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Inquiries and Questions

October 24th, 2010 SUDIMUJA

Some interesting questions to be further investigated are:

1. What were the functions of the building complex in the Muarajambi region? With its similar architectural design as Nalanda, could Muarajambi complex be the most ancient seat of learning in Indonesia?

2. There are two places that were almost always mentioned in travelers’ journals. The first is the main harbor, and then the second place for longer term stay is believed to be Muarajambi complex.

•    Where did pilgrims such as I-Tsing, Wu-Hing, Dipamkara Shrijnana first arrive in Srivijaya?

•    Could their next or main destination be “Mo-lo-yeu (Melayu), i.e. Muarajambi complex at Batanghari river?

•    I-Tsing wrote that he arrived at Fo-Shih (Vijaya, Bhoja/Bhoga) in 671 CE and stayed for six months. Then the king gave him some support and sent him to Mo-lo-yeu, which is now called Shi-li-fo-shih (Srivijaya, Sribhoja, name of ‘country’), where he stayed for two months. Could this be in the vicinity of Muarajambi complex, or on the upstream of the Batanghari river?

3. The interpretation of Chinese character “郭 下” (kuo-shia) in I-Tsing’s journal reads as follows:

  • Takakusu uses the term “fortified city” to translate the word “郭 下”, as cited in the following paragraph: “In the fortified city of Fo-Shih, (lived) Buddhist monks number more than 1,000, whose minds are bent on learning and good practice”.
  • Indeed, the word “郭 下” means “complex/area”.
  • O.W. Wolters interpreted “郭 下” as ‘suburbs’ so he tends to assume that “fortified city” refers to the area of Siguntang hill. However, this need not be the case, as mentioned above, the entire design and layout of Muarajambi complex is very similar to Nalanda, where monks lived in a cluster of buildings that were fortified or walled. In addition, according to monastic rules (the vinaya), monks and nuns are required to live in ‘enclosed compound’ (arama, vihara), not ‘scattered’ when they are not travelling. Hence, “fortified city” by I-Tsing was most probably referring to the complex of Muarajambi.

In conclusion, at least for more than four hundred years, from 7th CE (year of 671 when I-Tsing first arrived in Srivijaya) to the 11th CE (year of 1025 when Dipamkara Shrijnana left Srivijaya after studying for 12 years), Muarajambi complex in Sumatra may have been a seat of learning, the oldest and longest surviving learning centre in Indonesia.

The teachings from one of Muarajambi’s alumni, which once become the national religion of a major empire, are still being taught, studied and practiced by many people in many countries until this very day.

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Muarajambi and Contemporary Teachings

October 24th, 2010 SUDIMUJA

Historical accounts indicate that many overseas pilgrims, including I-Tsing, Wu-Hing spent many years in Srivijaya, preparing for further studies in Nalanda or other seats of learning in India. I-Tsing himself stayed in Srivijaya for 10 years. Some scholars pursued their studies in Srivijaya, then returned and taught in India as well as other places, such as Dipamkara Shrijnana. There were also many Indian teachers who came and taught in Srivijaya, such as Sakyakirti, Vajrabodhi, and Amogavajra. And vice versa, many Indonesian masters and students who went to India and upon completion of the studies returned to Srivijaya to teach the knowledge acquired. One of the great teachers in Srivijaya who was renowned in the 10th /11th CE was Acharya Dharmakirti.

Acharya Dharmakirti

Acharya Dharmakirti was considered the greatest Buddhist scholar of his era. Six works in the Tibetan Tengyur that are definitely attributed to Acharya Dharmakirti include: (1) Abhisamaya-alamkara-nama-prjnaparmita-upadesa-sastra-vrtti-durbodha-aloka-nama-tika, (2)  Bodhisattva-caryavatara-pindartha,  (3)  Bodhisattva-carya-vatara-sattrimsat- pindarta,  (4)  Siksa-samuccaya-abhisamaya-nama, (5) Arya-acala-sadhana-nama, and (6)  Krodha-ganapati-sadhana [Alaka Chattopadhyaya (1999): Atisa and Tibet].

The Abhisamaya-alamkara-nama-prjnaparmita-upadesa-sastra-vrtti-durbodha-aloka-nama-tika appears to be the magnus opus of Dharmakirti: “… It is a stupendous work on Mahayana philosophy, devoted mainly to the clear exposition of the highest paramita conceived by the Mahayanists, namely the prajnaparamita … From this work alone, Dharmakirti can be considered as the most outstanding representative of the Mahayana philosophy of the 10th-11th century” [Alaka Chattopadhyaya (1999): Atisa and Tibet].

In the Peking edition of the Tengyur, the colophon reads as follows: “Written by Dharmakirti on the request of king Sri Cudamanivarman, during the tenth year of the reign of king Cudamanivarman, in Vijayanagara of Suvarnadvipa”. In Cordier’s Catalogue, the author of the text is mentioned as Acharya Dharmakirti-sri of Suvarnadvipa and it is added: “The work was composed during the reign of Deva-sri-varma-raja, the Cudamani, alias Cudamanimandapa in Malayagiri in Vijayanagara of Suvarnadvipa” [Alaka Chattopadhyaya (1999): Atisa and Tibet].

One of Acharya Dharmakirti’s foremost and most influential disciples was Dipamkara Shrijnana, who arrived in Indonesia in 1012 CE and studied in Srivijaya, or more precisely, in Muarajambi, for 12 years. He subsequently spread the teachings in India and Tibet, where it flourished extensively. Later in the 18th century during the reign of the Qing dynasty, those teaching became the national religion of the whole empire.

Dipamkara Shrijnana (980-1054 CE)

Dipamkara Shrijnana was born in a royal family in 980 CE in Bengal, Bangladesh. He was named Chandragarbha. At the age of 19, he was formally ordained, prabrajya, as a sramanera and was named Dipamkara Shrijnana. At the age of 29, he was fully ordained as a monk.

Dipa means ‘lamp’, kara means ‘one who does’; Dipamkara means ‘holder of the lamp’. Shrijnana means ‘shining wisdom’. In Tibet, Dipamkara Shrijnana is known as Lama Atisha. ‘Lama’ means ‘teacher’, whereas ‘ati’ refer to ’great, super’ and ‘Isha’ is  ‘Lord’ or ‘prabhu’. Therefore, the meaning of Atisha closely resembles that of ‘maha-prabhu’.

At the age of 32, Dipamkara Shrijnana, together with a group of gemstone merchants travelled to Suvarnadvipa, which was the foremost learning center of Buddhism of its day.

Dipamkara Shrijnana spent twelve years in Suvarnadvipa studying under Acharya Dharmakirti, and apparently it was during this period that he became a master of the Mahayana teachings and logic. Acharya Dipamkara Shrijnana became one of the most famous alumni from Suvarnadvipa. Dipamkara sailed back for India in 1025.

Bodhi-patha-pradipa

Upon returned to India, Dipamkara Shrijnana taught at Nalanda and many others monasteries. He stayed in India for 15 years and at later stage, he served as director and academic head of Vikramashila monastery. He was requested to teach in Tibet. Initially he agreed to go to Tibet only for 3 years, but his stay was extended for 13 years until his death in 1054. During in Tibet, he summarized all the teachings and composed “Bodhi-patha-pradipa (Lamp on the Path to Enlightenment)” that really has lasting impacts. This rather concise teaching of only 66 stanzas (slokas) communicated in simple lucid language the basic principles of Buddhist thoughts. Bodhi-patha-pradipa later becomes the foundation for the work of “Stages on the Path to Enlightenment (Margakrama)”. He exercised the most profound influence in the religious history of Tibet, and later on until the present day of the Buddhist world at large. It is one of the most influential universal Buddhist teachings in the world, even today.

Sometime in mid 18th century, Changkya Rolpe Dorje (1717-1786), who expounded the teachings of the Great Lama Atisha Dipamkara Shrijnana and Master Tsongkha-pa, translated them into Manchu, Chinese, and Mongolian. One of his fellow students was the fourth son of the Yung Cheng Emperor of China, who became a close friend and later became the Emperor Ch’ien-lung. This friendship became the key to Changkya’s tremendous influence in China, Manchuria, Mongolia, and Tibet. He was invested with the same imperial privileges and titles that his previous incarnation had held – Teacher of the Empire. Thus, by age seventeen he had assumed a considerable role. Later, the Emperor appointed him the Lama of the Seal, the highest position for a Tibetan lama in the Chinese court. And Buddhism was made the national religion of the whole Chinese Empire at that time.

Therefore, the teachings that originate from Indonesia and were primarily brought into Tibet by Acharya Dipamkara Shrijnana and subsequently by his disciples are at present still widely taught, studied and practiced by many people all over the world.

Atisha Dipamkara Shrijnana acknowledged that he had many teachers but always mentioned that his main Guru from whom he received the most important teachings was Lama Serlingpa Dharmakirti Shri from Suvarnadvipa, Indonesia.

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Historical Development of the World’s Education

October 24th, 2010 SUDIMUJA

Since the beginning, humankind’s yearning to understand themselves, their world and their place in it promoted the development of science, which in turn encouraged the establishment of learning centers and universities in the world.

The word “university” is derived from the Latin term “universitas magistrorum et scholarium”, that more or less means “community of teachers and scholars”. This is similar to the term “sanghrama”, sangha meaning “community” and “arama” denoting a “place” or “accommodation”.

The oldest learning centers in the world started with the development of various learning institutions such as: Ghandara, Takshasila during the 7th BC in Punjab, Pakistan; Academy, during the 4th BC that was led by Plato in Greece; “Taixue” during the 3rd CE in China; Pandidakterion, during the 5th BC in Constantinople; and the Sanghrama Nalanda, during the 5th CE in India. What we currently recognize as a modern university started in Bologna during the 11th CE, followed by other universities such as the University of Paris, University of Oxford, as well as the University of Cambridge in the 12th or 13th century.

In general, the universities at the time taught the trivium (grammar, rhetoric and dialectic or logic) and the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy).

According to journals written by pilgrims who visited Srivijaya during the 7th CE, this ancient Indonesia possessed learning centers that taught subjects including pancavidya (the five sciences): grammar and philology, arts, medicine, logic, metaphysics and philosophy). In the 11th CE, a pandit from India, came and studied in Srivijaya whom eventually become a great scholar and exercised tremendous influence in the history of learning in the world, even today.

Thus, far before the establishment of modern universities in the world, Indonesia possessed a learning center that was relatively advanced, as confirmed by numerous scholars and experts, especially from India and China, who studied and taught in Srivijaya, at least during the period of 7th to 11th CE.

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