Chandrakirti                              

        Chandrakirti born probably in the latter part of the sixth century C.E. in a place called Samanta in south India. He was ordained and studied under Buddhapalita's disciple Kamalabuddhi. After becoming an expert, he went to Nalanda (a famous Buddhist University) in the north and became abbot. There he taught the Mahayana Buddhism and the Madhyamika.  According to the Tibetan tradition, Chandrakirti was the "ultimate " disciple of Nagarjuna himself. And he became the elucidator of the essence of Nagarjuna's message. He critised Bhavaviveka in defence of Buddhapalita and must be deemed the actual founder of Prasangika Madhyamika as a self-aware tradition standing in conscious opposition to the Svatantrikas.

        Chandrakirti's greatest works were his Supplement to [Nagarjuna's]"Treatise on the Middle Way" (Madhyamakavatara 入中論) , his Commentary on the 'Supplement to(Nagarjuna's) "Treatise on the Middle Way" (Madhyamakavatarabhasya 入中論註), an autocommentary , and Clear Words, Commentary on (Nagarjuna's) "Treatise on the Middle Way" (Prasannapada 明句論). The Madhyamakavatara, together with its Bhasya, are the official 'schoolbooks' for the study of Madhyamika in Tibetan monastic universities to the present day.

(Sources: Williams, Paul. Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations. Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1989 and Thurman, Robert A. F., The Central Philosophy of Tibet. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991. )

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