People/Parahitabhadra

परहितभद्र

Parahitabhadra(b. 11th Century - ) 

Born in:

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Kashmir

Notes on dates:

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BDRC dates this figure (naming him Parahitaprabha) in the 14th Century, though this is clearly mistaken based on what we know of his teachers and students.

གཞན་ལ་ཕན་པ་བཟང་པོ་

Kashmiri Paṇḍita who became an important teacher and collaborator for several influential Tibetan scholars and translators that spent time studying in Kashmir in the 11th Century. According to Karl Brunnhölzl in When the Clouds Part:

Parahitabhadra was a student of the Kashmirian Mahāpaṇḍita Somaśrī and also studied Madhyamaka with Ratnavajra. Parahitabhadra's main Indian student was Mahāsumati, and he also taught Ngog Lotsāwa, Patsab Lotsāwa, Sangkar Lotsāwa Pagpa Sherab (a student of Jñānaśrībhadra), Sherab Gyaltsen (a student of Atiśa), Shönnu Cho, Su Gawé Dorje, and Marpa Dopa. Together with these translators, Parahita translated or revised many sūtras, tantras, and treatises (more than twenty works in the Tengyur, among them the Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra and the Dharmadharmatāvibhāga). There is also evidence that he collaborated with Sajjana, as their common revision of the Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra shows. In addition, the Tengyur contains three works authored by Parahitabhadra (a Śūnyatāsaptativṛtti, a Maṇḍalābhiṣekavidhi, and a rather extensive commentary on the first two verses of the Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra). Besides Kashmir, he was active in Toling in western Tibet. It seems that he was more of a Madhyamaka and Pramāṇa specialist, but there is no doubt that he was a part of the eleventh-century Kashmirian paṇḍita scene that was involved with the Maitreya texts and transmitted them to Tibet (he is also mentioned in one of the Tibetan transmission lineages of the Uttaratantra). (88)

Mentioned in

Article

A History of Buddha-Nature Theory: The Literature and Traditions

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A lengthy historical survey of buddha-nature theory through the literature and traditions, based on academic scholarship.

Gardner, Alex. "A History of Buddha-Nature Theory: The Literature and Traditions." Buddha-Nature: A Tsadra Foundation Initiative, October 9, 2019. https://buddhanature.tsadra.org/index.php/Articles/A_History_of_Buddha-Nature_Theory:_The_Literature_and_Traditions.

Gardner, Alex. "A History of Buddha-Nature Theory: The Literature and Traditions." Buddha-Nature: A Tsadra Foundation Initiative, October 9, 2019. https://buddhanature.tsadra.org/index.php/Articles/A_History_of_Buddha-Nature_Theory:_The_Literature_and_Traditions.;A History of Buddha-Nature Theory: The Literature and Traditions;History of buddha-nature in China;History of buddha-nature in India;History of buddha-nature in Japan;History of buddha-nature in Tibet;History;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Early Buddhism;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Early Buddhism;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Indian Buddhism;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Japanese Buddhism;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Theravadin Buddhism;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Tibetan Buddhism;Yogācāra;Madhyamaka;Alex Gardner;&nbsp

Text

Marpa Dopa Chökyi Wangchuk: A Commentary on the Meaning of the Words of the Uttaratantra

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An early Tibetan commentary on the Uttaratantra, both the śāstra and the vyākhyā, that purports to represent the teachings passed on by the Kashmiri Parahitabhadra to his Tibetan student Marpa, though it is not entirely clear whether this refers to Marpa Dopa or Marpa Chökyi Lodrö, both of whom were important early Kagyu masters and translators that travelled south to receive teachings which they imported and propagated in Tibet. Nevertheless, the text follows more closely Indian commentarial styles and includes typical Mahāmudrā type instructions in its exegesis. Thus it is a prime example of the lineage that descends from Maitrīpa that came to dominate the Kagyu school's approach to the Uttaratantra in later generations.

Rgyud bla ma'i tshig don rnam par 'grel pa;Mahamudra;Kagyu;Marpa Dopa Chökyi Wangchuk;མར་པ་དོ་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག་;mar pa do pa chos kyi dbang phyug;mar pa do ba chos kyi dbang phyug;མར་པ་དོ་བ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག་;rgyud bla ma'i tshig don rnam par 'grel pa;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ཚིག་དོན་རྣམ་པར་འགྲེལ་པ།;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ཚིག་དོན་རྣམ་པར་འགྲེལ་པ།

Other names

• Parahita · other names

Affiliations & relations

• Somaśrī · teacher
• Ratnavajra · teacher
• rngog blo ldan shes rab · student
• mar pa do pa chos kyi dbang phyug · student
• gzus dga' ba rdo rje · student
• gzhon nu mchog · student