DharmapÃÂla (traditional Chinese: è·æ³Â, pinyin: HùfÃÂ) (530âÂÂ561 CE or 530âÂÂ590 CE), was an Indian Buddhist scholar and one of the main teachers of the YogÃÂcÃÂra school of philosophy in India. Amongst his contemporaries were Sthiramati and BhÃÂviveka, the latter of whom he interacted with. DharmapÃÂla's philosophical thought is mainly preserved in Chinese translations and he is high regarded within the school of East Asian YogÃÂcÃÂra.
In his Records of the Western Regions, Xuanzang writes that DharmapÃÂla was born in Kanchipuram, where he was the son of a high official and was betrothed to a daughter of the king. However just before his wedding was supposed to take place, he escaped and entered the order, studied all views, Hinayana as well as Mahayana, and attained to reverence and distinction. Some variations of this story assert that he escaped by praying to a deity who transported him to a monastery which was located far from his homeland. He studied in Nalanda as a student of DignÃÂga and à Âëlabhadra later became his disciple. Later he succeeded him as abbot of the university. He spent his last years near the Bodhi tree, where he died. There are differing accounts as to how long DharmapÃÂla stayed at Nalanda. Kuiji, a disciple of Xuanzang, states in his writings that DharmapÃÂla left Nalanda at the age of twenty-nine to write treatises and practice meditation before dying at the age of thirty-two. However Taranatha states that DharmapÃÂla stayed at Nalanda for thirty years where he continued to study under DignÃÂga.
According to Xuanzang, one of DharmapÃÂla's contemporaries and fellow Buddhist philosopher, BhÃÂviveka, had heard stories of DharmapÃÂla and decided to travel to Nalanda to debate him and test his knowledge. BhÃÂviveka's students were sent initially to propose the challenge however DharmapÃÂla rejected the offer and made the following statement:
"[t]he human world is like a mirage, and life in this body mere flotsam; I desperately thirst for each day of practice â I cannot spare time for polemical chit-chat!âÂÂ
While the two never debated they did engage with each other's works in their own writings with BhÃÂviveka criticising the YogÃÂcÃÂra view on the TrisvabhÃÂva (three natures) in his Madhyamakahá¹ÂdayakÃÂrikàwhile DharmapÃÂla attempted to refute this view in his Karatalaratna.
DharmapÃÂla developed the theory that the external things do ultimately not exist on their own, and mental representations only exists. He explains the experience of the phenomenal world as arising from the Eight Consciousnesses.
Through the teachings of his disciple à Âëlabhadra to Xuanzang, DharmapÃÂla's tenets spread widely in China.
According to Chinese sources, DharmapÃÂla wrote four works. One of these is a lost work on grammar. The other three, which only survive in Chinese, are the following commentaries: