The ''Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra'' (''Entering the Bodhisattva Conduct'') or ''Bodhicaryāvatāra'' (''Entering the
Bodhi
The English term ''enlightenment'' is the Western translation of various Buddhist terms, most notably ''bodhi'' and ''vimutti''. The abstract noun ''bodhi'' (; Sanskrit: बोधि; Pali: ''bodhi'') means the knowledge or wisdom, or awakene ...
'' ''Way'';
Tibetan: བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྤྱོད་པ་ལ་འཇུག་པ་ ''byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa;''
Chinese: 入菩薩行論), is a
Mahāyāna
Mahāyāna ( ; , , ; ) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, Buddhist texts#Mahāyāna texts, texts, Buddhist philosophy, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India ( onwards). It is considered one of the three main ex ...
Buddhist
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
text written c. 700 CE in Sanskrit verse by
Shantideva
Shantideva (Sanskrit: Śāntideva; ; ; ; ) was an 8th-century CE Indian philosopher, Buddhist monk, poet, and scholar at the mahavihara of Nalanda. He was an adherent of the Mādhyamaka philosophy of Nāgārjuna. Abhayadatta Sri also li ...
(Śāntideva), a Buddhist monk at
Nālandā University in India which is also where it was composed.
Structure
''Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra'' has ten chapters dedicated to the development of
bodhicitta
In Mahayana Buddhism, bodhicitta ("aspiration to enlightenment" or "the thought of awakening") is the mind ( citta) that is aimed at awakening (bodhi) through wisdom and compassion for the benefit of all sentient beings.Dayal, Har (1970). ''T ...
(the mind of enlightenment) through the practice of the
six perfections (''Skt.'' Pāramitās). The text begins with a chapter describing the benefits of the wish to reach enlightenment. The sixth chapter, on the perfection of patient endurance (''Skt.''
), strongly criticizes anger and has been the subject of recent commentaries by
Robert Thurman and the
fourteenth Dalai Lama. Tibetan scholars consider the ninth chapter, "Wisdom", to be one of the most succinct expositions of the
Madhyamaka
Madhyamaka ("middle way" or "centrism"; ; ; Tibetic languages, Tibetan: དབུ་མ་པ་ ; ''dbu ma pa''), otherwise known as Śūnyavāda ("the Śūnyatā, emptiness doctrine") and Niḥsvabhāvavāda ("the no Svabhava, ''svabhāva'' d ...
view.
The tenth chapter is used as one of the most popular Mahāyāna prayers.
Chapter summary
# The benefits of bodhicitta (the wish to reach full enlightenment for others)
# Purifying bad deeds
# Adopting the spirit of enlightenment
# Using conscientiousness
# Guarding awareness
# The practice of patience
# The practice of joyous effort
# The practice of meditative concentration
# The perfection of wisdom
# Dedication
Exegetical discourse and commentary
Many
Tibetan scholars, such as
Jamgön Ju Mipham Gyatso
Jamgön Ju Mipham Gyatso, or Mipham Jamyang Namgyal Gyamtso (1846–1912) (also known as "Mipham the Great") was a very influential philosopher and polymath of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. He wrote over 32 volumes on topics such as p ...
, have written commentaries on this text.
Commentaries and studies in English
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References
External links
Multilingual edition of ''Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra''at the Bibliotheca Polyglotta.
(HTML format) at Wisdom Library .
Digital Sanskrit text of ''Bodhicaryāvatāra''at Indica et Buddhica.
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Mahayana texts
8th-century Indian books
Buddhist commentaries