The Bengali master Atisha comes to Tibet and writes the Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, ordering the whole Mahayana and tantric path into stages; his teaching re-founds Tibetan Buddhism after its dark century, and the stages-of-the-path literature descends from his lamp.
Tagged: Buddhist Tibetan Buddhism Vajrayana
The Event
- Date
- 1042 (exact)
- Era
- Classical; Standard periodization of Buddhist history
- Location
- Tholing; today Western Tibet
- Traditions
- Buddhism
- Streams
- Vajrayana, Tibetan Buddhism
- Key figures
- Atisha (Dipamkara Shrijnana)
- Key texts
- Bodhipathapradipa (Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment)
Primary Sources
- Atisha, Bodhipathapradipa
Secondary Sources
- Powers, Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism (Snow Lion, 2nd ed. 2007)
- Harvey, An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices (Cambridge, 2nd ed. 2013)
Provenance: HIST-0420; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-27.
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