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Dharmaraksita advised him to "go to the north, to the Land of Snows." From his Master,

Dharmaraksita, Atisa learnt one meditation that became one of the Tibetans fundamental

meditation techniques, i.e. Tongleng Meditation that aims to recycle supposedly negative

energy into loving and healing energy.

He then returned to Magadha where he met great Buddhist scholars who allacknowledged his superior knowledge and scholarship. Soon enough he was appointed to the

position of steward, or abbot, at the Vikramasila University. Atisa's rise to prominence

coincided with a flourishing of Buddhist culture and the practice of Dharma, and in many

ways Atisa's influence contributed to these developments.

In the 11th century, the Tibetan king byang-chub 'Odinvited Atia. He entered Tibet

in an age when monastic Buddhist tradition of Tibet had been nearly wiped out after King

Langdarma's intolerant reign. He has been an important figure for last ten centuries in the

Tibetan Buddhist tradition because he revived, refined, systematized, and compiled an

innovative and thorough approach to bodhichittaknown as "mind training" (Tib. lojong), in

such texts as A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, and established its primacy to theMahayana tradition in Tibet. Atisa's closest disciple, Dromtnpa, is considered the founder of

the Kadam school, which later evolved into the Gelug, one of the four main schools of

Tibetan Buddhism.

Atia wrote, translated and edited more than two hundred books from Sanskrit into

Tibetan to spread Buddhism. He also wrote several books on Buddhist scriptures, medical

science and technical science in Tibetan. Several books written by him in Sanskrit are extant

only in Tibetan translations now. 79 of his compositions have been preserved in Tibetan

translation in the Tanjur (bstan-sgyur). Some of them are Bodhi-patha-pradipa, Charya-

sanggraha-pradipa, Satya-dvayavatara, Bodhi-sattva-manyavali, Madhyamaka-ratna-

pradipa, Mahayana-patha-sadhana-sanggraha, Siksa-samuchchaya Abhisamya, Prajna-

paramita-pindartha-pradipa, Ekavira-sadhanaand Vimala-ratna-lekha.

In Tibet after staying atNgari,he went to Samye where he discovered the store of

Sanskrit texts at Pekar Kordzoling, the library. The degree to which the Vajrayana had spread

in Tibet was unparalleled, even in India.Dromtonpa,the principal disciple of Atia kept the

complete legacy of Atia and this became later known as the Kadampa (Bka'-gdams-pa)

tradition of Buddhism. This was later revived by the Tibetan teacherTsongkhapa (Btsong-ka-

pa), the founder of theGelug (Dge-lugs) tradition. Since that time the Kadampa school of

Atia is named Old Kadampa and Tsongkhapa's Gelug school is namedNew Kadampa.

As Atisa grew old, he moved to explore Central Tibet. Atisa spent nine years in

Nyetang, a town near Lhasa, where he discovered Tibetan libraries with impressive

collections written in both Sanskrit and Tibetan. The venerable monk moved around the

region for another five years before passing away in 1052 at the prophesied age of seventy-

two in a village called Lethan, nearLhasa.He was enshrined near his last permanent home in

the town of Nyetang.

An international Conference and exhibition on the Atisa and Cultural Renaissance

is being organised by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi during 16th

to 18th January, 2013. The Conference aims at investigating into Atisas life, vision,

mission, activities, works, essence of his teachings, religio- cultural contributions, legacy,

http://encycl.opentopia.com/term/Magadhahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langdarmahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kadam_(Tibetan_Buddhism)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelughttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngarihttp://encycl.opentopia.com/term/Dromtonpahttp://encycl.opentopia.com/term/Dromtonpahttp://encycl.opentopia.com/term/Kadampahttp://encycl.opentopia.com/term/Je_Tsongkhapahttp://encycl.opentopia.com/term/Je_Tsongkhapahttp://encycl.opentopia.com/term/Gelughttp://encycl.opentopia.com/term/New_Kadampahttp://encycl.opentopia.com/term/New_Kadampahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyetanghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lhasahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetan_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lhasahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lhasahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetan_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lhasahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyetanghttp://encycl.opentopia.com/term/New_Kadampahttp://encycl.opentopia.com/term/Gelughttp://encycl.opentopia.com/term/Je_Tsongkhapahttp://encycl.opentopia.com/term/Je_Tsongkhapahttp://encycl.opentopia.com/term/Kadampahttp://encycl.opentopia.com/term/Dromtonpahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngarihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelughttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kadam_(Tibetan_Buddhism)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langdarmahttp://encycl.opentopia.com/term/Magadha

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relevance of his precepts in modern time. This Conference also plans to undertake

discussions on Tibetan treaties and other primary and secondary accounts on Atisa.

Research papers will be presented from academia from Australia, Bangladesh, China,

England, Germany, Indonesia, India, Japan, Mongolia, Nepal, Taiwan, Thailand and USA on

the following themes:

1. Life of Atisa

2. Atisas voyage to Sumatra/ Suvarnadvipa

3. Challenges, vision and mission of Atisa

4. Atisas vision on Wisdom and Compassion

5. Contemporaries of Atisa in India and Tibet

6. Atisa as seen through visual arts

7. Relevance of the teachings of Atisa in present day life.

Scholars interested in the conference may kindly send their request for participation as

Observers by 15th November, 2012 to the coordinator of the conference on his e-mail:bachchan_kumar@yahoo.com.

Dr. Bachchan Kumar

Coordinator of the Conference