with which great religious teacher is nalanda associated?The great religious teacher of Nalanda university is Gautama the buddha. historical texts shows that both buddha and Mahavira visited the Nalanda university in 5th and 6th century.
Nalanda university dates back to the times of buddha and Mahavira (5th century to 6th century BCE). its located in the modern day Bihar. it was founded by kamargupta I in around 5th century CE, (450 CE), Kamargypta I is also called as father of nalanda university. it is believed that there were 2000 teachers and more than ten thousand teachers. buddha gave his one of the important teachings here in rajgir which is near to Nalanda, like lotus sutra and prajnaparamita sutra. The first ever monastery gifted to buddha was by king bimbiasara in rajgir, that’s why this place holds strong in Buddhist followers. the first Buddhist council was initiated after the death of gautama the buddha around 483 BCE , and it was again in rajgir at saptaparni cave. it was a group of 500 arahant monks.
in Nalanda university, many subjects were taught, like astronomy, medicine(ayurveda), grammar, metaphysics, logic, philosophy of language. it is also said that there were 30,000 Buddhist monks in Nalanda university.
Many people ask, to which religion the nalanda belonged to, well based on information, its says that it belonged to buddhist religion.
there are various instances that it showed that it belonged to Buddhism –
1. Archaeological Proofs: numerous buddha statues has been found, There are many Buddhist deities have been found.
2. Chinese pilgrimage document: it shows that Chinese Buddhist monks like Xuanzang and Yijing, have documented and described their experience in Nalanda university.
3. Its Terminology : The name ”Nalanda Mahavira” when translated, its meaning is ”Great Buddhist Monastery”. this itself shows that it belonged to Buddhist religion.
Little INFO about the buddhist monks who described The Nalanda University:
1. XUANZANG : XUANZANG is a Chinese monk who had visited Nalanda university in 7th century. when he came and experienced the bliss of Nalanda university he documented and stored the knowledge he experience by writing in which he has described how Nalanda was a a Buddhist belonged university by showing Buddhist texts and teachings. he was one of the scholar students in nalanda university.
2. I-Tsing: Another monk who had visited the Nalanda university and confirmed it belonged to Buddhism by his texts. he was also a Chinese monk who lived around 6th to 7th century BCE. he is known for his travel in India to study about Buddhism.
3. ARCHELOGOGICAL EVIDENCE : discovery of Nalanda university has founded many thing from it. from the archeological evidence, we found the numerous stupas, monasteries and viharas that belonged to buddha. we got buddha statue and even of bodhisattvas.
Image by Hideyuki Kamon, licensed under Creative commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 generic
Over the years there were many other religious teachers associated with Nalanda university, they are as follows:
Image of Chandrakirti Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain.
1. Chandra Kriti (600 – 650 C.E.) he was one of the significant person in Buddhist philosophy. he served as a teacher and a scholar in Nalanda university. one of the most prominent thing which he taught of Mahayana Buddhism is the concept of Madhyamaka which meant middle path and not going on extremes of both sides and another concept of madhyamaka was known as ”sunyata” or ”emptiness”
2. silabhadra (lived between 6th and 7th century) he was a highly respected teacher in Nalanda university for teaching Buddhist philosophy. One of his famous Buddhist studies he taught was Yogacara also known as ‘mind-only’ school. it showed that everything we experience, is a construction of our mind.
sidenote: in this context ‘school’ denotes tradition or system of thought within Buddhism.
Cropped From Nagarjuna With 84 Mahasiddhas Via Himalayan Art Resources
3. Nagarjuna- lived between 2nd and 3rd century (150 – 250 CE ). he was a buddhist monk and Mahayana buddhist philosopher and is considered to one of the greatest thinkers in history of Asian continent. he taught a alot of various things. one of them was using the concept taught by buddha which is ”the dependent-origination law”, he used this law to explain how things in this universe came into being. he also contributed to the concept of sunyata (emptiness) and madhyama pratipad.
one of the best disciples of Nagarjuna was, The Arya deva. he is known for his development in the field of madhyamaka, also known as the middle way. Arya deva helped to simplify the concept of sunyata which can be easily understood by the wider audience.
4. Buddhapalita – Buddhapalita was a 5th century Buddhist teacher and a philosopher. he is mostly recognized for his notable commentary on mulamadhyamakavrtti (fundamental verses on the middle way), which means it was a central text of madhyamaka school of Nagarjuna’s, in simple words his commentary on Nagarjuna’s middle school which he though of Mahayana Buddhist teachings of sunyata. sunyata basically meant that everything this this universe was empty as showing the world was made on dependent-origination. Buddhapalita commented on this by making this complex teaching in simple way for people to understand. he taught people Nagarjuna’s teaching in simple manner so that they could understand. he said that Nagarjuna said that everything in this universe is dependent on something, and they don’t exist on their own. he proved this by using someone’s ideas and reaching to a conclusion which didn’t make any sense and seemed impossible.
5. dharmakriti (600 – 660 CE) another great teacher in Nalanda university. dharmakriti was a logician and made huge contribution in buddhist epistemology and logic. he was good in pramana, which means whether the sources of the knowledge we acquire are tru or not and how to identify them whether they are true or not. dharmakriti refered as there are three primary sources of primary knowledge.
a. perception – direct experience. it means you have experienced it directly and there is no need to ask from someone else. for example you see a tree, and touch it as well. now this is your direct experience and you have used your senses to interact with the surrounding which has a source of touch and sensory organ involved.
b. inference – logical reasoning or deduction. in short it means using reasoning, for example if there is a smoke coming out from somewhere, it means that there is a fire lit somewhere, its like you draw conclusions from what we already know.
c. testimony – reliable verbal communication, typically from authoritative sources. it means, a person who is trust worthy, who is believed to have experienced the thing, which we can share our experience as a reliable source.
he used logic to defend the buddha’s teachings which were questioned in those days, he laid the foundation of logic and reasoning.
6. Gunaprabha (700CE) he is another great teacher of Nalanda university. he is best known as the teacher of madhyamaka , also known as the middle way. he is known for his commentaries on madhyamaka, particularly on Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.
Mūlamadhyamakakārikā when translated it means “fundamental Verses of the Middle way” basically they are the fundamental foundation of the madhyamnaka concept.
The fundamentals are as follows:
A. it says that all phenomenas, do not have independent or self existent nature, they are empty. it means that they are dependent on other things to exist in nature. the pratityasamudpada , which means everything is interdependent on each other for other things to rise.
b. it also avoids the concepts of both extremes, Eernalism and nihilism. Eternalism means a belief that thing exist independently and are permanent, like soul or self.
nihilism means that nothing exists at all, nothing has a meaning or a purpose or essence. nihilism says that after death, its is all there is nothing after death, no phenomenta, one dissolves into nothingness. nihilism can also deny the concept of cause and effect, which are dependent origination law.
instead it teaches the middle way, it rejects both extremes of eternalism and nihilism. by rejecting the eternalism it says that things are not permanent and have a changing nature, and things on not independent but interdependent. they are dependent on thing, and are subject to change. and that they come into existence on certain conditions.
the madhyamaka rejects the nihilism by saying that even though they are empty, but still it dose not mean nothing exists, its that these things do exists but on a certain conditions.
when we say emptiness, it does not mean that things do not exist at all, but rather that they exist by depending on something else and are subject to change. even the concept of self, which in eternalism means it is permanent, also rejects by saying that when investigated shows that thoughts, patterns of mind also changes.
there is a famous verse in the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, which says
“Whatever is dependently arisen,
That is explained to be emptiness.
That, being a dependent designation,
Is itself the Middle Way.”
— Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, 24.18
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