. 6th century BCE); the Sanskrit grammar rules of Pāṇini (c. 5th century BCE); the Vaisheshika school's analysis of atomism (c. 6th century BCE to 2nd century BCE); the analysis of inference by Gotama (c. 6th century BC to 2nd century CE), founder of the Nyaya school of Hindu philosophy; and the tetralemma of Nagarjuna (c. 2nd century CE). Indian logic stands as one of the three original traditions of logic, alongside the Greek and the Chinese logic. The Indian tradition continued to develop through early to modern times, in the form of the Navya-Nyāya school of logic. Origins The Nasadiya Sukta of the ''Rigveda'' ( RV 10.129) contains ontological speculation in terms of various logical divisions that were later recast formally as the four circles of '' catuskoti'': "A", "not A", "A and 'not A'", and "not A and not not A". Medhatithi Gautama (c. 6th cen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarma (Tibetan Buddhism)
Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, Darjeeling, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh, as well as in Nepal. Smaller groups of practitioners can be found in Central Asia, some regions of China such as Northeast China, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and some regions of Russia, such as Tuva, Buryatia, and Kalmykia. Tibetan Buddhism evolved as a form of Mahayana, Mahāyāna Buddhism stemming from the latest stages of Indian Buddhism (which included many Vajrayana, Vajrayāna elements). It thus preserves many Indian Buddhist Tantra, tantric practices of the Gupta Empire, post-Gupta Medieval India, early medieval period (500–1200 CE), along with numerous native Tibetan developments. In the pre-modern era, Tibetan Buddhism spread outside of Tibet primarily due to the influence of the Mongol Emp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
