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 ...

In a great monastic community such as Nālandā, the midday meal was the only meal served since strictly observant monks do not eat in the evening. When the whole community of Nālandā monks gathered for lunch, they numbered about ten thousand. People living in the surrounding area personally came and sponsored meals for the monks. Thus, including the monks, sponsors, and guests, the assembly could be as large as eleven or twelve thousand people.

After the meal, as an offering of gratitude to the lay community, one of the monks would give a public lecture on the dharma, or would perhaps recite some of the Buddhist sūtras. The common practice was to recite a sūtra spoken by the Buddha or to lecture on a particular sūtra. Delivering one’s own commentary or composition to the assembly of lay persons and monks was highly unusual.

On this occasion, however, since the monks had conspired to drive Śāntideva from the monastery, they had arranged extensive offerings outside the monastery and had invited a crowd of outsiders to attend. They had even erected a throne so high that no one could possibly climb up and sit upon it. When they called for Śāntideva to come and teach, they were startled to find him already seated on the throne, although no one had seen him ascend it.

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