Haribhadra, also known as Shizi Xian () or Sengge Zangpo (; both names mean "righteous lion") was an 8th-century CE Buddhist philosopher, and a disciple of

Śāntarakṣita (Sanskrit; , 725–788),stanford.eduŚāntarakṣita (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)/ref> whose name translates into English as "protected by the One who is at peace" was an important and influential Indian Buddhist philosopher, particul ...

, an early Indian Buddhist missionary to Tibet. He was one of the founding monks of the

Vikramashila Vikramashila (Sanskrit: विक्रमशिला, IAST: , Bengali:- বিক্রমশিলা, Romanisation:- Bikrômôśilā ) was one of the three most important Buddhist monasteries in India during the Pala Empire, along wit ...

monastery. Haribhadra's commentary on the ''

Abhisamayalankara The "Ornament of/for Realization , abbreviated AA, is one of five Sanskrit-language Mahayana śastras which, according to Tibetan tradition, Maitreya revealed to Asaṅga in northwest India circa the 4th century AD. (Chinese tradition recognize ...

'' was one of the most influential of the twenty-one Indian commentaries on that text, perhaps because of its author's status as Shantarakshita's student. Like his master, Haribhadra is retrospectively considered by Tibetan doxographical tradition to represent the Yogācāra-Svatantrika-Mādhyamaka school. Haribhadra's interpretation of the ''Abhisamayalankara'', particularly his four-kaya model, was controversial and contradicted the earlier normative interpretation popularized by Vimuktasena. Haribhadra claims, that Abhisamayalamkara chapter 8 is describing Buddhahood through four kayas: svabhavikakaya, nanaharmakaya, sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya. Haribhadra's position was in turn challenged by

Ratnākaraśānti Ratnākaraśānti (also known as Śāntipa) (c. 10th-century CE) was one of the eighty-four Buddhist Mahāsiddhas and a monk at the monastic university of Vikramashila in what is now modern-day Bihar in India. At Vikramashila he was instructed by ...

and

Abhayakaragupta Abhayākaragupta ( Wylie: 'jigs-med 'byung-gnas sbas-pa) was a Buddhist monk, scholar and tantric master (''vajracarya'') and the abbot of Vikramasila monastery in modern-day, Bihar in India. He was born in somewhere in Eastern India, and is tho ...

. In Tibet the debate continued, with

Je Tsongkhapa Tsongkhapa ('','' meaning: "the man from Tsongkha" or "the Man from Onion Valley", c. 1357–1419) was an influential Tibetan Buddhist monk, philosopher and tantric yogi, whose activities led to the formation of the Gelug school of Tibetan Bud ...

championing Haribhadra's position and

Gorampa Gorampa Sonam Senge (, 1429–1489Dreyfus (2003) p.301) was an important philosopher in the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. He was the author of a vast collection of commentaries on sutra and tantra whose work was influential throughout Tibetan ...

of the Sakya school promoting the other.''Buddhahood Embodied: Sources of Controversy in India and Tibet'' By John J. Makransky Published by SUNY Press, 1997. , 494 pages

/ref>

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haribhadra Indian Buddhist monks Indian scholars of Buddhism Mahayana Buddhism writers Madhyamaka scholars Tibetan Buddhists Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Yogacara scholars