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 ...

Those practitioners who are meek in courage and unskilled in the techniques of the bodhisattvas are easily overwhelmed the moment a few minor inconvenient circumstances arise. In order to become courageous, a practitioner must train his mind [sems sbyong] through meditation on bodhicitta. A bodhisattva should alternate between times of retreat and seclusion on the one hand and times of engagement with ordinary beings on the other. After a period of time in retreat he should check whether he can maintain his bodhicitta in the face of negative-minded people.

You should train in all methods of dispelling obstacles and applying enhancements [bgegs sel ’bog ’don gyi tshul]. A meek bodhisattva [byang sems snying stobs zhan pa] is someone who has not applied the methods of mind-training [sems sbyong thabs ma gso mkhan] and who lacks endeavor [brtson ’grus med mkhan]. Those ‘unskilled in methods’ [thabs la mi mkhas pa] refers to those who lack knowledge [shes rab med mkhan]. Such practitioners are easily overwhelmed by minor inconvenient circumstances.

When they are well fed and warmed by the sun they look like real practitioners, but they cannot handle any difficult situation without losing their composure. They look like real practitioners, like models for (real) practitioners [chos pa’i gzugs brnyan / nyams len pa’i gzugs brnyan], but in fact they are just feeble imitations, poor copies of a real practitioner.

As it is said:

Well fed and warmed by the sun, he is a role model for practitioners.
When meeting difficult circumstances, he is an ordinary being.

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