Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life: How to Enjoy a Life of Great Meaning and Altruism

by Śāntideva, Kelsang Gyatso (Translation), Kelsang Thubten (Translation)

An ancient poem for modern times This famous and universally loved poem for daily living has inspired generations of Buddhists and non-Buddhists since it was first composed in the 8th century by the great Buddhist Master, Shantideva. This new translation, made under the guidance of Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche, conveys the great lucidity and poetic beauty of the original, while preserving its full impact and spiritual insight. Reading the verses slowly, while contemplating their meaning, has a profoundly liberating effect on the mind. The poem invokes special positive states of mind, moving us from suffering and conflict to happiness and peace, and gradually introduces us to the entire path to attaining the supreme inner peace of enlightenment, the real meaning of our human life.

Genres: Buddhism, Spirituality

263 pages, Paperback

Published March 5, 2018

About the author

Śāntideva was an North Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist monk associate with Nālandā monastery, who flourished somewhere between 685 and 763 CE. His two extant works are widely considered to be classics of explication of the philosophy and practice of the Buddhist "Great Vehicle" path.

Reviews

[Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent and famed book, an essential text for beginner and advanced Buddhists. It’s just incredible to think that the teaching was given by Shantideva when his peers thought they were setting him up to fail. That on its own is a great story but to come out with such a sophisticated and eloquent teaching makes this book a true wonder of the Buddhist world.

[Vicki Scullion · Rating 4 out of 5]

A translation of Shantideva’s poem to help a practitioner follow dharma. This version does not contain commentary.

[Bruce Leeds · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read several translations of this great book and this for me is the best translation, including, in my opinion, the overrated one by the Padmakara Translation Group (I think they were trying too hard). It is also a good size and is unencumbered by “apparatus.” It’s a really nice book. Buy it without hesitation.

In my lifetime of reading, I don’t think I have ever read such an eloquent and tightly argued statement against the confused state of mind in favor of the rational, ethical state of mind, and ultimately wisdom. There’s a reason that this is the single book that the Dalai Lama carried out of Tibet when he fled the Chinese.

For an excellent commentary on this work, see the Dalai Lama‘s For the Benefit of all Beings, which is a book that is so beautiful it can be read as a stand-alone book without reference to Shantideva. And for a more technical analysis of Shantideva’s famous 9th chapter, what in the present book is called “The Perfection of Wisdom” and which deals with Shantideva’s concept of the inherently clear nature of the mind, see the Dalai Lama‘s eloquent and detailed commentary in his book Practicing Wisdom.