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[[Image:Kamalashila.JPG|frame|Kamalashila]]
[[Image:Kamalashila.JPG|frame|Kamalashila]]
'''Kamalashila''' (Skt. ''Kamalaśīla''; Tib. [[པདྨའི་ངང་ཚུལ་]], ''Pemé Ngang Tsul''; [[Wyl.]] ''pad+ma'i ngang tshul'') (c. 740-795) — this master was the main disciple of the great abbot [[Shantarakshita]]. He famously defeated a Chinese master of the [[Hashang]] school (whose personal name is sometimes given as Mahayana Hashang) in the [[Samyé Debate|great debate]] at [[Samyé]], which took place around 792 AD, thereby ensuring that the Tibetans followed the Indian tradition of [[Madhyamika]] which had flourished at the great [[Nalanda]] Monastery. He died in Tibet in around 795.<ref>Seyfort Ruegg, ''Literature'', p. 94</ref>
'''Kamalashila''' (Skt. ''Kamalaśīla''; Tib. [[པདྨའི་ངང་ཚུལ་]], ''Pemé Ngang Tsul''; [[Wyl.]] ''pad+ma'i ngang tshul'') (c. 740-795) — this Indian master and professor of [[Nalanda]] University was the main disciple of the great abbot [[Shantarakshita]]. He famously defeated a Chinese master of the [[Hashang]] school (whose personal name is sometimes given as Mahayana Hashang) in the [[Samyé Debate|great debate]] at [[Samyé]], which took place around 792 AD, thereby ensuring that the Tibetans followed the Indian tradition of [[Madhyamika]] which had flourished at the great [[Nalanda]] Monastery. He died in Tibet in around 795.<ref>Seyfort Ruegg, ''Literature'', p. 94</ref>


==Principal Writings==
==Principal Writings==
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His other works include:
His other works include:
*Commentary on the Difficult Points of the Compendium of Reality (''Tattvasaṃgraha-pañjikā'')
*Two commentaries on the [[Svatantrika Madhyamika]] writings of his master, Shantarakshita:
*Commentary on the Difficult Points of the Ornament of the Middle Way (Skt. ''Madhyamakālaṅkārapañjikā''; Tib. དབུ་མའི་རྒྱན་གྱི་དཀའ་འགྲེལ་, Wyl. ''dbu ma'i rgyan gyi dka' 'grel'')
**''Commentary on the Difficult Points of the Compendium of Reality'' (Skt. ''Tattvasaṃgraha-pañjikā''), and
*Light of the Middle Way (Skt. ''Madhyamakāloka''; Tib. དབུ་མ་གསང་བ་, Wyl. ''dbu ma snang ba'')
**''Commentary on the Difficult Points of the Ornament of the [[Middle Way]]'' (Skt. ''Madhyamakālaṅkārapañjikā''; Tib. དབུ་མའི་རྒྱན་གྱི་དཀའ་འགྲེལ་, Wyl. ''dbu ma'i rgyan gyi dka' 'grel'')
*A writing on logic: ''Nyayabindu'' (Skt. ''Nyāyabindu)
*Commentaries on the Prajñaparamita, such as the ''Commenatary on the Diamond Sutra''
*''Light of the Middle Way'' (Skt. ''Madhyamakāloka''; Tib. དབུ་མ་གསང་བ་, Wyl. ''dbu ma snang ba'')
*Tantric writings, such as the ''Mahamudropadesha Vajraguhyagiti'' and the ''Dakinivajraguhyagitanama''


==Notes==
==Notes==

Revision as of 20:18, 16 December 2018

Kamalashila

Kamalashila (Skt. Kamalaśīla; Tib. པདྨའི་ངང་ཚུལ་, Pemé Ngang Tsul; Wyl. pad+ma'i ngang tshul) (c. 740-795) — this Indian master and professor of Nalanda University was the main disciple of the great abbot Shantarakshita. He famously defeated a Chinese master of the Hashang school (whose personal name is sometimes given as Mahayana Hashang) in the great debate at Samyé, which took place around 792 AD, thereby ensuring that the Tibetans followed the Indian tradition of Madhyamika which had flourished at the great Nalanda Monastery. He died in Tibet in around 795.[1]

Principal Writings

His most famous compositions are the three texts entitled Stages of Meditation (Skt. Bhāvanākrama), on which H.H. the Dalai Lama has taught several times.

His other works include:

  • Two commentaries on the Svatantrika Madhyamika writings of his master, Shantarakshita:
    • Commentary on the Difficult Points of the Compendium of Reality (Skt. Tattvasaṃgraha-pañjikā), and
    • Commentary on the Difficult Points of the Ornament of the Middle Way (Skt. Madhyamakālaṅkārapañjikā; Tib. དབུ་མའི་རྒྱན་གྱི་དཀའ་འགྲེལ་, Wyl. dbu ma'i rgyan gyi dka' 'grel)
  • A writing on logic: Nyayabindu (Skt. Nyāyabindu)
  • Commentaries on the Prajñaparamita, such as the Commenatary on the Diamond Sutra
  • Light of the Middle Way (Skt. Madhyamakāloka; Tib. དབུ་མ་གསང་བ་, Wyl. dbu ma snang ba)
  • Tantric writings, such as the Mahamudropadesha Vajraguhyagiti and the Dakinivajraguhyagitanama

Notes

  1. Seyfort Ruegg, Literature, p. 94

Further Reading

  • Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, Essential Practice, translated by Jules B. Levinson (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2002)
  • David Seyfort Ruegg, The Literature of the Madhyamaka School of Philosophy in India (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1981), pages 93-99