Atiśa Dīpaṃkara Śrījñāna

Atiśa (c. 982–1054 CE): Bengali Buddhist master who came to Tibet in 1042 and helped drive the "later spread" of Buddhism and the Kadam tradition.

Tibetan

Overview

Invited by the western Tibetan king Jangchub Ö, Atiśa taught in Ngari and central Tibet from 1042 until his death, emphasising monastic discipline and the graded path (lamrim) that later schools, including the Gelug, drew on. He marks the renewal of Indo-Tibetan religious exchange after the fragmentation of the imperial state.