Atisha(982-1054 CE) was a Buddhist teacher who reintroduced pure Buddhism into Tibet. He studied and mastered all of the traditions of Buddhism in India and travelled to Sumatra to receive instruction on Training the Mind (Tib. lojong) from a teacher named Serlingpa. Atisha brought this teaching back to India and later to Tibet.

He was born in India in 982 CE. From a very young age he showed an extraordinary aptitude for Dharma and studied sincerely under more than 100 teachers. He received, practiced, and mastered the instructions on the Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana schools of Buddhism and was regarded highly by all the traditions of Buddhism in India at the time.

Buddhism was first brought to Tibet in the eighth century by the Indian teachers Padmasambhava and Shantarakshita but was later nearly destroyed by a Tibetan King named Lang Darma, a follower of Bön, the pre-Buddhist religion of Tibet.

In the eleventh century, the king Jangchub Ö invited Atisha to come from India to teach a Dharma that everyone could understand and practice and that would show how all of Buddha's teachings can be integrated together. In response, Atisha composed his famous "Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment". It is a short text on lamrim, the stages of the path to enlightenment.

Atisha, together with his principal disciple, Dromtonpa, established what is known as the Kadampa tradition. This was later revived by the Tibetan teacher Je Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelugpa or New Kadampa tradition.

References

• Gyatso, Geshe Kelsang. Joyful Path of Good Fortune. London: Tharpa Publications, 1997.