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.
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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.