Kumarata
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 🙏🙏🙏
Kumarata 鳩摩羅駄 (n.d.) (Skt; Jpn Kumarada)
Also known as Kumaralata or Kumaralabdha.
The eighteenth of Shakyamuni's twenty-three, or the nineteenth of his twenty-four, successors.
According to A History of the Buddha's Successors, he was born in Takshashilain the north-western part of ancient India and was very wise even as a child. He became a monk and is said to have later inherited Shakyamuni Buddha's teachings from Samghayashas.
His wisdom and scholarship were famed throughout India and attracted numerous people to Buddhism. Hsüan-tsang's Record of the Western Regions lists Kumarata as one of the "four suns," the others being Ashvaghosha, Nagarjuna, and Aryadeva.
They were called "suns" because they were considered to illuminate the world with the light of wisdom.
Kumarata is regarded as the founder of the Sautrantika school. He transferred the Buddha's teachings to Jayata. It is said that he lived near the late third century, but there is no clear evidence confirming that date.