Bodhisattvacharyavatara

by Andreas Kretschmar | 246,740 words

The English translation of the Bodhisattvacharyavatara (“entering the conduct of the bodhisattvas”), a Sanskrit text with Tibetan commentary. This book explains the bodhisattva concept and gives guidance to the Buddhist practitioner following the Mahāyāna path towards the attainment of enlightenment. The text was written in Sanskrit by Shantideva ...

The real working of karma, the law of cause and effect, can be seen only by a fully enlightened buddha and is therefore called a most hidden field of knowledge [shes bya shin tu lkog gyur].[1] Regarding the law of karma, for the most part we must simply trust in the words of the Buddha. Although establishing the law of karma through reasoning is difficult, it is not impossible. However, considerable study and wisdom-knowledge are required.

The benefits of bodhicitta can be established by reasoning, since the Buddha taught extensively on its benefits and qualities. Numerous jataka tales, stories of Buddha’s previous lives as a bodhisattva, teach about the benefits and qualities of bodhicitta with regard to the law of karma. Reasoning in this context refers to the irrefutable wisdom of the Buddha as preserved in the scriptures [lung; skr. āgama].

When the Buddha relates a story from one of his former lifetimes, the logical implications of that story are considered ‘reasoning’ by Tibetan scholars because the Buddhist scriptures can always be subject to a three-fold analysis [dpyad pa gsum]:

  1. the analysis through the validity of direct perception [mngon sum tshad mas dpyad pa],
  2. the analysis through the validity of inference [rjes dpag tshad mas dpyad pa], and
  3. the analysis through [khas len snga phyi ’gal mi ’gal dpyad pa].

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Fields of knowledge [shes bya] can be ‘directly perceptible’ [mngon sum; skr. pratyakṣa], imperceptible’ or ‘hidden’ [lkog gyur; skr. parokṣa] and ‘radically inaccessible’, ‘radically imperceptible’ or ‘most hidden’ [shin tu lkog gyur; atyanta-parokṣa]. See Scripture, Logic, Language, page 29.

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