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Candrakīrti

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Chandrakirti (; Sanskrit: चंद्रकीर्ति; ; , meaning "glory of the moon" in Sanskrit) or "Chandra" was a Buddhist scholar of the Madhyamaka school who was based out of the monastery of Nalanda. He was a noted commentator on the works of Nagarjuna () and those of his main disciple, Aryadeva. He wrote two influential works on Madhyamaka, the Prasannapadā and the Madhyamakāvatāra.

Person · Open Library

Works
20

Top works

  • Sārasvata-vyākaraṇam
  • 入中論釋
  • Mádhyamiká vritti
  • Āryaśrīguhyasamājatantram
  • Prasannapadā madhyamakavṛtti

via Open Library + Wikidata

Key facts

Religious biography.name
Chandrakirti
Religious biography.image
Candrakirti.gif
Religious biography.birth_place
South India
Religious biography.religion
Buddhism
Religious biography.school
Madhyamaka
Religious biography.education
Nalanda

via Wikipedia infobox

~30 min read

Encyclopedic overview

16 sections
Contents
  • Life
  • Debate at Nalanda
  • Philosophy
  • Two Truths
  • The nature of conventional truth
  • The nature of the ultimate truth
  • ''Prāsaṅga'' and reasoning
  • Buddhahood
  • Critiques of Yogācāra
  • Major works
  • Later Influence and Commentaries
  • Other Chandrakirtis
  • See also
  • Notes
  • References
  • External links

Chandrakirti (; Sanskrit: चंद्रकीर्ति; ; , meaning "glory of the moon" in Sanskrit) or "Chandra" was a Buddhist scholar of the Madhyamaka school who was based out of the monastery of Nalanda. He was a noted commentator on the works of Nagarjuna () and those of his main disciple, Aryadeva. He wrote two influential works on Madhyamaka, the Prasannapadā and the Madhyamakāvatāra.

Chandrakirti does not seem to have been very influential during the 7th to 10th centuries, and his works were never translated into Chinese. However, by the 11th and 12th centuries, his work became influential in the north, especially in Kashmir and in Tibet. Over time, Chandrakirti became a major source for the study of Madhyamaka philosophy in Tibetan Buddhism. Chandrakirti's work was especially promoted by Tibetans like Rendawa Zhönnu Lodrö and his student Tsongkhapa as a way to counter the widespread influence of the Uttaratantra, and the shentong views associated with it.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Candrakīrti” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.