Who is Aryadeva? Buddhist tradition reveres Aryadeva not only as a superlative exponent of Madhyamika teachings but also as a Bodhisattva. Aryadeva linked the clarity of insight to compassionate action with unwavering conviction that all could tread the path of emancipation. Biographers report that in around 300 AD, Aryadeva was born in the heart of a lotus. He became the foster-son of Panchashringa, King of Sinhala, the modern Sri Lanka. He renounced the throne for the life of a monk and traveled to India where he met Nagarjuna and became his disciple. Aryadeva was the spiritual successor of Nagarjuna who then became head of Nalanda. Aryadeva wrote a number of texts, the most famous of which is Chatuhshataka -The Hundred Treatise. In Chathshataka, Aryadeva stresses that one needs to eliminate the kleshas, defilements which hinder spiritual growth. To achieve this, one must seek out the causes of defilement in the many folds of enjoyment that arise from seemingly desirable objects of the senses. Aryadeva rejected the argument that all things come to an end and therefore need no care today. He argued that whilst all things perish, they leave seeds for future growth. Nothing just happens, but is invariably caused. Thus, only by cultivating those virtues which attack the roots of dependent causation can one achieve freedom from an endless round of involuntary rebirths. Aryadeva says that the fundamental error in the perception of reality arises from a failure to recognize the lack of inherent nature of all things. When one grants inherent substantiality to a phenomenon, fails to grasp the truth of dependent origination at its root.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Jun 2013 05:47:46 +0000
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