Bhāviveka, also called Bhāvaviveka (; ), and Bhavya was a sixth-century (c. 500 – c. 570)

madhyamaka Mādhyamaka ("middle way" or "centrism"; ; Tibetan: དབུ་མ་པ ; ''dbu ma pa''), otherwise known as Śūnyavāda ("the emptiness doctrine") and Niḥsvabhāvavāda ("the no ''svabhāva'' doctrine"), refers to a tradition of Buddhis ...

Buddhist philosopher.Qvarnström 1989 p. 14. Alternative names for this figure also include Bhavyaviveka, Bhāvin, Bhāviviveka, Bhagavadviveka and Bhavya. Bhāviveka is the author of the ''Madhyamakahrdaya'' (''Heart of the Middle''), its auto-commentary the ''Tarkajvālā'' (''Blaze of Reasoning'') and the ''Prajñāpradīpa'' (''Lamp for Wisdom''). In

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...

Bhāviveka is regarded as the founder of the svātantrika tradition of mādhyamaka, as opposed to the prāsaṅgika madhyamaka of

Chandrakirti Chandrakirti (; ; , meaning "glory of the moon" in Sanskrit) or "Chandra" was a Buddhist scholar of the madhyamaka school and a noted commentator on the works of Nagarjuna () and those of his main disciple, Aryadeva. He wrote two influential w ...

. There is also another later author called Bhāvaviveka who wrote another set of madhyamaka texts. He is sometimes called Bhāvaviveka II by modern scholars''.''Vose, Kevin A. (2015) ''Resurrecting Candrakirti: Disputes in the Tibetan Creation of Prasangika,'' pp. 30-32'','' Simon and Schuster.

Background

The life details of Bhāviveka are unclear. The earliest source is Xuanzang's 7th century ''The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions.'' According to Xuanzang, Bhāviveka was a 6th-century scholar from south India (

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

) who traveled north in an attempt to engage in debate with the Yogacara master Dharmapāla (who refused to meet him). Malcolm Eckel states that the sixth century was a period of "unusual creativity and ferment in the history of Indian Buddhist philosophy", when the

Mahayana ''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing br ...

Buddhism movement was emerging as a "vigorous and self-conscious intellectual force" while early Buddhist traditions from the eighteen (''Nikaya'') schools opposed this Mahayana movement. Eckel states that Bhāviveka may have been one of the many itinerant scholars at the time who traveled the country engaging their opponents in debate. During this time, formal debate was a high stakes endeavor which played a central role in Indian monastic life and could determine the support monasteries received from kings who attended the debates. In some cases, one was not even allowed to enter an elite institution like Nālānda unless one demonstrated a certain amount of knowledge to the gatekeeper scholar. Because of this, an effective debater like Bhāviveka needed to be conversant with the doctrines of their opponents, and this need is reflected in the writing of doxographical works like Bhāviveka's. According to Olle Qvarnström, Bhavya developed and revised some of the methods and ideas of the Mādhyamaka philosophy first established by

Nāgārjuna Nāgārjuna . 150 – c. 250 CE (disputed)was an Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist thinker, scholar-saint and philosopher. He is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers.Garfield, Jay L. (1995), ''The Fundamental Wisdom of ...

. Qvarnström argues that the need for this revision was that Madhyamaka was in danger of "being absorbed or overshadowed by the Yogacara school" and was also coming under pressure from various Brahmanical systems of philosophy. Qvarnström writes that "in order to avert these threats and to bring Madhyamaka philosophy into conformity with the prevalent philosophical requirements of the intellectual milieu in the sixth century, Bhavya used logical devices originally formulated by Dignaga and others."

Philosophy

Mādhyamaka and Pramāṇa

Unlike previous mādhyamaka authors, Bhāviveka adopted Indian ''

pramāṇa ''Pramana'' (Sanskrit: प्रमाण, ) literally means " proof" and "means of knowledge".Dignaga) and applied it to the development of madhyamaka arguments in order to show that phenomena (dharmas) have no self-nature ('' svabhava''), and to establish that the true nature of all phenomena is

emptiness Emptiness as a human condition is a sense of generalized boredom, social alienation and apathy. Feelings of emptiness often accompany dysthymia, depression, loneliness, anhedonia, despair, or other mental/emotional disorders, including schizoid ...

. According to Ames (1993: p. 210), Bhāviveka was one of the first Buddhist logicians to employ the "formal syllogism" (, sa, prayogavākya) of Indian logic in expounding mādhyamaka. He employed these to considerable effect in his commentary to

's ''

Mūlamadhyamakakārikā The ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā'' ( sa, मूलमध्यमककारिका, ''Root Verses on the Middle Way''), abbreviated as ''MMK'', is the foundational text of the Madhyamaka school of Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy. It was compo ...

'', entitled the ''Wisdom Lamp''.Ames, William L. (1993). "Bhāvaviveka's ''Prajñāpradīpa'' ~ A Translation of Chapter One: 'Examinations of Causal Conditions' (''Pratyaya'')". ''Journal of Indian Philosophy'', 1993, vol.21. Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, p.210 Qvarnström outlines Bhāviveka's development of madhyamaka as follows:

According to Bhavya, the refutation of a system by depicting its inherent contradictions without stating a positive thesis of one's own was not sufficient to settle a debate. This "reductio ad absurdum" (''prāsaṇgika'') argumentation had to be supplemented by independent propositions (''svatantra''), sometimes incorporated in formal syllogisms (''prayogavākya''). By means of independent inferences (''svatantrānumāna'') and proper syllogisms, Bhavya considered himself capable of both proving the validity of his own propositions and of refuting any upcoming counterposition, Buddhist or
Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
.

Bhāviveka held that even though Nagarjuna himself had only relied on ''prāsaṇgika'' style reductios which do not put forth any positive thesis (and only refutes the arguments of the opponent), it was the responsibility of the commentator to make explicit the implications and logical consequences of Nagarjuna's text. This was to be done by making use of ''

pramāṇa ''Pramana'' (Sanskrit: प्रमाण, ) literally means " proof" and "means of knowledge".Buddhapalita, an earlier commentator on Nagarjuna, for failing to properly draw out these implications and construct proper syllogistic arguments to prove the truth of Madhyamaka. Shantarakshita (author); Mipham (commentator);

Padmakara Translation Group Padmasambhava ("Born from a Lotus"), also known as Guru Rinpoche (Precious Guru) and the Lotus from Oḍḍiyāna, was a tantric Buddhist Vajra master from India who may have taught Vajrayana in Tibet (circa 8th – 9th centuries)... According ...

(translators) (2005). ''The Adornment of the Middle Way: Shantarakshita's Madhyamakalankara with commentary by Jamgön Mipham.'' Boston, Massachusetts, USA: Shambhala Publications, Inc. (alk. paper), p.386Hayes, Richard, "Madhyamaka", ''The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (Fall 2021 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2021/entries/madhyamaka/>. As Richard Hayes notes, Bhavya took pains to show that "Mādhyamikas do have a conviction that they are prepared to state and defend, namely, that all phenomena are devoid of an inherent nature, that is, a nature that they have independently." Hence, Bhavya held that mādhyamaka philosophers needed to provide proper arguments in favor of the basic mādhyamaka theory which states that all phenomena ('' dharmas'') are empty ('' śūnya''). Eckel illustrates the differences in method between Bhavya and Buddhapalita as follows:

The first substantive verse of Nagarjuna's MMK says: "Nothing arises from itself, from something else, from both, or from no cause at all." Buddhapalita explains the first part of this verse as follows: "Nothing arises from itself, because its arising would be useless, and because it would lead to an absurd conclusion. There would be no point for things that already exist in their own right to arise again, and, if something arises after it already exists, it would never cease to arise." Bhaviveka reformulates this argument as a positive assertion: "The internal sense media ultimately do not arise from themselves, because they already exist, like consciousness." By making this logical transformation, Bhaviveka takes an argument that reduces the opponent's assertion to an absurd conclusion (prasaṇga) and substitutes an independent (svatantra) inference, with a proper thesis (pratijñā), reason (hetu), and example (dṛṣṭānta).

Regarding the fact that Nagarjuna himself states that he does not defend any thesis in his ''The Avoidance of Refutations'' (''Vigrahavyāvartanī''), Bhavya makes use of the doctrine of two truths to defend his method. Though he agrees that ultimately there can be no thesis, it is still possible to use words in a conventional manner to convince others through reasoning as a "skillful means" (''

upāya Upaya (Sanskrit: उपाय, , ''expedient means'', ''pedagogy'') is a term used in Buddhism to refer to an aspect of guidance along the Buddhist paths to liberation where a conscious, voluntary action "is driven by an incomplete reasoning" a ...

''). Eckel notes that his defense of positive syllogisms may have been motivated by its importance in the sixth century Indian circles of formal debate. In these circles, the practice of merely attacking the views of one's opponent without defending a thesis of one's own (which was called ''vitaṇḍā'') was seen as bad form and not well respected.

The Importance of Reasoning

Regarding the importance and use of reason on the Buddhist path, Bhāviveka agrees with some of his Buddhist opponents that reasoning cannot know true reality. However, according to Bhāviveka, reason (''tarka'') does have a role in the Buddhist path and that is the removal of wrong and confused views about reality which block one's spiritual progress. Bhāviveka affirms that "Buddhas use faultless inference in a way that is consistent with tradition to completely reject many different concepts of imagined things" and "inference rules out the opposite of knowledge."Eckel 2008, pp. 29-30. For Bhāviveka, it is after reasoned inference has cleared away all the confusing wrong views ('' kudṛṣṭi'') and conflicting doctrines (''vāda'') that a person is able to "see all objects of knowledge just as they are, with non-conceptual knowledge and with minds like space." Furthermore, inference allows one to examine all the differences which are found among the various spiritual traditions and philosophies (''

darśana Hindu philosophy encompasses the philosophies, world views and teachings of Hinduism that emerged in Ancient India which include six systems ('' shad-darśana'') – Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimamsa and Vedanta.Andrew Nicholson ( ...

''), and then to be able to determine which is true in a rational manner. This is because "if tradition has the status of tradition because it has an unbroken transmission, then everything is tradition, and it is necessary to determine which is true." Thus Bhavya sees reasoning about spiritual and philosophical matters as an key preliminary step which prepares the mind to develop a pure and non-conceptual type of wisdom ( ''prajñā'') that sees ultimate truth. In chapter three of the ''Verses on the Heart of the Middle Way,'' Bhavya states:

* 3.10-11. Ultimate wisdom negates the entire network of concepts, and it moves without moving into the clear sky of reality, which is peaceful, directly known, non-conceptual, non-verbal, and free from unity and diversity. * 3.12-13. Surely it is impossible to climb to the top of the palace of reality without the steps of correct relative ruth. For that reason, one should first discriminate according to relative truth, then one should analyze the particular and universal characteristics of things.

Doxography and Indian philosophy

Because wisdom requires the clearing away of wrong views, there is a need to understand these views and thus an important part of Bhāviveka's philosophical project was a schematic theory of erroneous views. Bhāviveka does this in various ways, one of which is based on the early Buddhist '' Brahmajāla Sūtra'' which outlines 62 types of wrong views and he also provides another even longer list of 363 wrong views which is found in the ''Tarkajvālā''. Bhavya also explored the various Indian philosophical schools (''darśanas'') in depth. Bhavya is notable in the Indian tradition for his work on

comparative philosophy Intercultural philosophy is an approach to philosophy that emphasizes the integration of influences from different cultures. It can represent the meeting of different philosophical traditions, such as Western philosophy, Asian philosophy, and Afric ...

and

doxography Doxography ( el, δόξα – "an opinion", "a point of view" + – "to write", "to describe") is a term used especially for the works of classical historians, describing the points of view of past philosophers and scientists. The term w ...

. According to Malcolm D. Eckel, "no Indian Mahayana thinker played a more crucial role in mapping the landscape of

Indian philosophy Indian philosophy refers to philosophical traditions of the Indian subcontinent. A traditional Hindu classification divides āstika and nāstika schools of philosophy, depending on one of three alternate criteria: whether it believes the Veda ...

and defining the relationships of its different traditions. At a time when major branches of Indian philosophy were still in the process of formation, Bhaviveka provided a model of textual classification (the philosophical compendium or doxography) that became the classic vehicle for the study of Indian philosophy."Eckel 2008, p. 3. Bhavya's work discusses most of the major schools of

(

Vaiśeṣika Vaisheshika or Vaiśeṣika ( sa, वैशेषिक) is one of the six schools of Indian philosophy (Vedic systems) from ancient India. In its early stages, the Vaiśeṣika was an independent philosophy with its own metaphysics, epistemolog ...

Sāṃkhya ''Samkhya'' or ''Sankya'' (; Sanskrit सांख्य), IAST: ') is a dualistic school of Indian philosophy. It views reality as composed of two independent principles, '' puruṣa'' ('consciousness' or spirit); and ''prakṛti'', (nature ...

Vedānta ''Vedanta'' (; sa, वेदान्त, ), also ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six (''āstika'') schools of Hindu philosophy. Literally meaning "end of the Vedas", Vedanta reflects ideas that emerged from, or were aligned with, ...

, Mīṃāṃsā as well as

Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle bein ...

). Bhaviveka also engages with the doctrines of

Śrāvakayāna Śrāvakayāna ( sa, श्रावकयान; pi, सावकयान; ) is one of the three '' yānas'' known to Indian Buddhism. It translates literally as the "vehicle of listeners .e. disciples. Historically it was the most common t ...

(non-Mahayana) Buddhists and addresses their various criticisms against

. According to Qvarnström, Bhavya's ''Madhyamakahrdayakārikā'' and its ''Tarkajvālā'' commentary is one of the earliest sources on early (pre- Shankara) Vedanta (aside from the ''Brahmasūtra'', the ''Vākyapadīya'' and the ''Gaudapādīyakārikā).'' Regarding Bhavya's view of Vedanta, Qvarnström writes:

the ''Vedāntatattvaviniścaya'' of the ''Madhyamakahrdayakārikā'' and ''Tarkajvālā'' is interesting because it is the first Buddhist text to distinguish Madhyamaka philosophy from purely Vedanta notions. In VTV, Bhavya maintains that the notion of a "Self'- or in his terminology, an "intrinsic nature" - actually was borrowed from the Madhyamaka school. Bhavya consequently considers it his duty not only to refute the Vedanta interpretation of this notion, but also to outline his own view on this matter at great length. The question of "intrinsic nature" or "Self' constitutes, therefore, the main object of the polemics between the Vedāntavādins and the Mādhyamikas in VTV. Bhavya may thus be said to have initiated on a systematical basis the main issue of the prolonged controversies between Buddhist and Brahmanical philosophy which were to continue well beyond his time.

Works

''Heart of the Middle'' and ''Blaze of Reasoning''

Bhāviveka wrote an independent work on the Madhyamaka entitled the '' Madhyamakahrdayakārikā'' (MHK, ''Verses on the Heart of the Middle Way'') which Bhavya in turn wrote an autocommentary upon entitled the ''Tarkajvālā'' (''Blaze of Reasoning''). Bhāviveka's ''Madhyamakahrdayakārikā'' and his commentary ''Tarkajvālā'' therein, states (Malcolm) David Eckel, provide a "unique and authoritative account of the intellectual differences that stirred the Buddhist community in this creative period".
Quote
"Bhāviveka (ca. 500–560 CE) lived at a time of unusual creativity and ferment in the history of Indian Buddhist philosophy. The Mahayana movement was emerging as a vigorous and self-conscious intellectual force, while the earlier traditions of the eighteen “schools” (nikaya) resisted the authority of the Mahayana and continued to elaborate the fundamental concepts of Buddhist thought. Bhāviveka’s “Verses on the Heart of the Middle Way” (Madhyamakahrdayakārikā) with their commentary, known as “The Flame of Reason” (Tarkajvālā), give a unique and authoritative account of the intellectual differences that stirred the Buddhist community in this creative period." However, the ''Blaze of Reasoning'' also contains different layers, and it seems like at least parts of it where also authored by a later figure, possibly Bhāvaviveka II. The text survives in an incomplete Sanskrit manuscript as well in Tibetan translation by

Atiśa ( bn, অতীশ দীপংকর শ্রীজ্ঞান, ôtiś dīpôṅkôr śrigyen; 982–1054) was a Buddhist religious leader and master. He is generally associated with his work carried out at the Vikramashila monastery in Biha ...

and Lotsawa Jayaśīla (which has allowed for a reconstruction of the full Sanskrit). According to Qvarnström, this text outlines the main views found in the Buddhist

and Yogācāra schools as well as the Brahmanical

and Mīṃāṃsā schools. All these schools are presented as the pūrvapaksa (opponent's view). Their views are critiqued and the Madhymaka view is then outlined as the uttarapakṣa (superior view). The ''Madhyamakahrdayakārikā'' is divided into the following chapters: # Not Giving Up the Mind of Awakening (''bodhicittāparityāga'') # Taking the Vow of an Ascetic (''munivratasamāśraya'') # Seeking the Knowledge of Reality (''tattvajñānaiṣaṇā'') # Introduction to the Analysis of Reality According to the Sravakas (''śrāvakatattvaviniścayāvatāra'') # Introduction to the Analysis of Reality According to the Yogacaras (''yogācāratattvaviniścayāvatāra'') # Introduction to Reality According to the Sāṃkhyas (''sāṃkhyatattvāvatāra'') # Analysis of Reality According to the

(''vaiśeṣikatattvaviniścaya'') # Analysis of Reality According to the

Vedanta ''Vedanta'' (; sa, वेदान्त, ), also ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six (''āstika'') schools of Hindu philosophy. Literally meaning "end of the Vedas", Vedanta reflects ideas that emerged from, or were aligned with, ...

(''vedāntatattvaviniścaya'') # Introduction to the Analysis of Reality According to the

Mīmāṃsā ''Mīmāṁsā'' (Sanskrit: मीमांसा) is a Sanskrit word that means "reflection" or "critical investigation" and thus refers to a tradition of contemplation which reflected on the meanings of certain Vedic texts.

(''mīmāṃsātattvanirṇayāvatāra''). # Exposition of the Realization of Omniscience (''sarvajñatātsiddhinirdeśa''), this chapter discusses

Jain Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...

views # Exposition of Praise and Characteristics (''stutilakṣaṇanirdeśa''). The first three chapters present Bhavya's own Madhyamaka philosophy and understanding of Buddhism, the rest discuss and refute other views.

''Wisdom Lamp''

The ''Prajñāpradīpa'' (Wylie: ''shes rab sgron ma; or shes rab sgron me'') is Bhāviveka's commentary upon

Nagarjuna Nāgārjuna . 150 – c. 250 CE (disputed)was an Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist thinker, scholar-saint and philosopher. He is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers.Garfield, Jay L. (1995), ''The Fundamental Wisdom of ...

's ''

''. The Sanskrit is no longer extant (except for a few embedded quotations in the ''Prasannapadā'', Candrakīrti's commentary of the ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā'' and critique of the ''Prajñāpradīpa'') but according to Ames (1993: p. 211) is available in both an excellent Tibetan translation, rendered by

Jñānagarbha Jñānagarbha (Sanskrit: ज्ञानगर्भ, Tibetan: ཡེ་ཤེས་སྙིང་པོ་, Wyl. ye shes snying po) was an 8th-century Buddhist philosopher from Nalanda who wrote on Madhyamaka and Yogacara and is considered part o ...

and ''Cog ro Klu'i rgyal mtshan'' (Wylie) in the early 9th century. Ames (1993: p. 211) also conveyed that the Chinese translation is poor, where the inference of inferiority was drawn from the work of Kajiyama (1963: p. 39). The Sanskrit name has been reconstructed as either *''Prajñāpradīpa'' or *''Janāndeepa'' (where ''Janāndeepa'' may or may not be a

Prakrit The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usu ...

corruption or a poor inverse-translation, for example).

Bhāvaviveka II

There is also later figure by the same name, sometimes called Bhāvaviveka II or Bhavya. According to Ruegg, this second Bhāvaviveka may have been the same person as the tantric Bhavyakīrti (c. 1000) and is the author of the ''Madhyamakārthasaṃgraha'' (''Compendium of Meanings of the Middle'') and the ''Madhyamakaratnapradīpa'' (''Jewel Lamp of the Middle'')''.''

In Tibetan Buddhism

Bhāviveka is retrospectively considered by the Tibetan Buddhist tradition to be the founder of the ''svātantrika madhyamaka'' tradition within Buddhism. Tibetan doxographers divided the ''madhyamaka'' philosophy of ''

'' into '' svātantrika'' (those who make use of ''svatantra'': autonomous syllogisms) and '' prāsaṅgika'' , which refers to those madhyamikas who only use ''prasaṅga'' (consequential, reductio ad absurdum) arguments, mainly Buddhapalita (470–550 CE) and Candrakirti (600–650 CE). This manner of division has been retroactively applied in Tibetan monasteries, and commonly found in modern secondary literature on madhyamaka. However, according to Dreyfus and McClintock, such a classification is problematic and was not used in India, where instead the "''svātantrika'' and prasangika" schools were camped together then contrasted with Santaraksita and Kamalasila" (Yogacara-Madhyamaka) schools.Dreyfus, Georges B.J. & Sara L. McClintock (eds). ''The Svātantrika-Prāsaṅgika Distinction: What Difference Does a Difference Make?'' Wisdom Publications, 2003, pages 1-3 The former accepted "external objects exist", while the latter camp accepted "external objects do not exist". The ''svātantrika'' versus ''prāsaṅgika'' sub-schools may have been an 11th–12th century innovation of the Tibetan translator Patsab Nyima Drakpa while he was translating a Sanskrit text by Candrakirti into Tibetan.

Panchen Lama lineage

In the lineage of the

Panchen Lama The Panchen Lama () is a tulku of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. Panchen Lama is one of the most important figures in the Gelug tradition, with its spiritual authority second only to Dalai Lama. Along with the council of high lamas, ...

s of

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

there were four Indian and three Tibetan

mindstream Mindstream (''citta-santāna'') in Buddhist philosophy is the moment-to-moment continuum (Sanskrit: ''saṃtāna'') of sense impressions and mental phenomena, which is also described as continuing from one life to another. Definition ' (Sanskr ...

tulku A ''tulku'' (, also ''tülku'', ''trulku'') is a reincarnate custodian of a specific lineage of teachings in Tibetan Buddhism who is given empowerments and trained from a young age by students of his or her predecessor. High-profile examples ...

Amitābha Amitābha ( sa, अमिताभ, IPA: ), also known as Amitāyus, is the primary Buddha of Pure Land Buddhism. In Vajrayana Buddhism, he is known for his longevity, discernment, pure perception, purification of aggregates, and deep awaren ...

before

Khedrup Gelek Pelzang, 1st Panchen Lama Khedrup Gelek Pelzang, 1st Panchen Lama (1385–1438 CE) – better known as Khedrup Je – was one of the main disciples of Je Tsongkhapa, whose reforms to Atiśa's Kadam tradition are considered the beginnings of the Gelug ...

. The lineage starts with Subhuti, one of the original disciples of

Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...

. Bhāviveka is considered to be the third Indian

in this line.Stein, R. A. ''Tibetan Civilization'', (1972) p. 84. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California. (cloth); .

References

Sources

Primary Sources in Translation

* V. V. Gokhale; S. S. Bahulkar. “Madhyamakahrdayakārikā Tarkajvālā: Chapter I.” In Miscellanea Buddhica: 76–107. Edited by Chr. Lindtner. Indiske Studier 5. Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag, 1985. * V. V. Gokhale. “The Second Chapter of Bhavya’s Madhyamakahrdayakārikā (Taking the Vow of an Ascetic).” IIJ 14 (1972): 40–45. * Shotaro Iida. ''Reason and Emptiness: A Study in Logic and Mysticism''. Tokyo: The Hokuseido Press, 1980. This contains Chapter 3 of Madhyamakahrdayakārikā, verses 1–136 with commentary. * Chikafumi Watanabe. “A Translation of the Madhyamakahrdayakārikā with the Tarkajvālā III.137-146.” JIABS 21 (1998): 125–55. * Eckel, Malcolm D. ''To See the Buddha: A Philosopher’s Quest for the Meaning of Emptiness'' (1992). San Francisco: Harper San Francisco. Reprint ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994. This contains a translation of Madhyamakahrdayakārikā Chapter 3, verses 266–360, with commentary. *Eckel, Malcolm David. (2008). ''Bhāviveka and his Buddhist Opponents.'' Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Harvard Oriental Series, Vol. 70, ISBN 9780674032734. This contains a translation of chapters 4 and 5. * A series of articles by Paul Hoornaert contain the Sanskrit text of the verses of chapter 5 and Tibetan text of the commentary with translation. These were published in ''Studies and Essays, Behavioral Sciences and Philosophy, Faculty of Letters, Kanazawa University'' (19 to 23, 1999 - 2003). * Qvarnström, Olle (1989). ''Hindu philosophy in Buddhist perspective: the Vedāndatattvaviniścaya chapter of Bhavya's Madhyamakahṛdayakārikā.'' Lund: Plus Ultra. Lund Studies in African and Asian Religions, Vol. 4. ISBN 91 86668 30 7. *Qvarnström, Olle (2015). ''Bhavya on Samkhya and Vedanta'': ''The Sāṃkhyatattvāvatāra and Vedāndatattvaviniścaya Chapters of the Madhyamakahṛdayakārikā and Tarkajvālā.'' Harvard Department of South Asian Studies. * Lindtner, Christian. Bhavya on

: ''Mīmāṃsātattvāvatāra''. Chennai: Adyar Library and Research Centre, 2001. *Ames, William Longstreet (1986). ''Bhāvaviveka's Prajnāpradīpa: six chapters.'' Contains chapters three, four, five, seventeen, twenty-three, and twenty-six.

Secondary Sources

* Georges B.J. Dreyfus & L. Sara McClintock (2015), ''Svatantrika-Prasangika Distinction: What Difference Does a Difference Make?'', Simon and Schuster * * *

External links

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Madhyamaka
{{Authority control 500 births 578 deaths 6th-century Buddhist monks 6th-century Indian philosophers Atheist philosophers Indian Buddhist monks Indian scholars of Buddhism Madhyamaka scholars