356 sven bretfeld
3.4. Atia and the First Tibetan Buddhist SchoolNext to Rin-chen-bzang-po the second great gure of the “later spread”
is Dpakara rjñna (982–1054), usually called Jo-bo-rje, the “vener-
able master”, or Atia by the Tibetans. His contributions to Tibetan
Buddhism are not only known from a considerable number of bio-
graphical and historiographical sources,^33 but also by his own literary
products, including his famous work on Buddhist soteriology, the
Bodhipathapradpa, or “Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment”. Atia was
a kind of mixture of a celibate scholar-monk and an accomplished
tantric yogin. The numerous biographical accounts of his life pay special
attention both aspects of his person.
According to tradition, Atia spent most of his life as a senior monk
(gnas-brten chen-po, Skt. mahsthavira) in the reputable monastery of
Vikramala, where he eventually received an invitation to Western Tibet
by Byang-chub-’od, Ye-shes-’od’s successor to the throne of mNga’-ris.
According to the Deb-ther sngon-po, Atia’s invitation by Byang-chub-’od
was due to the still not overcome misinterpretations of Buddhist doc-
trine circulating in Tibet:
Though many monks are found in the country of Tibet; there exist
many wrong practices in respect of sByor (sexual practices) and sGrol
(ritual murder) in the study of Tantra. (.. .) Paitas, invited previously,
did excellent work in some parts of Tibet, but their work did not bene t
the whole of Tibet. But, if we were to invite Jo-bo-rje (i.e., Atia), he
would be able to refute these heresies and thus, bene t for the Doctrine
would arise.^34Atia was thus invited to Tibet and arrived in mNga’-ris via Nepal in
- He spent about three years in the monastery of mTho-lding (Gu-
ge) where he impressed Byang-chub-’od and various Buddhist scholars
assembling from all across the country with his immense knowledge
and bestowed on them numerous tantric initiations. Requested by the
king to clarify disagreements between the Buddhists of Tibet on various
points of the dharma, he composed the Bodhipathapradpa. On one occa-
sion Atia also met with Rin-chen bzang-po who was already an old
man of 85 years at that time. The relationship between the two scholars
is a suggestive motif of the narration. Rin-chen bzang-po, hitherto
depicted as Tibet’s leading authority on tantric studies, debated with
(^33) These have been studied in great detail by H. Eimer (1977).
(^34) Blue Annals, p. 245.