Chandragomin and Chandrakirti
At one time Chandragomin and Chandrakirti debated. Chandrakirti would immediately reply to any statements Chandragomin made. Chandragomin, on the other hand, would take his time to answer - sometimes he would wait until the next day. His answers were very precise and clear. Chandrakirti was perplexed and wondered, "Why does Chandragomin wait when his answers are so sharp and strong?" He decided to spy on Chandragomin. So Chandrakirti peeped through Chandragomin's door one evening and saw that he was praying to a statue of the noble Chenrezig. The statue was telling Chandragomin, "The next thing you should say is this..., and then you should say that ..." Chandrakirti burst into the room and told the statue, "Chenrezig, you are being biased. You are helping Chandragomin and you are not asking me. What is the reason for this kind of behavior?" Chenrezig's statue froze in the middle of this conversation and became known as "the pointing Chenrezig" because he stayed like that. Chandragomin and Chandrakirti became good friends. Chandrakirti later wrote a book on Sanskrit grammar. Chandragomin also wrote a book on Sanskrit grammar. He looked at Chandrakirti's book and realized that it was brilliant and thought that his own book was bad in comparison. He pondered, "There was no use in my writing this book because it is not good compared to Chandrakirti's." So he threw the book into a well. Chenrezig appeared to Chandragomin and said, "Chandrakirti has been a great scholar for many lifetimes. When he wrote the grammar book he had pride. He thought he was a great scholar and was writing a great book." Chandrigomin had written his grammar book with a pure wish to help others. For that reason, Chenrezig told Chandragomin that Chandrakirti's book would not help others in the future, whereas his book would. Chenrezig prophesized this. Today Chandrakirti's book does not exist. There is no copy of this book, whereas Chandragomin's book does benefit beings.
