| Padmasambhava
(717?-762) (Sanskrit for "born of the lotus flower"), semilegendary
Tantric Buddhist (see Tantra) master and scholar of India who is credited
by popular belief with the introduction of Buddhism into Tibet. Reputedly
born in Udyana (now Swat in Pakistan), a region famous for sorcerers, Padmasambhava
was a member of the Vijñanavada (Consciousness Vehicle) school of
Mahayana Buddhism. He also practiced Tantrism, a sect of Buddhism that
emphasizes the use of symbolic models and sacred chants in worship. He
became a notable teacher at Nalanda in northern India and in the mid-8th
century was invited to Tibet. There he allegedly exorcized (see Exorcism),
or forced out, demons who were preventing the building of a Buddhist monastery
at Bsam-yas (Samye). His teachings and example, embracing Tantrism and
yoga, inspired a unique Tibetan Buddhism. Padmasambhava was subsequently
cherished and embraced as the founder of the school known as Nyimapa. Most
important to his early popular influence was probably his reputation as
an exorcist of the fearsome native Tibetan demons, the indigenous gods
whose subjugation supposedly cleared the way for the establishment of Buddhism.
He reportedly had many Tantric books translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan,
and buried texts allegedly written by him were unearthed in Tibet from
the 11th century onwards. |
