Maitripada
Maitrīpadā (c. 1007–1085, also known as Maitrīgupta, Advayavajra, and, to Tibetans, Maitrīpa), was a prominent Indian Buddhist Mahasiddha associated with the Mahāmudrā transmission.[1] His teachers were Shavaripa and Naropa.[1] His students include Atisha, Marpa, Vajrapani, Karopa, Natekara (also known as Sahajavajra), Devākaracandra (also known as Śūnyatāsamādhi), and Rāmapāla.[1] His hermitage was Mithilā (also known as Tirhut), somewhere in northern Bihar and neighboring parts of southern Nepal.[1] He was influential as the major source of the teachings of mahamudra for Tibetan Buddhism.
He is the namesake of Maitripa College.
Works
Maitrīpāda composed commentaries on the buddhist dohas of Saraha. His most important works are a collection of 26 texts on "non-conceptual realization" (amanasikara), which are a key Indian source of mahāmudrā in the Tibetan tradition. These works teach a synthesis of Buddhist Mahayana teachings on emptiness and 'non-abiding' (apratisthana), and Buddhist tantric practices, and they also teach an "instantaneous" path to awakening.[2][3]
Maitrīpāda's Amanasikara cycle of 26 texts is composed of the following:[4]
- Kudrstinirghatana
- Kudrstinirghatavakyatippinika
- Mulapattayah
- Sthulapattayah
- Tattvaratnavali
- Pañcatathagatamudravivarana
- Sekanirdesa
- Caturmudranvaya
- Sekatatparyasamgraha
- Vajrasattva-Pañcakara
- Mayanirukti
- Svapnanirukti
- Tattvaprakasa
- Apratisthanaprakasa
- Yuganaddhaprakasa
- Mahasukhaprakasa
- Tattvavimsika
- Mahayanavimsika
- Nirvedhapañcaka
- Madhyamasatka
- Premapañcaka
- Tattvadasaka
- Amanasikaradhara
- Sahajasatka
- Dohanidhinamatattvopadesa
- Shes pa spro bsdu med par 'jog pa 'i man ngag gsang ba dam pa
References
- "The Life of the Siddha-Philosopher Maitrīgupta" by Mark Tatz Journal of the American Oriental Society Vol. 107, No. 4, 1987, Oct. - Dec. pgs 695-711
Notes
- Roberts, Peter Alan, Mahamudra and Related Instructions: Core Teachings of the Kagyu Schools (Library of Tibetan Classics) 2011, p. 11-12.
- Mathes, Klaus-Dieter, A Fine Blend of Mahamudra and Madhyamaka: Maitripa's Collection of Texts on Non-Conceptual Realization (Amanasikara), (Sitzungsberichte Der Philosophisch-Historischen Klasse), 2016, p. 1.
- Ulrich Timme Kragh, Tibetan yoga and mysticism : a textual study of the yogas of Nāropa and Mahāmudrā meditation in the medieval tradition of Dags po 2015, p. 72-73
- Mathes, Klaus-Dieter, A Fine Blend of Mahamudra and Madhyamaka: Maitripa's Collection of Texts on Non-Conceptual Realization (Amanasikara), (Sitzungsberichte Der Philosophisch-Historischen Klasse), 2016, p. 5.
