Maitrīpāda (c.  1007–1085, also known as Maitreyanātha, Advayavajra, and, to Tibetans, Maitrīpa), was a prominent Indian Buddhist Mahasiddha associated with the Mahāmudrā transmission of tantric Buddhism.

[2] As per Tibetan and Nepalese sources, Maitripada was born into a Brahmin family in Magadha in a village near Kapilavastu during the rule of the Pala empire.

Maitripada lost the debate and subsequently converted to Buddhism and was ordained as a monk at the monasteries of Nalanda and Vikramashila in modern-day Bihar.

Nepalese sources detail that following this dispute, the bodhisattva, Avalokiteśvara appeared in Maitripada's dreams and urged him to renounce the monastic life.

[4] For practitioners with sharp faculties, Maitrīpa advocated a direct approach to Mahāmudrā, allowing them to bypass elaborate tantric rituals.

[4] Central to Maitrīpa's thought was the concept of amanasikāra, or non-meditation, which involves a state of non-conceptual awareness that transcends ordinary dualistic perceptions.

Maitrīpa's works on amanasikāra emphasised the importance of maintaining conventional Dharma practices alongside advanced meditative techniques.

His most important works are a collection of 26 texts on "non-conceptual realization" (amanasikara), which are a key Indian source of mahāmudrā in the Tibetan tradition.