BuddhismSutra-obooko-mind0029

modern buddhism
shows that he possessed very strong mindfulness and very
great conscientiousness. He also kept purely the Bodhisattva
vow to avoid eighteen root downfalls and forty-six secondary
downfalls, and he kept purely all his Tantric vows.
The attainments of higher concentration and higher wisdom
are divided into common and uncommon. A common attainment
is one that is gained by practitioners of both Sutra and
Tantra, and an uncommon attainment is one that is gained only
by practitioners of Tantra. By training in higher concentration
Atisha gained the common concentration of tranquil abiding
and, based on that, clairvoyance, miracle powers and the common
virtues. He also attained uncommon concentrations such
as the concentrations of generation stage and completion stage
of Secret Mantra. By training in higher wisdom Atisha gained
the common realization of emptiness, and the uncommon realizations
of example clear light and meaning clear light of Secret
Mantra.
Atisha mastered the teachings of both Hinayana and
Mahayana and was held in respect by Teachers of both traditions.
He was like a king, the crown ornament of Indian
Buddhists, and was regarded as a second Buddha.
Before Atisha’s time the thirty-seventh king of Tibet, Trisong
Detsen (circa ad 754-97), had invited Padmasambhava,
Shantarakshita and other Buddhist Teachers from India to
Tibet, and through their influence pure Dharma had flourished;
but some years later a Tibetan king called Lang Darma
(circa ad 836) destroyed the pure Dharma in Tibet and abolished
the Sangha. Until that time most of the kings had been
religious, but it was a dark age in Tibet during Lang Darma’s
evil reign. About seventy years after his death Dharma began
to flourish once again in the upper part of Tibet through the
efforts of great Teachers such as the translator Rinchen Sangpo,
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