Riwayat Hidup YM Atisha

[xenocross]

Atisha and the Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment
Parallels
There are many parallels between the lives of the great Buddhist teacher Atisha, and
His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama. Like His Holiness, Atisha was a
monk, and a renowned scholar in the Buddhist philosophical systems of his time.
Also, like His Holiness, Atisha travelled widely, leaving India - the country of his
birth - to venture to distant parts of the then known world to study and practise the
Buddhist teachings. Like His Holiness, Atisha also faced the challenge of finding new
ways to present the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha – already more than 1500 years
old – by creatively adapting and interpreting them for the people of his own time and
culture.

Atisha’s life story
Prince, Buddhist monk, traveller, scholar, great meditator – and devastatingly
handsome as well! Tibetans love telling the stories of the great masters and yogis of
the past, and it is not surprising that the life story of Atisha is one of their all time
favourites.
Atisha’s early life
Atisha was born in the year 982 AD in East Bengal. Like Shakyamuni Buddha before
him, he was born into a royal family and was given the name Chandragarbha,
meaning “Moon Essence”. He was later given the name Atisha, meaning peace, by
the Tibetan king Jangchub Oe. It is said that at the time of his birth there were many
auspicious signs, and that from his very early childhood Prince Chandragarbha
displayed an unusually peaceful and compassionate nature, and an aspiration to
spiritual practice.
At the age of only 18 months his parents took the young prince on a visit to a nearby
temple. Thousands of people lined the streets of the city to catch a glimpse of the
child. Atisha asked his parents: “Who are these people?” They replied; “They are
your subjects.” The child looked on the crowds with compassion and said: “If only
they could each have the same good fortune and wealth as I. May they all follow the
Dharma!” Clearly this was no ordinary child. According to the Buddhist teachings,
our actions and experience in previous lives carry over to influence our experience
and personality in this life. In the case of the young prince Atisha, only the
experience of very high spiritual realisations carried over from previous lives could
explain this behaviour.
The young prince also had a special connection with Tara, the female Buddha
embodying all the Buddhas’ activities of great compassion. It is said that when he
was a baby sitting in his mother’s lap, blue flowers would sometimes rain from the
sky and the baby seemed to be smiling at an unseen presence. The great yogis of the
kingdom interpreted this as a sign that Tara was appearing to the child. With their
son’s obvious connection with spiritual matters, Atisha’s parents feared that he might
leave his kingdom to become a monk. Therefore they surrounded him with luxury
and, as he grew into a young adult, planned to arrange a marriage for him. Some of
the most beautiful young women of noble birth in the kingdom were introduced to
him in the hope that Atisha would take a bride. At this time Tara manifested to
Atisha and counselled him not to be attached to his kingdom or worldly life in
general. She advised the prince that he had a strong karmic potential to become a
great spiritual teacher, as a result of meditation and practice in previous lives. Just as
an elephant stuck in a swamp cannot free itself due to being weighed down by its own
body, so, Tara said, Atisha would be trapped in worldly existence if he used his
potential for mundane pursuits.
Inspired by Tara’s words, Atisha formed the firm determination to practise Dharma
and to attain enlightenment.

Atisha’s search for a master
The prince’s first step on the path to enlightenment was to find a spiritual master who
would instruct him in meditation and the Buddhist teachings. However, his father had
arranged for a guard of 130 cavalrymen to accompany his son at all times. However,
Atisha managed to steal away secretly, pretending that he was travelling to the
mountains. He then quickly sought out a number of renowned Indian masters of his
day. The great teacher Jetari first gave him teachings on taking refuge in the Three
Jewels of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, and on bodhichitta, the mind aspiring to
reach enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings. Jetari then advised him to
travel to the great monastery of Nalanda to study with the spiritual guide
Bodhibhadra. Bodhibhadra gave Atisha brief instructions on bodhichitta, and advised
him that to further his practice, he should seek out the great meditator and teacher
Vidyakokila, known to have attained the perfect realisation of the wisdom perceiving
emptiness. Having instructed Atisha in the vast and profound paths, Vidyakokila then
advised his student to study with the great vajrayana master, Avadhutipa. Avadhutipa
said that he would give teachings to the prince, but that he should first seek out the
famous Rahulagupta, known as the Black Mountain Yogi, for instruction and then
return to him later for more detailed teachings on the vajrayana path. The prince
travelled to the Black Mountain and found Rahulagupta, a great tantric practitioner,
who first tested his new student’s resolve by hurling a lightning bolt at him as he
approached! After Atisha had made requests for instruction for thirteen days,
Rahulagupta agreed, and gave him the secret name Jhana-guhya-vajra, or
Indestructible Wisdom, and the empowerment of the Hevajra lineage. However, he
told Atisha that before practising further he should first obtain his parents’ consent to
be released from his royal duties. He also arranged for an escort of eight naked yogis
and yoginis to accompany Atisha home.
Atisha returned to his parents’ palace. For the first three months, he behaved as if he
had lost his mind, wandering aimlessly and speaking incoherently. All who saw him,
accompanied by his entourage of eccentric yogis and yoginis, decided that Atisha had
become a madman and was not fit to govern. One day his father, most distressed of
all, could no longer contain his sadness. Approaching Atisha, together with the queen
he said to him: “Alas my son! From the time of your birth I believed you would
become a superior king and live in great happiness. What has the forest retreat done
to your mind?” To his parents’ surprise the prince replied lucidly: “Royal father! If I
became a king I would be with you only for this life! In future lives we would never
meet, and this life, for all its luxury and wealth would have been for nothing. I wish
for nothing more than to practise Dharma purely in this life to achieve liberation and
enlightenment. In that way I can properly repay the kindness of you my dear parents
and all living beings. Please release me from royal duties so that I may devote my life
wholly to the Dharma.” Recalling the auspicious signs and dreams that had attended
Atisha’s birth, his mother quickly consented. The king remained unhappy at the
prospect of losing his son, and would not at first accept the request, but in time
granted his son’s wish.
The very next day after receiving his parents’ consent, Atisha returned to Avadhutipa
to receive further instructions in the vajrayana tradition from the great master. After
seven years’ strong practice of study and meditation, he developed great
accomplishments, to the point where one day he began to experience a sense of pride.
He felt to himself: “In all the world, there may be no one who understands these texts
as well as I!” That night while he was sleeping Atisha dreamed that he was visited by
dakinis who showed him countless vajrayana texts, even the names of which he had
never heard. Atisha awoke to find that as a result of his dream his feelings of pride
had been dispelled.

[xenocross]

From India to Indonesia

At the age of twenty-nine, Atisha experienced a vision in which Rahulagupta
appeared to him, walking through the wall of his room. The Black Mountain Yogi
scolded him and told him that it would be most beneficial for his practice and for the
Dharma if he were to take ordination as a monk. Atisha had several more dreams in
which his teachers and deities appeared before him and gave him similar advice.
Following this direction, Atisha received ordination from the great master Silarakshita
shortly thereafter and was given the name Dipamkara Srijnana.
Studying the three higher trainings and the tenets of the Great Exposition school
under the renowned teacher Dharmarakshita, Atisha deepened his realisations of
wisdom and compassion and was known for his pure ethical behaviour. Still, after
many years of further study, he found himself more and more preoccupied. For all his
progress in study and meditation he still yearned to find the method that would bring
him quickly and directly to enlightenment. If there was any place where he might
find an answer to this riddle, surely it was Bodhgaya, the holy place where
Shakyamuni Buddha had himself manifested the attainment of enlightenment so many
centuries before? Atisha accordingly journeyed there on a pilgrimage.
Circumambulating Bodhgaya’s great stupa, Atisha experienced a clear vision in
which two manifestations of Tara appeared in the space before him. One asked the
other: “What is the most important practice for achieving enlightenment?”. The other
replied: “The practice of bodhichitta, supported by loving kindness and great
compassion is most important.”
Convinced that he had now found the answer to his question, Atisha formed the
single-minded aspiration to perfect his understanding and practice of the mind of
enlightenment, or bodhichitta. After checking thoroughly with a number of scholars
and yogis he learned that a high master called Suvarnadvipi (later known to Tibetans
as Serlingpa) was reputed to have the most vast and profound realisations of
bodhichitta. However, Suvarnadvipi lived on the distant island of Sumatra, in present
day Indonesia. Atisha nonetheless quickly arranged to travel there, so intense was his
wish to learn more about the methods that could quickly bring him closer to
enlightenment.
Atisha made the journey to Sumatra by boat with a group of traders. The voyage took
more than 13 months and many difficulties arose along the way. At one point an
extremely violent storm blew up, driving the boat back in the direction it had come
from. It is said that Atisha was able to subdue the storm by the power of his
meditative stabilisation. At another stage in the journey, a monstrous whale, said to
be an emanation of a demon blocked the boat’s passage, and the voyagers were lucky
to escape with their lives. Eventually however, the small boat reached its destination
at the very edge of the known world.
Having reached the end of his long journey, Atisha did not approach Suvarnadvipi
immediately. Understanding the importance of selecting a spiritual master, and
following the methods taught by his previous teachers, he first carefully investigated
Suvarnadvipi’s qualities by closely questioning his friends and students. Having
satisfied himself of the master’s wisdom and compassion, he then approached
Suvarnadvipi to request teachings. Suvarnadvipi joyfully accepted Atisha’s request.
Through his clairvoyant powers, he was aware that this very special student had been
travelling over the sea to Sumatra to receive teachings from him and perceived
Atisha’s great potential to develop realisations. Many great offering ceremonies were
performed in subsequent days. Suvarnadvipi agreed to provide the transmission of all
the bodhichitta teachings held by him, including the secret mind training techniques
passed down through a direct oral lineage originating with Manjushri, the Buddha
embodying all the Buddhas’ qualities of perfect wisdom. He explained that Atisha
should remain in Sumatra and practise these methods for 12 years, prophesying that if
he did so he would attain perfect realisation of bodhichitta.
Atisha practised strongly for 12 years, fulfilling his teacher’s wishes. Then one day
Suvarnadvipi suddenly advised his student to leave Sumatra, telling him: “Noble One,
do not stay here. Go to the north. In the north is the Land of Snows!” A new phase
was about to begin in Atisha’s life, a phase that would irrevocably change the course
of Tibetan history and Tibetan Buddhism.

His return to India
Atisha returned initially to India. He quickly became famous for the brilliance of his
teachings, and his unparalleled abilities in debate with other teachers and
philosophers. As a result, he was appointed abbot of Nalanda Monastery, the greatest
of all Buddhist monasteries in India, and the largest that has ever existed.
While a golden age of Dharma reigned in India, in Tibet it was a very different story.
The Buddhist teachings had been conveyed to Tibet two centuries earlier but had been
suppressed by the evil king, Langdarma. Although the teachings had again been
established in the Land of Snows, there was great confusion about correct practice,
especially about the way to correctly combine the practices of sutra and tantra. Some
people were also misled by teachers who gave instructions in black magic and
harmful mantras under the guise of teaching Dharma.

[xenocross]

The story of Yeshe Oe and Jangchub Oe
The Tibetan king of that time, Lhalama Yeshe Oe, was a sincere Dharma practitioner.
His strongest wish was to re-establish the pure lineage of teachings and rid Tibet of
the great confusion that existed. Yeshe Oe therefore requested 21 of the brightest
students in the country to travel to India, where there were so many great teachers and
pandits. His hope was that some of those teachers could be persuaded to come to
Tibet to teach pure Dharma. For the Tibetans, the journey from their high country
beyond the Himalayas to the heat of the Indian plains was extremely difficult. All but
two of them died. While the two who survived managed to significantly further their
understanding of Dharma, and returned to Tibet with many new scriptures and
teachings, they were unable to persuade any of India’s great teachers to return with
them. During their time in India however, they had learned of the great Dipamkara
Srijnana. On returning to Tibet they had an audience with their king. They said to
Yeshe Oe: “In India there lives a monk of royal birth known as Dipamkara Srijnana.
If you could persuade him to come to Tibet, it is certain that he would be of great
benefit.” On merely hearing Dipamkara Srijnana’s name, Yeshe Oe was overcome by
an unshakeable faith in him and his qualities. He resolved to do all in his power to
bring the great teacher to Tibet.
It was the custom at the time to offer gold to teachers of the Dharma, as a sign of the
student’s respect and aspiration for the teachings. Yeshe Oe therefore set about
amassing a great treasure of gold that he would offer to Atisha, to support his request
for the master to come to Tibet. Yeshe Oe decided to travel himself with followers to
the four corners of his country to search for gold. His journey took him to the border
regions however, and the party was captured by the ruler of a neighbouring kingdom,
the Garlog khan. Yeshe Oe himself was thrown into prison. Yeshe Oe’s nephew,
Jangchub Oe learnt of his uncle’s capture and went to Yeshe Oe’s aid, pleading with
the Garlog khan for his release. The khan offered Jangchub Oe – two options: he
would release Yeshe Oe firstly if he and Jangchub Oe abandoned their plan to bring
the great pandit to Tibet and became his vassals, or alternatively if Jangchub Oe
brought him the king’s weight in gold. Jangchub Oe immediately set out to search for
more gold to pay the ransom. After a great deal of difficulty he managed to collect
the weight of Yeshe Oe’s body in gold, excluding his head. He returned to the Garlog
khan, hoping that he would accept this treasure. The khan flatly refused. The
distraught Jangchub Oe managed however to find Yeshe Oe’s prison and speak to his
uncle through the locked door. Jangchub Oe was distressed. He explained to his
uncle that he did not wish to oppose the khan by making war against him, because so
many innocent lives would be lost. Nor did he wish to accept the khan’s demand that
they yield to him and give up Yeshe Oe’s plans to bring Atisha to Tibet. Therefore,
Jangchub Oe said, he would leave again and search far and wide for more gold so that
the full ransom could be paid. Yeshe Oe laughed, and said: “No, please do not give
even a speck of gold to this evil khan! I am old now and there is nothing more
beneficial that I could do with my life than offer it for the benefit of the Dharma and
Tibet. Please take the gold you have already collected and offer it to Dipamkara
Srijnana. Please tell him of Tibet’s need for his help. Tell him that our need is so
great that I have given up my own life in the hope that he will come to Tibet and teach
the pure Dharma! Nephew, please do not think of me. Think of Tibet and the
Dharma.” Jangchub Oe could not bear the thought of leaving his uncle in prison, but
he also perceived clearly that Yeshe Oe’s deepest aspiration was that he try to bring
Atisha to Tibet. Buoyed by his uncle’s courage, Jangchub Oe bade Yeshe Oe
farewell and resolved to carry out his wishes to the letter.

The Tibetans plead with Atisha to travel to Tibet
Jangchub Oe, now king in his uncle’s place, quickly set about arranging for a party to
journey to India with the golden offering for Atisha. Jangchub Oe himself travelled
with the party, led by the translator Nagtso, for much of the way. After many months
the weary Tibetans arrived at Nalanda monastery. They were recognised as Tibetans
and taken to the house of a Tibetan lama, Gyatsoen Senge, who had lived in India for
some years. Nagtso explained the purpose of their journey – to persuade Atisha to
travel with them back to Tibet. Gyatsoen Senge said immediately: “Speak about this
to no one. If the Elder Ratnakarashanti learns what you intend to do he will never
allow it! In order to succeed in your objective you will have to work very carefully
and skilfully.”
Gyatsoen Senge arranged for Nagtso and his followers to make offerings of gold to
the Elder Ratnakarashanti, which pleased him very much, without disclosing their true
purpose. Gyatsoen Senge watched carefully over the following weeks for a chance
for the Tibetans to meet Atisha in person without arousing suspicion. One day the
opportunity arose and Gyatsoen Senge quickly told Nagtso to come with him to
Atisha’s room. There they offered Atisha a world mandala one cubit high, richly
decorated with gold. Gyatsoen Senge spoke of the confusion about Dharma in Tibet,
of Yeshe Oe’s sacrifice and of the Bodhisattva Jangchub Oe’s heartfelt request that
Atisha come to their aid.
Atisha was deeply moved by the obvious courage and sincerity of the Tibetans who
had travelled so far to make this request. He said: “The Tibetan king is a Bodhisattva.
These people have made great sacrifices to benefit the pure Dharma. It would be
wrong for me to disregard this request. Still I am now old and have many duties here
at Nalanda. If I travel to Tibet I can never hope to return. I will consider this further.
Please keep your gold for now.”
The Tibetans then departed, while Atisha carefully considered whether it would bring
greater benefit if he travelled to Tibet rather than remaining in India. He consulted
with Tara, who told him that by accepting the request to go to Tibet, Atisha would
produce the greatest benefit for the Dharma teachings and sentient beings. However,
it would also shorten his own lifespan. If he were to remain in India he would live to
ninety-one, but if he went to Tibet, he would live until seventy-three. Thinking of the
benefits that would flow from travelling to the Land of Snows, Atisha decided that he
would do so.
However, perceiving that if he left too quickly people would speak of the Dharma in
India going into decline, Atisha skilfully spoke of his intention to go on a great
pilgrimage to various holy places. He then asked the Elder Ratnakarashanti if he
could include the many holy sites in Nepal and Tibet in his pilgrimage. After some
thought the Elder consented, but on condition that Atisha should come back to India
in no more than 3 years. The Elder charged Nagtso with the responsibility for
ensuring that Atisha returned within that time. With great joy, Atisha, Nagtso and the
rest of their followers prepared for their journey to the Land of Snows.

[xenocross]

Atisha in Tibet
With advance notice that Atisha was indeed coming to Tibet, Jangchub Oe rode to
meet him with a guard of 300 horsemen. After the joyful celebrations had finished,
Jangchub Oe made special requests of Atisha. He explained how the Dharma had
declined in Tibet. Some people followed the sutra teachings only and never practised
tantra. Others engaged only in tantric practices and neglected sutra. “Compassionate
Atisha”, he said, “there is great confusion about correct practice in Tibet. If it pleases
you, I request you not to teach on the most profound subjects. Rather please teach
about karma, the law of cause and effect. Please teach us those practices that are most
easy to follow, and that include the essential meaning of all the Buddha’s teachings of
sutra and tantra.” Jangchub Oe also asked a number of questions about correct
Dharma practice.
Atisha was greatly pleased by Jangchub Oe’s sincerity and wisdom. In response he
composed the Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment. Only three folios long, this text
nonetheless answered all the questions that had been put by Jangchub Oe and, as
requested, distilled all the Buddha’s eighty four thousand teachings of Dharma into a
clear simple guide for practice.
As a result of Atisha’s activities and his great reputation, the practice of pure Dharma
in Tibet quickly flourished. At the end of three years Atisha prepared to return to
India as he had promised. On the long road back to India, he was accompanied by
Nagtso and his foremost Tibetan disciple, the layman Dromtoenpa. However, on
reaching the border with Nepal the party found that their way was blocked as a result
of a war that had broken out. Nagtso was very concerned because of his promise to
the Elder Ratnakarashanti that Atisha would return. Atisha said that Nagtso should
not worry – he had done everything possible to fulfil his promise. However, Atisha
did arrange for a message to be sent through to the Elder at Nalanda explaining that
he had been unable to return but could do so once the war had ceased. However, he
also wrote in his letter that in his opinion it would be most beneficial if he remained in
Tibet. He requested permission to do so, pointing out that if this was possible, he
would be able to compose texts similar to The Lamp for the Path. Atisha also
enclosed a copy of the text, personally signed, and an offering of gold.
When he received the message, the Elder Ratnakarashanti submitted the copy of The
Lamp for the Path to his highest and most skilled pandits at Nalanda. They were
astonished at how Atisha’s composition clearly and accurately condensed all the
manifold teachings of sutra and tantra into a single short text. The great pandits
recognised that Atisha would never have composed this work had he not travelled to
Tibet. Ratnakarashanti therefore sent a message back to Atisha, consenting to his
wish to remain in Tibet.
Atisha stayed in Tibet for 17 years in total. His clear and pure teachings initiated a
golden age of Dharma in the Land of Snows. Through his foremost disciple
Dromtoenpa, Atisha gave the teachings of the stages to the path of enlightenment,
known in Tibetan as lam.rim. Through these instructions three great lineages of
lam.rim teachings were passed down to subsequent generations, including the great Je
Tsong Khapa. Tsong Khapa’s lam.rim texts, following the structure and content of
Atisha’s tradition, remain the cornerstone of Tibetan Buddhist teachings to this day.
In the new millennium, Atisha’s clear and practical methods are taught in places as
diverse as India, Europe, the US and Australia.

[xenocross]

A Postscript
A small postscript to the Atisha story: as mentioned, legend has it that Atisha was
unusually handsome, even in his later years. One story from his time in Tibet tells of
how he approached a small farmhouse to request an offering of food. An elderly
woman lived in the house. At the time she was milking her cow. Suddenly there was
a knock at the door. The cow took fright at the unexpected sound and kicked the full
pot of milk over. The old lady, in a rage, picked up a clod of mud from the earthen
floor of her house as she advanced to the door, meaning to teach the disruptive visitor
a lesson. Flinging the door open, and ready to take aim, she found herself face to face
with an extremely attractive man. “Oh!” she gasped, letting the clod of mud slip
quickly from her hand, “Please come in for some butter tea!”

[xenocross]

Atisha’s Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment

Atisha composed the Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment to cut through the great
confusion about the Buddhist teachings that existed in Tibet at the time.
It is said that Shakyamuni Buddha taught eighty-four thousand Dharmas – a huge
variety of teachings, methods and meditations encompassing the five paths, the three
vehicles and the methods of sutra and tantra. Why did Shakyamuni Buddha teach so
many different methods? Every person’s situation is different – their aspirations,
environment, problems, outlook and expectations. So the most effective method for
developing inner peace, wisdom, compassion and understanding also varies from
person to person. In order to find the methods that are the most useful for us
personally, we need to understand how the various teachings relate to one another and
which methods are the best to use in each situation in which we find ourselves. If we
don’t understand this, we can be as confused about spiritual practice as so many
Tibetans were before Atisha travelled to the Land of Snows.
From a Buddhist point of view the Dharma includes methods that can utterly
transform the lives and experience of every sentient being. If we practise Dharma
properly and sincerely we can find the solution to any problem or difficulty
whatsoever that we or others might experience. But if we use these methods without
proper understanding or skill, we may make ourselves more confused.
For example, we might have all the ingredients in our kitchen cupboards that we need
to prepare a delicious meal. If we try to prepare the meal by simply throwing the
various ingredients together in a random order, the result will be a disaster rather than
a delight! The same principle applies to spiritual practice.
Atisha’s Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, and the lam.rim tradition of teachings
that has followed from it, present the various methods in a clear order and according
to a progressive structure. It begins with the subjects that are easiest to understand,
gradually leading students up to the most profound and subtle teachings of the true
nature of phenomena.

It is said that the teachings following Atisha’s Lamp for the Path tradition have four
great qualities:
1. They show that teachings and methods that might at face value appear
contradictory, are in fact not. For example, we may be advised not to follow
certain methods at the beginning of our practice, but those same methods may be
useful at later stages as our understanding develops.
2. They show that all scriptures are instructions for practice. The lam.rim teachings
are uniquely practical. Their main aim is not to increase our knowledge of
philosophy or other intellectual knowledge. Rather they show us how we can
change our perspective on every moment of our lives, transforming all our day to
day experiences – whether they are things that we enjoy or dislike - into
opportunities for personal growth.
3. They enable us to understand how the eighty four thousand Dharmas taught by
Shakyamuni Buddha fit in with one another, and which method will be most
useful for us at any one time.
4. By enabling us to see that all these manifold methods are useful, we become free
of sectarianism, imagining that the traditions or practices that we personally
favour provide the only valid approach to spiritual practice.
Lam.rim was the main method that Atisha taught to dispel confusion in Tibet and it
has continued to form the heart of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition for more than 1000
years. Many Westerners find lam.rim especially suitable to the outlook of Western
societies and cultures – in that its teachings are clearly and logically structured, and
because its emphasis is utterly practical. If we want to find out how to respond more
constructively to that person who is really bugging us at work, or the crazy driver who
cuts us off on the freeway, at the same time as developing profound meditative
insight, lam.rim is for us!

[tanpa_aku]

  translate plz bro xenocross, biar semua bisa paham, thx.