Abhayakaragupta

Who is Abhayakaragupta?

Abhayākaragupta was born in the city of Gaur, West Bengal, in Eastern India, and is thought to have flourished in the late 11th-early 12th century CE, and died in 1125.

As a youth he went to the country of Magadha in Central India, "where he learned the five sciences and became well known as a pandit."

During the reign of King Rāmapāla, there was a great revival of Buddhism under Abhayākaragupta. He taught at the great Vikramaśīla University as well as at Vajraśana and Odantapuri. He is credited with many miracles including feeding the starving in the city of Sukhavati from his mendicant bowl which was replenished from heaven, and brought a dead child to life in the great cemetery of Himavana.

About a century after the Kalachakra is thought to have been written, Abhayākaragupta put the Mantrayana-Madhyamaka doctrine in its final form.

He composed the Ocean of Means of Achievement "directed by Manjusri", and many other books including the Ornament to the Subduer's Thought, which is a commentary on Maitreya's Ornament for Clear Realization.