Traditions / Philosophy & study

The Nālandā tradition

A heritage of Buddhist philosophy, reasoning and contemplative practice, with roots in Indian monastic learning and continuing influence across Asia.

A place and an intellectual inheritance

Nālandā Mahāvihāra, in present-day Bihar, India, was a major residential monastery and center of learning from the fifth to the thirteenth centuries CE. Earlier remains are also preserved at the archaeological site. [1]

Today, “the Nālandā tradition” also names a shared inheritance of Buddhist learning. The Fourteenth Dalai Lama uses the phrase for an approach that brings study, reasoned examination and meditation together with ethical training. It connects several schools and lineages, rather than identifying a separate denomination. [2]

The ancient monastery, this living study tradition and the modern Nalanda University have distinct histories.

Nālandā on the traditions map The monastery in Buddhist history

Teachers, travelers and transmission

Śīlabhadra

A seventh-century abbot of Nālandā and teacher of Yogācāra. Xuanzang studied with him; his exact lifespan is uncertain. [3]

Xuanzang

A Chinese monk and translator who studied at Nālandā with Śīlabhadra. His travels and translations helped carry Indian Buddhist learning into East Asia. [3]

Yijing

A Chinese monk and translator who spent about a decade studying at Nālandā. His accounts record monastic life and connections between India, Srivijaya and China. [4]

In the transmission to Tibet, Śāntarakṣita and his disciple Kamalaśīla are especially associated with Indian philosophical study and meditation. The Dalai Lama’s account places this inheritance at the center of Tibetan and Mongolian monastic education. [2] [5]

The seventeen masters

This is the complete group honored in the Fourteenth Dalai Lama’s prayer of 2001. It is an intellectual lineage, not a list of seventeen verified residents of the monastery. Nāgārjuna and Āryadeva, for example, precede its main fifth-century development. The short descriptions below indicate areas of contribution, not exclusive school affiliations. [1] [6] [7]

Nāgārjuna — Middle Way reasoning and dependent arising.
Āryadeva — Development of Madhyamaka analysis.
Buddhapālita — Madhyamaka interpretation.
Bhāviveka — Reasoned defense of Madhyamaka.
Candrakīrti — Middle Way interpretation and the bodhisattva grounds.
Śāntideva — Bodhicitta and the bodhisattva’s conduct.
Śāntarakṣita — Philosophy, reasoning and transmission to Tibet.
Kamalaśīla — Cultivation of meditation and wisdom.
Asaṅga — Yogācāra and the Mahāyāna path.
Vasubandhu — Abhidharma and Yogācāra analysis.
Dignāga — Logic and valid cognition.
Dharmakīrti — Reasoning and Buddhist epistemology.
Ārya Vimuktisena — The Ornament of Realization and perfection of wisdom.
Haribhadra — Commentaries on the perfection of wisdom.
Guṇaprabha — Systematic monastic discipline.
Śākyaprabha — Explanation of monastic discipline.
Atiśa — Stages of the path and transmission to Tibet.

Linked names open existing Atlas biographies; every master in the prayer is named here. [6]

How the tradition approaches learning

In the Dalai Lama’s presentation, understanding grows through study, examination of reasons and sustained contemplation. Debate tests an interpretation; meditation and conduct bring learning into practice. This is why philosophical treatises, or śāstras, matter alongside sūtras. [2] [5]

What is a śāstra?The Fourteenth Dalai Lama Mahāyāna study path

Kangyur & Tengyur Xuanzang and the Chinese canon

Sources & further reading

Original Atlas introduction. Sources retain their own tradition’s perspective.

The Nālandā tradition

A place and an intellectual inheritance

Teachers, travelers and transmission

Śīlabhadra

Xuanzang

Yijing

The seventeen masters

How the tradition approaches learning

Middle Way reasoning

Mind and experience

Compassion and conduct

Stages of the path

Sources & further reading