Concept
Abhayakaragupta
Overview
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 thought to have flourished in the late 11th-early 12th century CE, and died in 1125 CE.
Abhayākaragupta's magnum opus, the Vajravali, is a "grand synthesis of tantric liturgy" which developed a single harmonized tantric ritual system which could be applied to all Tantric Buddhist mandalas. According to A.K. Warder, Abhayākaragupta developed the Mantrayana-Madhyamaka doctrine to its final Indic form. Matthew Kapstein sees him as "among the last great masters of Buddhism in India."
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
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The ancient teachers define _avyaktam_ as the “equilibrium of the three forces,” one of which is called _Sattva_, the second _Rajas_ and the third _Tamas_. _Tamas_, the lowest force, is that of attraction, a little higher is _Rajas_, that of repulsion, and the highest is the control of these two, _Sattva_, so that when the two forces, attraction and repulsion, are held in perfect control, or balance, by the…
Swami Vivekananda, Jnâna Yoga, Part II
States what Abhayakaragupta is.
Other methods of deliverance from evil are in the excessive acts of penance performed by the Indians, to which a retreat within themselves is added. Now when the Indian thus internally collects himself, and retreats within his own thoughts, the moment of such pure concentration is called Brahma, the one and the clearly supersensuous state, which the understanding calls the highest possible existence. When this is so…
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy
States what Abhayakaragupta is.
At the place where Buddha attained to perfect Wisdom, there are three monasteries, in all of which there are monks residing. The families of their people around supply the societies of these monks with an abundant sufficiency of what they require, so that there is no lack or stint. The disciplinary rules are strictly observed by them.
Confucius, Chinese literature
Close in meaning to Abhayakaragupta; the term itself is not named.
Philosophers who discussed Abhayakaragupta
Related ideas
- Prajnaparamita
- Nalanda mahavihara
- Kamalaśīla
- Nagarjuna
- Bodh Gaya
- Sanskrit
- Buddhist canons
- Mahayana
- Yogachara
- Vasubandhu
- Tibetan Buddhism
- Tantra
- Tibet
- The Buddha
- Bhāviveka
- Classical Tibetan
- Madhyamaka
- Vajrayana
- Asanga
- Buddha-nature
- Yogini
- Rahul Sankrityayan
- Vikramashila
Place in the tradition
Part of Buddhist philosophy.