Ānandagarbha was a 9th-century Indian

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 ...

tantric master notable for authoring numerous works including the ''Sarvavajrodayā'' and the ''Vajrajvālodayā''. As per

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

an sources, 25 works are attributed to him a few of which have survived in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

. The Tibetan historian and monk, Taranatha noted that he was born into a

Vaishya Vaishya (Sanskrit: वैश्य, ''vaiśya'') is one of the four varnas of the Vedic Hindu social order in India. Vaishyas are classed third in the order of Varna hierarchy. The occupation of Vaishyas consists mainly of agriculture, takin ...

family in Magadha and associated with the

Vikramashila 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 ...

monastery which was patronized by the

Pala Empire The Pāla Empire was the empire ruled by the Pala dynasty, ("protector" in Sanskrit) a medieval Indian dynasty which ruled the kingdom of Gauda Kingdom, Gauda. The empire was founded with the election of Gopala, Gopāla by the chiefs of Kingdo ...

. He was ordained in the

Mahāsāṃghika The Mahāsāṃghika (Brahmi script, Brahmi: 𑀫𑀳𑀸𑀲𑀸𑀁𑀖𑀺𑀓, "of the Great Sangha (Buddhism), Sangha", ) was a major division (nikāya) of the early Buddhist schools in India. They were one of the two original communities th ...

school of thought within

Mahayana Buddhism Mahāyāna ( ; , , ; ) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India ( onwards). It is considered one of the three main existing branches of Buddhism, the others being Thera ...

. 21 works in the Tengyur have been attributed to Anandagarbha.

The Vajrajvālodayā

The ''Vajrajvālodayā'' is a Sādhanā manual aimed towards the tantric deity Heruka and his

mandala A mandala (, ) is a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for establishing a sacred space and as an aid ...

and consists of 17 palm leafs. The work has so far remained unpublished however parts of it have been transcribed and translated into English. Structurally, the work is similar to other ritual manuals like the Tattvasamgraha with the use of the same

mudras A mudra (; , , "seal", "mark", or "gesture"; ) is a symbolic or ritual gesture or pose in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. While some mudras involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers. As well as being spiritual ges ...

and

mantras A mantra ( ; Pali: ''mantra'') or mantram (Devanagari: मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words (most often in an Indo-Iranian language like Sanskrit or Avestan) belie ...

. The ''Vajrajvālodayā'' was not translated into Tibetan, however, its Sanskrit manuscript was not found in India but in Samye, Tibet.Roerich, George N. ''The Blue Annals''. Calcutta: Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1949: 352.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anandagarbha Indian Buddhist monks Monks of Vikramashila 9th-century Buddhist monks 9th-century births 9th-century deaths