Seventeen Nalanda Masters
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 🙏🙏🙏
[[Image:17Nalanda.jpg|frame|Buddha Shakyamuni and the Seventeen Nalanda Masters)] Seventeen Nalanda Masters — seventeen great Indian panditas who were associated with Nalanda monastery.
- Nagarjuna
- Aryadeva
- Buddhapalita
- Bhavaviveka
- Chandrakirti
- Shantideva
- Shantarakshita
- Kamalashila
- Asanga
- Vasubandhu
- Dignaga
- Dharmakirti
- Arya Vimuktisena
- Haribhadra
- Gunaprabha
- Shakyaprabha
- Atisha
In the colophon to a prayer addressed to these seventeen masters, His Holiness the Dalai Lama writes:
- At this time, when the whole world has witnessed tremendous advancement in the fields of science and technology, but we are also greatly distracted by the hustle and bustle of our hectic lives, it is crucially important for all of us who follow the Buddha to develop faith based upon an understanding of the Buddha’s Dharma teachings. Therefore we should investigate them, by analyzing and inquiring with an unbiased and inquisitive mind. If we are to develop this faith that is supported by understanding, the outstanding works of the profound and vast traditions composed by the masters universally renowned as the ‘Six Ornaments and Two Supreme Ones’, as well as others such as Buddhapalita and Arya Vimuktisena are indispensable. With this in mind, I commissioned the painting of a thangka depicting seventeen of the most learned and accomplished masters of Nalanda, adding nine other masters from the profound and the vast lineages to the traditional thangka arrangement for the Six Ornaments and Two Supreme Ones.
Further Reading
- The Dalai Lama, The Middle Way: Faith Grounded in Reason, Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2009, pp. 153-161