Concept
Ratnākaraśānti
Overview
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") interpretation of Yogācāra.
At Vikramaśilā, Ratnākara was a teacher to Atīśa, Maitrīpa, Drokmi Śākya Yeshe among others. He was also a contemporary of Vāgīśvarakīrti. Ratnākaraśānti was influential on some Tibetan Buddhist figures. Defenders of the shentong view him as a forerunner of this tradition and as a defender of shentong. His work on the Hevajra Tantra was also influential.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
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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 Ratnākaraśānti is.
So, when any impression comes on the _chitta_, or “mind stuff,” it vibrates a little. This state of the mind is called the _manas_. Then comes the reaction, the will. There is another thing behind this will which accompanies all the acts of the mind, which is called egoism, the _ahamkâra_, the self-consciousness, which says “I am,” and behind that is what is called _Buddhi_, the intellect, the highest form of…
Swami Vivekananda, Jnâna Yoga, Part II
States what Ratnākaraśānti is.
In gratitude for its kindness, they have made for it a dragon-house, with a carpet for it to sit on, and appointed for it a diet of blessing, which they present for its nourishment. Every day they set apart three of their number to go to its house, and eat there. Whenever the summer retreat is ended, the dragon straightway changes its form, and appears as a small snake, with white spots at the side of its ears.
Confucius, Chinese literature
Close in meaning to Ratnākaraśānti; the term itself is not named.
Philosophers who discussed Ratnākaraśānti
Related ideas
- Buddhist logico-epistemology
- Two truths doctrine
- India
- Prajnaparamita
- Buddhahood
- Metaphysics
- Dharmakirti
- Nagarjuna
- Śāntarakṣita
- Guhyasamāja Tantra
- Mahayana
- Yogachara
- Mahayana sutras
- Vasubandhu
- Pratītyasamutpāda
- Tibetan Buddhism
- Tantra
- Universal (metaphysics)
- Buddhism
- Causality
- Svasaṃvedana
- Bodhisattva
- Tathātā
- Sakya Chokden
Place in the tradition
Part of Buddhist philosophy.