Chandrakirti

Chandrakirti (; ; 600-650, meaning "glory of the moon" in Sanskrit) or "Chandra" was a Buddhist scholar of the Madhyamaka school and a noted commentator on the works of Nagarjuna (150-250 CE) 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 10 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. As noted by Kevin A. Vose, Chandrakirti is seen by many Tibetan Buddhists as offering "the most thorough and accurate vision of Nāgārjuna's emptiness, which, in turn, most fully represents the final truth of the Buddha's teaching." He is considered by Tibetans to be the main exponent of what they term the "Prāsaṅgika" sub-school of madhyamaka. However, this doxographical categorization only arose in Tibet during the 12th century. Very little is known about Chandrakirti's life, though Tibetan sources state that he was born in South India, became a Buddhist monk and was a student of Kamalabuddhi (who was the student of Buddhapalita). Tibetan sources like Bu ston and Taranatha state that Chandrakirti was active at Nalanda University, where he is said to have become an abbot. He is also said to have debated the yogācāra philosopher Chandragomin. According to Karen Lang:According to Bus ton and Taranatha, Candrakirti was born in south India and entered a monastery, where he mastered all the Buddhist scriptures. Taranatha adds that he was born in Samanta during the reign of King Sila, the son of Sriharsa. He took a special interest in Nagarjuna's treatises and studied them with the disciples of two rival interpreters, Bhavaviveka and Buddhapalita.