flight of Garuda - the founders of vajrayana buddhism

bohiruci SG

24. If those beings have never before had that wish for their own sake even in their dreams, how could they possibly have it for the sake of others?

25. How does this unprecedented and distinguished jewel, whose desire for the benefit of others does not arise in others even for their own self-interest, come into existence?

26. How can one measure the merit of the jewel of the mind, which is the seed of the worlds joy and is the remedy for the worlds suffering?

27. If reverence for the Buddhas is exceeded merely by an altruistic intention, how much more so by striving for the complete happiness of all sentient beings?

28. Those desiring to escape from suffering hasten right toward suffering. With the very desire for happiness, out of delusion they destroy their own happiness as if it were an enemy.

29. He satisfies with all joys those who are starving for happiness and eliminates all the sorrows of those who are afflicted in many ways.

30. He dispels delusion. Where else is there such a saint? Where else is there such a friend? Where else is there such merit?

those famous teachings are from one of the remarkable teacher of india
shantideva

next we shall take a look at another illustrious teacher of india
nagarjuna

Very few details on the life of Nagarrjuna are known, although many legends exist. He may have been born in South India, probably near the town of Nagarjunakonda in present day Andhra Pradesh. According to traditional biographers and historians such as Kumarajiva, he was born into a Brahmin family, but later converted to Buddhism. This may be the reason he was one of the earliest significant Buddhist thinkers to write in Sanskrit rather than Pali or Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagarjuna

From studying his writings, it is clear that Nagarjuna was conversant with the Nikaya school philosophies and with the emerging Mahayana tradition. If the most commonly accepted attribution of texts (that of Christian Lindtner) holds, then he was clearly a Mahayanist, but his philosophy holds assiduously to the canon, and while he does make explicit references to Mahayana texts, he is always careful to stay within the parameters set out by the canon.

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Writings
There exist a number of influential texts attributed to Nagarjuna, although most were probably written by later authors. The only work that all scholars agree is Nagarjuna's is the Mulamadhyamakakarika (Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way), which contains the essentials of his thought in twenty-seven short chapters. According to Lindtner the works definitely written by Nagarjuna are:

Mulamadhyamakakarika (Fundamental Verses of the Middle Way)
Sunyatasaptati (Seventy Verses on Emptiness)
Vigrahavyavartani (The End of Disputes)
Vaidalyaprakarana (Pulverizing the Categories)
Vyavaharasiddhi (Proof of Convention)
Yuktisastika (Sixty Verses on Reasoning)
Catuhstava (Hymn to the Absolute Reality)
Ratnavali (Precious Garland)
Pratityasamutpadahrdayakarika (Constituents of Dependent Arising)
Satrasamuccaya
Bodhicittavivarana (Exposition of the Enlightened Mind)
Suhrllekha (To a Good Friend)
Bodhisambhara (Requisites of Enlightenment)
There are other works attributed to Nagarjuna, some of which may be genuine and some not. There is evidence for a second, later, Nagarjuna who was the author of a number of tantric works which have subsequently been incorrectly attributed to the original Nagarjuna.

It is worth noting that Lindtner considers that the Mahaprajnaparamitopadesa, a huge commentary on the Large Prajñaparamita not to be a genuine work of Nagarjuna. This is only extant in a Chinese translation by Kumarajiva. There is much discussion as to whether this is a work of Nagarjuna, with some original comments by Kumarajiva, or an original work by Kumarajiva based on the philosophy of Nagarjuna.

An Eternal Now SG

Thank you for posting.

I have helped you edit the unreadable parts due to encoding problems Smile

Nagarjuna is great at expounding Buddhism's Emptiness teachings.

bohiruci SG

a million thanks , was preoccupied with wedding dinner thingy

and , just receive a phonecall 5 mins ago to see the last of a junior colleague who is pronounced brain dead after a motorbike accident in north-south highway tml evening .... abit shaken and sad

life is unpredictable ,people who are lively and energetic ,suddenly fallen from existence to a abrupt end of a lifetime

May He have the chance to learn the Buddhadharma or Reborn in the western Paradise

An Eternal Now SG

Amituofuo

Indeed, life is precious yet impermanent. May he attain deliverance.

maggot SG

Ah...finally found something similar Laughing

Thanks Cool

I didn't know he have such an english name Rolling Eyes

An Eternal Now SG

Finding Nagarjuna? Confused

maggot SG

What I learn so far is similar to it.

Er...most of the things I learn about buddhism is all in chinese so the english translation I really don't know till the picture is shown Rolling Eyes

An Eternal Now SG

Oh I see...

I'm not sure how Nagarjuna is linked to Tibetan Buddhism (madhyamika teachings?), but I know Nagarjuna is one of the Indian Zen Patriarches too . Razz

bohiruci SG

okay ,nagarjuna is not really one of the founder of vajrayana buddhism

He is the founder of all chinese 8 mahayana tradition ,becos of his vast amount of writing on Mahayana

his madhyamika is to show the Great Vehicle (Mahayana ) in the teachings to differentiate Mahayana and Theravada

and His teachings of madhyamika was used by the Kadampa Master which forms the beginning of the Vajrayana Buddhism

An Eternal Now SG

Oh I see... thnx Smile

sinweiy SG

Tibetan Buddhism do have links with Nagarjuna.
http://www.yotor.com/wiki/en/na/Nagarjuna.htm

Know also that Tibetans are the descendents of Shakya Clan! Heard the story about the fishes who were kill by the previous life of Shakya Clan. Later the fishes reincarnated as Bandits to attack them while Buddha was alive. Buddha only got headache as He previously hit the head of the fish. Shakya clan later escape to Tibet, now forming Tibetan Buddhism.

/\

bohiruci SG

erm i havent heard about this ,and maybe i will refrain on posting those link which our lay person sometimes would like to refute
Laughing

i know alot of connection of Buddha and his Chief Disciples in the many lifetimes ,but maybe we just follow the humane approach

Buddha as the historical Buddha and Nagarjuna is a historical monk
Cool Cool Cool

bohiruci SG

in chinese his name was called Yue (moon) cheng

Chandrakirti's live story;
short introduction:
Chandrakirtiwas born in India. The descriptions as his family-background vary slightly depending on the different historians. According to the history given by Marpa, Chandrakirti was born in a town called Serna (the Tibetan term of that town in India at that time).

According to Marpa he was born in a royal family; other sources say that Chandrakirti was born in a Brahmin family. In any case, the family Chandrakirti was born in was a Buddhist family, which meant that from childhood onwards he was in contact with such teachings and his tendencies of bodhicitta from previous lifetimes awakened very early.

This brought about his wish to lead the life of a Buddhist monk. He took monastic ordination in his youth and studied intensively the various Buddhist treatises. In particular he had access to the entire variety of teachings given by the great master Nagarjuna. In some sources it is explained that he studied Nagarjuna?s texts with a teacher called Chandrapala; some other sources, however, say that Chandrakirti in fact was a direct student of Nagarjuna himself, studied with Nagarjuna in the later part of Nagarjuna?s life. In any case he had complete access to all the teachings given by Nagarjuna and was able to comprehend them. Having studied all of them he put them into practice and it is said that Chandrakirti - through putting these teachings into practice - achieved the 6th bodhisattva bhumi. He was hence a great realized bodhisattva.

to be continued....

bohiruci SG

Chandrakirti was a great master who had direct realization of the true nature of reality, of emptiness. This is also obvious from the following part of his life. Chandrakirti spent many years in Nalanda. Nalanda was one of the most important Buddhist monastic colleges of India at that time. For a period of twelve years Chandrakirti supplied all the monks living there with food, with milk and yoghurt. His job during this period of time was taking care of the cows that belonged to the monastery, cows from which they used to get these supplies. During these twelve years Chandrakirti simply went out with these cows and let them be on their own somewhere in the forest. But nevertheless on his return there was abundance of supply, of milk and milk products. The point of this story is that Chandrakirti actually during this time had painted a picture of a cow. He obtained the milk by milking the picture and not the cows. They where left on there own. This story shows that to someone who has direct realization of reality there is in fact no difference whether you milk a real cow or a picture of a cow. It does not make a difference at all as the clinging to things to be real is overcome. This account of Chandrakirti?s life shows his great realization, and one should be aware of the fact that for a period of twelve years he supplied the monastery with food in this way.
While Chandrakirti lived in Nalanda he was one of the most important Panditas that is to say Buddhist Masters at that place. It was a custom in India that such type of monastic colleges would be challenged by scholars from other traditions, non-Buddhist traditions, who would come to that place and be received at the gate of the respective college, in this case Nalanda. At the gate would be a scholar of the institute whose responsibility it was to respond to the philosophical questions raised by the challengers. Chandrakirti did that a lot to that extent that he led debate with 50 to 60 people per day. So, 50 or 60 people came to this monastery in order to debate on religious issues.
Chandrakirti?s activity was to win these debates from the Buddhist perspective. That is why he became so important for the institute and finally became the abbot of Nalanda. Furthermore, one should know that Chandrakirti is said to have attained realization through the practice of the Guhyasamaja Tantra. He is in fact one of the most important lineage holders of this particular Tantra. It is said that Chandrakirti through his great realization was able to live for a period of 300 years, in other words he was able to prolong his lifespan. In fact he had attained the accomplishment of deathlessness, of immortality, which means that even though he does no more life in his previous physical body, he in fact never died. There are a number of accounts: It is recounted that Buddhist Masters in Tibet for example were in direct contact with Chandrakirti, met Chandrakirti in his wisdom-body and received teachings from him.

to be continued

bohiruci SG

At that time India had very fruitful traditions in the way different religious schools were in contact with each other. It was not that one religious tradition would fight the other one in order to destroy it etc. This was not at all the case. There was a culture of philosophical or religious discussions and the point was that if such a debate took place the one who was able to proof his points/ his views in the most accurate way by means of logic and reasoning of course was the winner of that debate. The loser, the one whose arguments, whose points were not as accurate and precise, would then either resign or would actually adopt the religious tradition of the partner of discussion. This was a very fruitful situation in India. That also makes clear how important these people were in such colleges whose responsibility it was to face the challenges by other religious traditions, to lead such debates. While Chandrakirti was acting as such a representative of Buddhist views there were many Hindu-Scholars or masters who therefore started to practice Buddhism.
It was not only the case that different religions or representatives of them would lead such debates; such debates were also very common within Buddhist schools. There were different philosophical schools in Buddhism. For a certain period of time, for example, one master called Chandragomin came to Nalanda who spoke on behalf of the Cittamatra school of thought, which is the tradition founded mainly by the great master Asanga. The views maintained in this tradition differ slightly from the Madhyamaka school of thought, whose founding father was Nagarjuna. What happened at that time was that Chandrakirti and Chandragomin engaged in a debate were Chandrakirti made clear the views of the Madhyamaka school of thought and Chandragomin presented the Cittamatra views. This debate took seven years and it was a public event. People joined in and listened and it is said that as people listened to the explanations of the Madhyamaka?s and Cittamatra?s point of view in such detail again and again, they actually became able to understand what the Madhyamaka view and the Cittamatra view are like. The people in the surrounding villages used to come and attend these debates and therefore were actually able to understand the Buddhist views.

bohiruci SG

Padmasambhava

Lotus Born Sage

Padmasambhava was predicted by Shakyamuni Buddha: "Fifteen years after my death, one will come with greater capacity than myself one with the power to establish the teachings of Vajrayana in the world."

This statue of Padmasambhava can be found within the 'Tsuglhakhang' the main temple of His Holiness the Dala'i Lama in McLeod Ganj. Padmasambhava is the Tantric Buddha the second Buddha, who brought the teachings of the Nine Yanas of Buddhism to Tibet and the entire trans-Himalayan area. He subdued all the negative forces which had caused obstacles to the establishment of the teachings and founded the two sanghas: the red sangha of monks and nuns, and the gö-kar chang-lo'i dé (gos dKar lCang lo'i sDe), the white sangha or ngak'phang sangha of ngakpas and ngakmas, naljorpas and naljormas.

Shakyamuni Buddha had given the teachings of Vajrayana in secret to the 84 Mahasiddhas. Padmasambhava then collected the entire body of Vajrayana from the Mahasiddhas and completed it within himself. He is shown here with the wide-open eyes which betoken the spatial dimension of Dzogchen. He wears the robes of the nine vehicles of practice, the royal robe and the robe of the tantrika. He wears the lotus hat of the King of Zahor. The King of Zahor gave Padmasambhava his crown after he transformed his execution-pyre into the lake of Tso Pema. He cradles the khatvangha trident in the crook of his left arm. The three points of the khatvangha pierce the fabric of attraction, aversion and indifference. The secret nature of the khatvangha is Yeshé Tsogyel Padmasambhava's secret spacious wisdom nature. He sits in the posture of royal ease; in display of the natural state, in which everything relaxes into the condition of primal purity.

An Eternal Now SG

Thank you for your wonderful sharing on Vajrayana Buddhism!