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 order to definitively resolve these doubts, as well as to question Śāntideva about the Śikṣā-samuccaya and the Sūtra-samuccaya, two paṇḍitas from Nālandā journeyed to meet him. Śāntideva told them that the version of the Bodhisattva-caryāvatāra held by the paṇḍitas from the Central Land, composed of ten chapters and one thousand stanzas, was in fact the correct one.

In response to their questions about the Śikṣāsamuccaya and the Sūtra-samuccaya, Śāntideva said they would find both texts hidden between the rafters in his old room at Nālandā. Then he gave them the reading transmission and the instructions for these texts. This concludes the second of the seven amazing episodes of Śāntideva’s life story.

The central message of this episode is that dharma practice is not intended to impress other people but to develop one’s own realization. Spiritual practice is a very private affair, something engaged in for one’s own development, and not something intended for public display. Therefore, Śāntideva appeared as Bhusuku, remaining low key, harboring neither hopes nor fears about other people’s opinions of him.

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