Tattvasangraha 01

Author(s): Embar Krishnamacharya
Publisher: Central Library

Page 22

FOREWORD
XIX
scholar and a debator, and we will not be far from the truth if we assume that Kamalasila at that time (i. e. 743 A. D.) was at least 30 years old; this assumption will fix the approximate date of his birth at 713 A. D. His native place however still remains unknown. Kamalas'îla besides his works on Nyaya, has, like his preceptor, written a number of works on Tantra, and it is reported that he was a professor of Tantra at Nalanda'. Unfortunately none of these works is preserved in the original Sanskrit though all are extant in Tibetan translations. Besides the TattvasangrahaPanjika he wrote the following works among others:
1. Aryasaptas'atika-Prajñâpâramitâțîkâ. 2. Aryavajracchedikâ-Prajñâpâramitâțîkâ. 3. Prajñâpâramitâhṛdayanâmaṭîkâ.
4. Nyâyabindu purvapakṣe samkṣipta.
5. Dakinivajraguhyagîti nama marmopades'a ; and translated into Tibetan
6. Mahamudropades'a Vajraguhyagîti.'
The voluminous commentary of Kamalas'ila in the present work is a monument of his great learning and scholarship. He elaborates the terse and very difficult Karikás of his Guru; where the Guru does not mention the names of authors, but states only their opinions, Kamalas'îla supplies the authors' names, giving extensive quotations from their works. In some cases where S'ântarakşita considers further refutation of the opponent's theory to be unnecessary Kamalas'îla himself takes up the cudgels and shows his profound learning by carrying the discussion still further, anticipating the most minutest objections on the part of his opponent, and vanquishing him thoroughly and completely. But all through his commentary and discussions he retains his dignity never condescending to redicule his opponent. As a whole we miss in his writings that peculiar charm of style and diction which characterizes the work of his Guru S'ântarakṣita.
1. Vidyabhusana: op. cit, p. 327.
2. Haraprasad Sastri: Bauddha Gán O Doha, app. p. 16; Cordier: Catalyue du Fonds Tibetain Vol. III. 287, 288, 289; and Vidyabhusana: Indian Logic: 129-130.