Candrakīrti
Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia is now 14 years old
Our Encyclopedia recently received a wonderful opportunity for a major renewal on its 14th birthday . After many years of growing our Encyclopedia had become bit slow and sometimes even decided not to answer when people knocked on the door.
A very big thank you and blessings to Dmytro Rudiy (rudiy.nl) for his great work in upgrading the server, website and all of the infrastructure and helping make TBE fast and reliable again for everyone!
We kindly ask our readers to help us cover the cost of this important upgrade and also help with the ongoing costs of keeping the Encyclopedia alive and freely available.
or card
Every little donation helps and every one is deeply appreciated. 🙏🙏🙏
OM AH HUM VAJRA GURU PADMA SIDDHI HUM 🙏🙏🙏
May blessings shower down on all of yous 🙏🙏🙏
Chandrakīrti (600–c. 650), (Devanagari: चन्द्रकीर्ति; Chinese: 月称 Yuèchēng; Japanese: 月称 Gesshō; Tibetan: ཟླ་བ་གྲགས་པ) was an Indian scholar at Nālandā Mahāvihāra. He was a disciple of Nāgārjuna and a commentator on his works and those of his main disciple, Āryadeva.
He was born into a Brahmin family in Samanta, in South India.[1]
Teachings and works
Chandrakīrti was the most famous member of what the Tibetans came to call the dbU-ma thal-'gyur, an approach to the interpretation of Madhyamaka philosophy sometimes back-translated into Sanskrit as Prāsaṅgika Madhyamaka or rendered in English as the "[[Consequentialist\\" or "Dialecticist" school.[2]
In his writings Chandrakīrti defended Buddhapālita against Bhāvaviveka, criticizing the latter's acceptance of autonomous syllogism.
He also offered refutations of a number of earlier Buddhist views such as the Vijñānavāda or Idealist school.[3]
Chandrakīrti's works include the Prasannapadā;Sanskrit for "clear words"—a commentary on Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā and the Madhyamakāvatāra (his supplement to Nāgārjuna's text) and its auto-commentary.
The Madhyamakāvatāra is used as the main sourcebook by most of the Tibetan monastic colleges in their studies of 'emptiness' (Sanskrit: śūnyatā) and the philosophy of the Madhyamaka school.
Chandrakīrti the latter
The Tibetan translation of Caryāpada provided the name of its compiler as Munidatta, that its Sanskrit commentary is Caryāgītikośavṛtti, and that its Tibetan 'translator' (Tibetan: Lotsawa) was Chandrakīrti.
This is a later Chandrakīrti, who assisted in Tibetan translation in the Later Transmission of Buddhism to Tibet.
Major works
- Prasannapadā (Clear Words) : A commentary on Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā
- Madhyamakāvatāra (Entering the Middle Way or Guide to the Middle Way)[4]
Footnotes
- ↑ P. 298 Global History of Philosophy: The Patristic-Sutra Period, Volume 3, By John C. Plott
- ↑ Candrakirti - Budda World. Accessed January 29, 2012.
- ↑ Fenner, Peter G. (1983). "Chandrakīrti's refutation of Buddhist idealism." Philosophy East and West Volume 33, no.3 (July 1983) University of Hawaii Press. P.251. Source: [1] (accessed: January 21, 2008)
- ↑ Ocean of Nectar: The True Nature of All Things, Tharpa Publications (1995) ISBN 978-0-948006-23-4