Bibliography
Barua, B. M. Asoka and His Inscriptions,2 vols. Calcutta: New
Age, 1946.
Li Rongxi, trans. The Biographical Scripture of King Asoka.
Berkeley, CA: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and
Research, 1993.
Nikam, N. A., and McKeon, Richard, eds. and trans. The Edicts
of Asoka.Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966.
Strong, John S. The Legend of King As ́oka.Princeton, NJ: Prince-
ton University Press, 1983.
Thapar, Romila. As ́oka and the Decline of the Mauryas.Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1961.
JOHNS. STRONGAS ́VAGHOSA
As ́vaghosa (ca. 100 C.E.) was a Sanskrit poet and
dramatist. As is the case with nearly all the writers of
ancient India, legend and fictional anecdote take the
place of biographical fact, but the association of
As ́vaghosa with the Kushan king Kaniska is at least
chronologically possible.
As ́vaghosa is the author of two long poems, among
the earliest extant in Sanskrit: BUDDHACARITA(Acts of
the Buddha) and Saundarananda,about the conver-
sion of the Buddha’s half-brother Nanda. Fewer than
half of the twenty-eight cantos of the Buddhacaritasur-
vive complete in the original Sanskrit, bringing the
story only as far as the Buddha’s enlightenment, but
Tibetan and Chinese translations preserve the entire
work. Only fragments survive of As ́vaghosa’s nine-act
play, S ́ariputraprakarana(The Matter[or Drama] of
S ́ariputra), about the conversion of S ́ARIPUTRAand
MAHAMAUDGALYAYANA, later to become two of the
Buddha’s main disciples. Of the other works attributed
to As ́vaghosa, only the fragments of another drama are
likely to be his.
The profound knowledge of brahmanical lore dis-
played in his writing supports the Chinese tradition
that he was born a brahman and only later converted
to Buddhism. Conversion is the main theme of two of
his works and also figures prominently in the third.
His avowed purpose in writing was to win converts to
the Buddha’s teaching by the charm of his art and the
intensity of his conviction. As ́vaghosa’s fame as a
writer and the legend of his life contributed to his
renown in East Asia and resulted in a number of works,
such as the AWAKENING OFFAITH(DASHENG QIXIN
LUN), being falsely attributed to him.See also:Sanskrit, Buddhist Literature inBibliography
Johnston, E. H., ed. and trans. The Saundarananda of As ́vaghosa,
2 vols. London: Oxford University Press, 1928 and 1932.
Johnston, E. H., ed. and trans. The Buddhacarita or, Acts of the
Buddha.Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1993.
Lüders, Heinrich. “Das S ́ariputraprakarana, ein Drama des
As ́vaghosa.” In Philologica Indica.Göttingen, Germany:
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1940.PETERKHOROCHEATISHAAtisha (982–1054) was born to the ruler of a minor
kingdom in Northeast India. He studied under the best
Buddhist teachers of his time, including Jetari (whose
name is also written Jitari) and Bodhibhadra. After
some years of married life he entered the Buddhist or-
der, where he was given the name Dpamkaras ́rjñana
(Light of Wisdom). Atisha, the name by which he is
better known, is an apabhram ́as (proto-Bengali) form
of the common Buddhist Sanskrit term atis ́aya,which
means “surpassing intention or kindness.” In Tibet,
Atisha is more commonly known as Jo bo rje (pro-
nounced Jowojay), which conveys the idea of holiness
and leadership.
According to later hagiographical accounts, after
becoming a monk, Atisha studied in the four great
monastic universities of the Pala dynasty (eighth to
twelfth centuries): Nalanda, Otantapuri, Vikramas ́la,
and Somapuri. He then traveled to Suvarnadvpa (per-
haps Sumatra in present-day Indonesia), where he met
his most important teacher, Dharmakrtis ́r, a Citta-
matra (Mind Only) philosopher who taught Atisha
MAHAYANAaltruism (bodhicitta). Atisha returned to
India when he was middle-aged, and the Pala king
Nayapala appointed him abbot of Vikramas ́la, where
he launched a program of monastic renewal.
At the end of the tenth century, the king of Mnga’
ris (Ngari) in far western Tibet, Ye shes ’od (Yeshay ö),
sent a group of twenty-one Tibetans to India, among
them the great translator Rin chen bzang po (958–
1055). Ye shes ’od was a descendant of the original Ti-
betan royal line that had ended in central Tibet in
about 840, a date that marks the end of the first spreadATISHA