
in chinese his name was called Yue (moon) cheng
Chandrakirti's live story;
short introduction:
Chandrakirtiwas born in India. The descriptions as his family-background vary slightly depending on the different historians. According to the history given by Marpa, Chandrakirti was born in a town called Serna (the Tibetan term of that town in India at that time).
According to Marpa he was born in a royal family; other sources say that Chandrakirti was born in a Brahmin family. In any case, the family Chandrakirti was born in was a Buddhist family, which meant that from childhood onwards he was in contact with such teachings and his tendencies of bodhicitta from previous lifetimes awakened very early.
This brought about his wish to lead the life of a Buddhist monk. He took monastic ordination in his youth and studied intensively the various Buddhist treatises. In particular he had access to the entire variety of teachings given by the great master Nagarjuna. In some sources it is explained that he studied Nagarjuna?s texts with a teacher called Chandrapala; some other sources, however, say that Chandrakirti in fact was a direct student of Nagarjuna himself, studied with Nagarjuna in the later part of Nagarjuna?s life. In any case he had complete access to all the teachings given by Nagarjuna and was able to comprehend them. Having studied all of them he put them into practice and it is said that Chandrakirti - through putting these teachings into practice - achieved the 6th bodhisattva bhumi. He was hence a great realized bodhisattva.
to be continued....