Their story
Atiśa was born in 982 in Bengal, into a noble family according to Tibetan biographies. He studied widely under many teachers in India, and tradition says he spent twelve years in Suvarṇadvīpa, probably Sumatra, with the master known as Dharmakīrti of Suvarṇadvīpa, from whom he learned the practices of compassion that became 'mind training'.
He became a leading teacher at the monastery of Vikramaśīla. The rulers of Guge in western Tibet, anxious to restore a disciplined Buddhism after a century of disruption, invited him repeatedly, and in 1042 he arrived.
For Jangchub Ö of Guge he wrote the Bodhipathapradīpa, 'Lamp for the Path to Awakening'. He then travelled to central Tibet, teaching for the rest of his life, and died at Nyethang, near Lhasa, in 1054.
The world they lived in
After the fall of the Tibetan empire in the 840s, organised Buddhism in central Tibet had largely collapsed. In the late 10th century rulers in the west and monks from the east began a revival, sending translators such as Rinchen Zangpo to India.
Their contribution
He brought clarity and discipline to Tibetan practice, integrating monastic ethics, Mahāyāna compassion and tantra in a single graduated path. His Lamp for the Path arranges all practitioners by capacity, from those seeking a better rebirth to those seeking the awakening of all beings.
Teachings and works
Bodhipathapradīpa (Lamp for the Path to Awakening)
Many shorter works and translations
Made with Tibetan translators; the teachings of mind training (lojong) trace their origin to him.
Related teachings
Their legacy
His disciple Dromtönpa founded Reting monastery in 1056, beginning the Kadampa tradition. Its teachings flowed into every later Tibetan school, and Tsongkhapa's Gelug school regarded itself as the 'new Kadampa'.
History and tradition
What history can establish
His life is well documented for the period, through Tibetan biographies written by those close to his circle, though these are devotional works. His dates are generally accepted.
What Buddhist tradition remembers
A famous story tells that the Guge ruler Yeshe Ö, captured by enemies while raising gold to invite Atiśa, refused to be ransomed and told his nephew to use the gold to bring the teacher instead. Historians doubt the story, but it expresses how much Tibetans valued his coming.
