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 four prerequisites [rgyu bzhi po] of declaring respect [mchod par brjod pa], pledging to compose [rtsom par dam bca’ ba], casting away pride [khengs pa skyung ba], and generating joy [spro ba bskyed pa] are not only needed for composing treatises but are also required for whatever task one may undertake, be it teaching, studying, meditating, building a temple and so forth.

Before you set out on any undertaking, you should first offer prostrations and supplicate the buddhas and lineage masters in order to receive their blessings. This will remove all obstacles for your project and is especially important when practicing meditation. Without supplicating the masters, you will not receive their blessings, and your meditation will not lead to realization. This is a crucial point. Without heartfelt devotion, the blessings of the lineage will not descend, and realization will not dawn without the blessings of the lineage.

The second step for any undertaking is to give rise to the firm resolve to see your project through to completion. Such resolve is also indispensable for meditation. At the beginning of each session one should generate the resolution to be non-distracted for the entire session.

Next, you must overcome pride and arrogance without overcompensating by becoming timid. As long as you consider yourself superior to others, you cannot appreciate other people’s qualities, and, therefore, you cannot learn from them. Meditators who think their practice is really fantastic have already fallen under the influence of Māra. A practitioner should have confidence in his practice but without a trace of arrogance and haughtiness. True confidence leads to the assurance of charisma [spobs pa].

A practitioner needs to respect himself or herself. Someone who rejoices in his own qualities and in the work he does will naturally develop respect toward himself. A practitioner who has respect toward his own innate goodness and in the goodness of his dharma practice will naturally gain the respect of others.

It is a sign of a genuine practitioner to be peaceful [zhi ba], tame [’dul ba], and relaxed [glod po]. Such a practitioner is in accord with the true nature of his mind. Being proud and arrogant means being not in accord with one’s true natrue. A genuine practitioner is humble as he has nothing to defend. Being humble does not mean to be meek or fearful. Being meek and frightened is based on fear. To trust and rejoice in one’s own qualities and innate goodness is called confidence [yid ches] or certainty [gdeng tshad]. This should never be confused with pride or arrogance.

A practitioner should always rejoice in his buddha nature [bde gshegs snying po], the fact that he is primordially endowed with all the infinite qulities of the Buddha. This is called to ‘generate joy in one’s basis’ [gzhi], in one’s buddha nature. When practicing the path of dharma, the pracitioner should generate joy in his own dharma practice. He should practice with a joyous mind, knowing that he is doing the right thing. That is called to ‘generate joy in the path’ [lam].

These four prerequisites [rgyu bzhi po] of

  1. declaring respect [mchod par brjod pa],
  2. pledging to compose [rtsom par dam bca’ ba],
  3. casting away pride [khengs pa skyung ba], and
  4. generating joy [spro ba bskyed pa] can be applied to any project or work but should be practiced particularly when studying, contemplating and meditating.
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