Bhavaviveka

From Buddha World

Bhavaviveka or Bhavya (Tib. slob-dpon bha-vya or skal-ldan/legs-ldan) c. 500–c. 578, was the founder of the Svatantrika tradition of the Madhyamaka school of Buddhism. According to one source, Bhavaviveka was born to the east of Magadha in India of a Kashatriya family. He was ordained by Nagarjuna. Another source claims he was born of a royal family of "Mālaya-ra" in South India. After becoming a monk he travelled to Madhya-desa ('Middle India') and received teachings on the Mahayana sutras and Nagarjuna's texts from Acarya Samgharakśita. After this he returned to southern India and became the head of 50 temples and taught extensively. After the death of Buddhapalita, Bhavaviveka refuted his views by writing a commentary on the Root Wisdom called Wisdom Lamp (Janāndeepa) relying on Nagarjuna's teachings. This text laid the foundations for the Svatantrika school of Buddhism. In the Svatantrika tradition reasoning is used to establish that phenomena (dharmas) have no self-nature, and further arguments to establish that the true nature of all phenomena is emptiness. This school differs from the predominant Prasangika tradition in that the latter refrain from making any assertions whatsoever about the true nature of phenomena. In the lineage of the Tibetan Panchen Lamas there were considered to be four Indian and three Tibetan incarnations of Amitabha Buddha before Khedrup Gelek Pelzang, who is recognised as the 1st Panchen Lama. The lineage starts with Subhuti, one of the original disciples of Gautama Buddha. Bhavaviveka is considered to be the third Indian incarnation of Amitabha Buddha in this line.