A Guide to Bodhisattva's Way of Life

by Śāntideva, Stephen Batchelor

Shantideva's Bodhisattvacharyavatara (A Guide to Bodhisattva's Way of Life) holds a unique place in Mahayana Buddhism akin to that of the Dhammapada in Hinayana Buddhism and the Bhagavadgita in Hinduism. In combining those rare qualities of scholastic precision, spiritual depth and poetical beauty, its appeal extends to a wide audience of Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike. Composed in India during the 8th century of the Christian era, it has since been an inspiration to millions of people throughout the world.
This present translation by Stephen Batchelor is based upon a 12th century Tibetan commentary as orally explained by Ven. Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey. The ninth chapter on wisdom has been expanded for this edition with relevant commentarial passages.

Genres: Buddhism, Philosophy, Religion, Spirituality, Nonfiction, Poetry, Classics

184 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 700

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

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one that never goes on the "already read it" shelf. When I finish, I just start over again. One of these days it'll sink in...

[Justin Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection of aphorism, but also a sophisticated philosophical consideration of two major problems for salvific religions: if I'm concerned with my own salvation, should I care about other people, and why? The obvious answer, of course, is that your treatment of other people is intimately related to your own salvation, but that's much harder to justify than you might think. Santideva was a monk, writing to other monks, and prone to answering questions like how will all this meditation really help other people though? by saying things like "The perfection is the mental attitude itself." Because you kind of have to say that if you're going to defend withdrawal from the world, and you kind of have to withdraw from the world if you're going to live a life of purity, which is the only way to save yourself... right?

Well, what follows the above quote (5.10) is a pretty good try to get out of that logic.

The other problem concerns the value we place of this world. In Santideva's understanding of Buddhist cosmology, nothing exists, everything is illusion, and this causes some pretty obvious problems: why should I bother trying to avoid rebirth, if it's all just illusion anyway? Isn't the process of trying to avoid rebirth just as illusory as the pleasure we take from a nice meal? Book 9 tries to answer such questions, not very well in my eyes, but with a great deal of thought. And this is, again, applicable to all salvific religions: how do you balance the desire for a better state of existence with the needs of the present state? This is connected to the first problem, of course.

The Oxford World's Classics translation is a good one, scholarly but not obtrusive. The notes are helpful, while, of course, avoiding much discussion of the tremendous cosmology needed to justify the idea of rebirth. There's a lot of suffering and hell in this book, and the editors take the easy "oh, it's just in your mind" way out, which means they don't have to tell us anything about the various levels of hell and so on. That's okay, you can't annotate everything. I just want to know more about the levels.

[Kamakana · Rating 5 out of 5]

if you like this review i now have website: www.michaelkamakana.com

010420: can this actually be seven years since read? apparently so. and i remember it well. the only difference is that by now i have read some other indic philosophy, advaita-vedanta The Experiential Dimension of Advaita Vedanta and jaina Jainism as Meta-Philosophy, some 'primary texts', some sutras The Diamond Sutra: The Buddha Also Said..., some work as The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way: Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā but my philosophical stance has not altered. as inspiring and fascinating as buddhism is, i still do not identify with it as religion, but learn from it as philosophy...

311213 first review: i do not myself identify as Buddhist, though i have read many secondary books on the 'Way', fewer books on the historical Buddha, fewer yet actual primary works of Buddhism. here i am mostly commenting on the preface, introduction, translators introduction. i am so very glad there are translators, humble, self conscious, aware of limitations and philosophical and textual complexity...

this is beautifully rendered into English. i will read this, think of this, it continues as background for religion, science, and philosophy, background ethical if not entirely ontological ground, of which other elements of thought emerge, of which itself insists on its own values. as sartrean existentialism persists in all readings of phenomenology for me, as read deeply first, so Buddhism is also first read and thought of. i live in a nominally Christian society yes, and perhaps there are equally thoughtful philosophical or theological texts in Christianity- but i am given to understand it is not possible to 'be' Christian if you do not believe in the divinity of Jesus, or Muslim if you do not think of Mohammed as the Prophet, or Jewish if you do not believe in a special relationship with God. i am not religious in any way. in philosophy i do 'believe', i do read, i do study, i do value, and think this is my best way to be human...

month later...

i have now read the text. often people will claim that, though not themselves in organized church or religious institution, they think of themselves, and think by, religious or better- 'spiritual' way. for some people this leads to alternate forms of practice, to ways of religion not common or to them 'used up' like words or phrases unmoored, meaningless, cliche- in religious ways eg. 'new age' or other new interpretations of ancient ways, particularly if it is unfamiliar or exotic. i have doubted whether my attitude could be similarly reduced to this sincere appropriation. reading this text, reading concurrently certain philosophy texts, even when i cannot claim to fully understand, intuitively and thus truthfully i must say that it is not any specific sacred text or texts or elaborations of familiar or exotic religions, but the very way of thinking, the tendency to reifying spiritual assertions, is not my way of being in the world. i do not think therefore i am less moral, less ethical, less open, to appreciating the world or aspects of it beyond my immediate or eventual sense. i do not decline to embrace merely a church, an institution, of any religion- i do not embrace any religious way of thinking. the only faith i proclaim is something of a metaphysical way of thinking, what merleau-ponty calls 'perceptual faith', of philosophy. and i am comfortable to be still working out what that means...

i had on here a few religious texts of Hawai'ian mythic intent, written by the descendant of some men considered kahunas- something like priests. i am only half-Hawai'ian, i am not local born and raised, i lived there one highschool year but i grew up mostly in Canada. i have always had already the good fortune to be atheist. i tried to read these books, then wondered, if this was not my heritage, would i keep reading. i checked GR. decided to stop...

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished this, and all I can say is 'Wow.' This work by Shantideva is a spiritual tour-de-force.

The introduction is indispensable, by the way. You really must read it if you want to understand the larger points of the text.

Aside from a good deal of inspiration and warning of sufferings to come, there are some brilliant arguments in this book. In one passage, for example, Shantideva demonstrates why loving our enemies is the only logical thing to do:

If something does not come to be when something else is absent,
And does arise, that factor being present,
That factor is indeed its cause.
How can it, then, be said to hinder it! (stanza 104)
[...]
So, like a treasure found at home,
That I have gained without fatigue,
My enemies are helpers in my Bodhisattva work
And therefore they should be a joy to me. (stanza 107)

Since I have grown in patience
Thanks to them,
To them its first fruits I should give,
For of my patience they have been the cause. (stanza 108)

But why should our enemies be loved and thanked, when they intended only malice towards us and did not mean to stimulate our patience? Shantideva answers this too!

The second-to-last chapter, titled "Wisdom," is by far the most philosophically rich, and will be very challenging for those not familiar with the concept of 'emptiness' in Mahayana Buddhism. I personally need to study this more and then return to reread it.

This book may seem to be simple poetry, but it contains some profound and subtle arguments that require close attention to detail to follow. I give it five stars because it is spectacular, but I would not recommend it to someone seeking a general introduction to Buddhism. This is deep water.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the books on Buddhism that I have read so far have come from the Theravada branch. This one is (I think) my first encounter with the Mahayana branch of Buddhism, which is the more popular one today, but a bit more complex and demanding for my taste. It views our positions in the life-death cycle (samsara) as humans as a unique opportunity, but one which is all too often squandered with trivialities and material distractions, focusing on bodily pleasures, confusing form with ideal (Plato, anyone?) and giving in to anger and lust. Yet it argues that through compassion, patience, meditation, practice, etc. that we can lead more fulfilling lives and can essentially be the vanguards for others' salvation from samsara (and through others' liberation, our own).

On the one hand, this work contains many beautiful suggestions that can increase our "compassion," as the Dalai Lama suggests, but it also has some warnings about hell (different though than the Christian conception) and promotes austerity in such a way that -- despite other virtues in the work -- it just leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. But at its best it sends me back to the verse of poets like Whitman (described by Thoreau as being "Wonderfully like the Orientals"), Kerouac and Rimbaud ("I is another") in its calls for compassion and its urgency of placing ourselves in the roles of other, realizing our oneness and that which makes us all co-travelers on this remarkable journey of life. At its core is this beautiful, yet terrifying message that we are, as the Dalai Lama explains in the introduction, "the authors of our own destiny . . . ultimately, perhaps frighteningly, free." And maybe this, too, accounts for some of my reservations with the work, fear of all that this could imply. But whatever my reservations with ranking the work any higher, I can certainly say that it has accelerated the thought-wheels of my mind -- and any work that can do that for us is something remarkable indeed (for me, some of the best works are those that raise more questions than they answer).

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered this book the best way: browsing idly in a used bookshop. I opened it at random and read, “The world is a confusion of insane people striving to delude themselves.”

That stark phrase, it seemed to me, got right to the heart of the difference between the seeker and the non-seeker, or rather, the one who renounces and the one who clings: for this is how human life must necessarily look to one who has seriously begun on a religious path: mad. The idea excited me and gave me once again that sense of awakening to a Kierkegaardian sickness-unto-death all around: all of us are behaving idiotically, we are chasing illusions, we chat and chat but say nothing, we buy and buy but nothing we own has value, there are people on the beach facing the staggering sunset and texting on their phones, this is not normal, we are all fucking insane. I was holding in my hands, I knew immediately, a book by a genius of some kind. If he was daring enough to say such a thing, what else would he say?

There can be, oddly, a clear-headedness this sort of narrow denunciation of life. It is good, now and then, to go in for a wholesale rejection of conventional perspectives and common-sense logic. It is necessary—the way that a cold shower can be necessary to wake you up in the morning, without it meaning that you should spend the rest of your day there. Those who refuse to enter this sort of extreme religious register, who rather try to hold onto a worldly perspective while also defending a religious view, must fail, I think, to truly inhabit the mystical ecstasy which that religious view struggles to make available to human consciousness. That is a lonely act; it requires a kind of courage. I sense that courage, that fearless despising of the norm, in Santideva’s ability to limn such a grim picture of a world of willful madmen.

Of course, that does not mean there is no other way of seeing things, and that one must cease all communication with one’s fellow beings. Later, in the work’s culminating chapter, Santideva gives language to a dual-perspective: “It is agreed that there are these two truths: the conventional and the ultimate. Reality is beyond the scope of intellection. Intellection is said to be the conventional. In the light of this, people are seen to be of two types: namely, the spiritually developed and the spiritually undeveloped.” I trust these meta-categories because I first trust that Santideva has inhabited the so-called “ultimate” truth and seeks to speak from that place, rather than to speak about the ultimate from the place of the conventional.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me a Buddhist and a Christian at the same time. What I love about Buddhism is that it doesn't try to pin God down or even call him "God," but they teach ways to experience him/her. Most memorable phrase: "the wandering elephant of the mind"

[Vaishali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clear, beautifully-translated directions on self-control.

Quotes :
.....................................................

"For those who have no introspection - though they hear the teachings, ponder them, or meditate - like water seeping from a leaking jar their learning will not settle in their memories."

"It is taught that rules of discipline may be relaxed in times of generosity."

"Work calmly for the happiness of others."

"Do not inconsiderately move chairs and furniture so noisily around. Likewise do not open doors with violence. Take pleasure in the practice of humility."

"Herons, cats, and burglars achieve what they intend by going silently unobserved. Such is the constant practice of a sage."

"Strive always to learn from everyone."

"The body used to practice sacred teachings should not be harmed in meaningless pursuits."

"Do not teach the dharma to the disrespectful."

"To those who are on the lower paths, do not explain the vast and deep."

"But all of this must be acted out in truth, for what is to be gained by mouthing syllables? What invalid was helped by merely reading the doctor’s treatises?"

"All the good works gathered in a thousand ages, such as the deeds of generosity and offerings to the blissful ones: a single flash of anger shatters them."

"No evil is there similar to anger, no austerity to be compared with patience."

"My anger finds its fuel. From this it grows and beats me down. Therefore I will utterly destroy this… my enemy, my foe who has no other purpose but to hurt and injure me."

"Come what may, I will never upset my cheerful happiness of mind. Dejection never brings me what I want."

"What is the use of being glum?"

"There is nothing that does not grow light through habit and familiarity."

"When sorrows fall upon the wise, their minds should be serene and undisturbed."

"There is no reason for our rage. It is like resenting fire for being hot."

"They, their weapons… I, my body brandished. Who then is more worthy of my rage?"

"We, who are like children, shrink from pain but love its causes. So why should others be the object of our rage?"

"How else can I expect to repay God’s goodness except by working to make living beings happy?"

"I shall be master of myself, and servant of the world."


.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have now been studying Buddhist philosophy as a practicing Buddhist in the Mahayana tradition for many years. The Bodhisattva Way of Life is without any doubt in my mind the most meaningful and useful teaching I have read.

This epic poem by the well loved Buddhist Saint Santideva was of such assistance to my understanding of relevant aspects of other Mahayana commentaries to Buddha's teaching that it takes pride of place in my heart, mind and on my shrine.

Probably the most fascinating, and complex component is the celebrated ninth chapter on wisdom. Admittedly it is daunting in its complexity and it is not easily followed.

Santideva begins this chapter by pointing out that the whole of the Bodhicaryavatara (Path of the Bodhisattva) and all the methods for purifying the mind and generating the virtues of vigilance, patience, courage and so on, are geared toward wisdom. Naturally he defines wisdom as the direct realization of emptiness - or absolute Bodhicitta. Without achieving this first coherently argues, the true practice of compassion is not possible.

From the point of view of metaphysics, I understand that Santideva was an adherent of the Prasangika Madhyamika (the Middle Way Consequence) school of Buddhist philosophy. The basic position of Madhyamika is that reason itself is fundamentally flawed and insufficient to achieve ultimate wisdom. Santideva steps gracefully through the argument that there is a radical lack in the fundamental structure of reason itself, something that prevents us from attaining a true knowledge of the absolute. In the final analysis,he points out poetically, all rational formulations, however ingenious, contain within themselves paradox and inconsistency, the very seeds of their own refutation. Thus he, as a devotee of the Prasangika Madhyamika position does not advance a position of his own, but rather puts forward a body of doctrines which are essentially a system of philosophical criticism.

His technique is to take a dogmatic assertion (the doctrine of the self, the theory of causation, or the existence of a divine creator etc) and to gradually, and incisively, refute it. He does not do this however by putting forward an alternative view, but rather he gradually, and exquisitely, exposes by intricate logical steps the theory's own incoherence. Ultimately the assertion so treated is reduced to an absurdity and is shown to be unequal to its original claim. In the end he reveals all theories - even Buddhist theories - as innately irrational.

In doing this he reduces to total silence the restless questioning intellect. From this position an intellectual stillness arises as conceptual elaboration is annihilated. It is by reaching this position, he asserts, that is is possible for the insight which lies beyond theory to arise. In this way he prepares us for the experience of shunyata (emptiness) itself.

The most remarkable feature of the ninth chapter, I think, is that it shows that the wisdom of emptiness is not merely relevant to Bodhisattva training, it is indispensable. Indeed Santideva demonstrates that far from being a matter of rarefied metaphysics or academic discussion, separated by monastery walls from the concerns of practical existence, the Madhyamika view is fundamentally a vision and a way of life. It is the ultimate heart and soul of the Buddha's teaching. In the twenty or so stanzas at the end of the ninth chapter Santideve shows precisely how the absence of this profound wisdom lies at the root of samsara and the sorrows of the world. Poignantly he concludes his message with these verses of great beauty and pathos:

"When shall I be able to allay and quench
The dreadful heat of suffering's blazing fires,
With plenteous rains of my own bliss
That pour torrential from clouds of merit?

My wealth of merit gathered in,
With reverence but without conceptual aim,
When shall I reveal this truth of emptiness
To those who go to ruin through belief in substance.

[Rishab Katoch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bodhicharyavatara or The Way of the Bodhisattva, is a classic work of Mahayana tradition of Buddhism written by the Indian Buddhist master Santideva a member of the famed Nalanda university of ancient India. Santideva's beautiful verses, originally written in Sanskrit and later translated into Tibetan contains profound meditations on many themes of Mahayana Buddhism. The chapters can be divided into three stages, the first three are designed to stimulate the bodhichitta (desire for enlightenment), the next three are instructions on how to prevent the attitude from being dissipated and finally the next three are ways in which bodhichitta can be intensified.

A bodhisattva refers to an enlightened being who delays niravana in order to help others become enlightened. For this reason the central theme of the work is compassion and why it is absolutely necessary for becoming a bodhisattva. Apart from compassion, it also deals with other themes like the virtue of patience, theory of impermanence and the nature of ego. There are many translations and commentaries on this work and further reading would definitely help get a better understanding. Most of the work would be comprehensible for people even slightly familiar with Buddhist teachings but chapter 8 'wisdom' needs further explanation. If I'm not mistaken santideva is primarily addressing monks or those soon going to be one and because of that reason some of the teachings seem a bit too austere for a casual reader. But this is one of those books that need to revisited time and again in order to truly grasp the wisdom it offers.

"Those who harm me rise against me
It's my karma that has summoned them.
And if through this these beings go to hell,
Is it no it I who bring their ruin?

Because of them, and through my patience,
All my sins are cleansed and purified.
But they will be the ones who, thanks to me,
Will have the long drawn agonies of hell.

Therefore I am their tormentor!
Therefore it is they who bring me benefit!
Thus with what perversity, perncious mind,
Will you be angry with your enemies?

[Brian Griffith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Santideva's classic contains the best and most down to earth articulation of why anger is utterly stupid that I have ever seen, and the translation is great.

[Scriptor Ignotus · Rating 5 out of 5]

“As long as space abides and as long as the world abides, so long may I abide, destroying the sufferings of the world.” – Śāntideva, Bodhicaryāvatāra (10.2)

The Bodhicaryāvatāra (“Way of the Bodhisattva”) is nothing less than a manual for the path of the Awakening Mind (bodhicitta) from helpless enthrallment in the infernal, fissiparous spheres of cyclical existence to the self-transcending, contingency-relinquishing, compassion-suffused, all-pervading cosmic embrasure of Buddhahood. A perennial mainstay in the tradition of Mahāyāna Buddhism, the work is a masterpiece of poetry, philosophy, and contemplative didacticism. Written in the early eighth century by Śāntideva, a monk attached to the Nālandā monastery in what is now the northern Indian state of Bihar, it demonstrates the profound interpenetration of reason and spirituality in eastern thought. For myself, it also provides some contextual illumination regarding the place of patristic Christian theology within that interconnected cartographical bend roughly corresponding to the Silk Road—stretching from the eastern Mediterranean to northern China—which shared a loose metaphysical vocabulary, and through which ideas were relayed from one pole to the other in a great game of telephone. If one is brave enough to desist in viewing each religious tradition as a discrete, self-contained entity, then one may fructify his understanding of his own tradition by observing how certain familiar concepts have been addressed in a different, but vaguely related, cultural milieu.

Every Buddhist tradition, of course, posits that the phenomenal world is plagued by suffering, that this suffering is perpetuated through an endless cycle of birth, sickness, old age, and death in samsāra, and that the only means of liberation from this vicious circle, as demonstrated by the Buddha, is an arduous process of renunciation, whereby one comes to understand that suffering is born from our innate tendency to reify the contingent and transitory objects of our perception, to regard them as inherent and unchanging when they are neither of those things, and thus to “grasp” them with our egoic consciousness in a futile effort to preserve them for “ourselves”—and then releases these mental idols from his own clutches in what the introduction to my edition describes as an “existential relaxation”. Likewise, all Buddhists believe that the concept of the Self—something one may call “I”—is itself the foremost of these illusory but perpetually-reified objects of attachment, and that, just like everything else, the Self proves devoid of inherent existence when broken down into its constituent elements. All phenomena arise interdependently, so there is no refuge in the worlds of samsāra for the individuated ego.

But for the Mahāyāna tradition, it is not enough for one merely to detach himself from the vagaries of cyclic existence. Buddhahood is not achieved by one’s own escape from rebirth; rather, the recognition of the interdependence of all things, and the vastness of humanity in relation to the conventional self, should engender, in a mind truly resolved on awakening, an overriding compassion for the suffering of all beings, and a desire to help alleviate that suffering even at one’s own expense. The aspiring bodhisattva, then—the one who will attain to Buddhahood—is one dedicated to offering himself for the salvation of others, even through multiple life cycles and the endurance of numberless hells. For the Mahāyāna Buddhist, either everyone must experience nirvāna, or no one can:

“Today I summon the world to Buddhahood and to worldly happiness meanwhile. In the presence of all the Saviours, may gods, titans, and all rejoice.” (3.33)

The bodhisattva thus both transcends the world spheres—and the suffering therein—and embraces the totality of that very suffering at the same time and in a single movement of awakening. In a final dissolution, a final negation of the conventional categories of intellection to reveal the underlying emptiness, the distinction between nirvāṇa and saṃsāra disappears. This image of divinized beings, at once suspended in glory above the world and plumbing its abysmal reaches to rescue every sentient being from suffering, invites comparison with various Christian soteriologies. Naturally, it would be utterly alien to most figures in the Latin tradition—Catholic or Protestant—but it would not be so foreign to the likes of Origen, Athanasius, Gregory of Nyssa, Macrina, Isaac the Syrian, or Maximus the Confessor.

This is the spiritual vision towards which the Bodhicaryāvatāra is oriented. It is both a course of instruction for seekers of enlightenment and Śāntideva’s own proclamation of devotion to the bodhisattva ideal. The text is structured as a series of ascending stages. Śāntideva resolves to adopt the awakening mind, confesses his own contributions to worldly suffering, begins the path of renunciation and intercession, practices the guarding of awareness and proper conduct, perfects himself in forbearance, vigor, and meditative absorption, and finally reaches the penultimate stage, the perfection of understanding, in which he defends his own Madhyamaka (“Middle Way”) philosophy against rival schools of thought, refuting any positive statement about the nature of conventional reality or the inherency of anything within it to protect the ultimate truth of the pure emptiness of things—or at least their emptiness of an unchanging nature as we perceive them.

Many of Śāntideva’s meditations on self-renunciation are deeply moving—and carry uncannily Christian resonances:

“May I avert the pain of hunger and thirst with showers of food and drink. May I become both drink and food in the intermediate aeons of famine.” (3.8)

“Abandonment of all is Enlightenment and Enlightenment is my heart’s goal. If I must give up everything, better it be given to sentient beings. I make over this body to all embodied beings to do with as they please. Let them continually beat it, insult it, and splatter it with filth.” (3.11-12)

“Those who will falsely accuse me, and others who will do me harm, and others still who will degrade me, may they all share in Awakening. I am the protector of the unprotected and the caravan-leader for travellers. I have become the boat, the causeway, and the bridge for those who long to reach the further shore. May I be a light for those in need of light. May I be a bed for those in need of rest. May I be a servant for those in need of service, for all embodied beings.” (3.16-18)

Any of these statements could have come straight from the Gospels; and these are just a few examples from one section of the text.

It is also noteworthy that Śāntideva’s final dedication makes reference to Sukhāvatī, the “Pure Land” said to have been created through the vows and practices of the Buddha Amitābha, who was venerated as early as the first few centuries of the common era, which would make his cult contemporaneous with the emergence of Christianity. Having achieved the perfection of understanding and gathered up merit, Śāntideva gains the power not only to provide refuge from earthly sufferings, but to actively transform the hells of cyclic existence into a Pure Land, inaugurated by and through himself as a glorified bodhisattva:

“Through my merit may all those in any of the directions suffering distress in body or mind find oceans of happiness and delight.” (10.2)

“Let the embodied beings, in however many hellish states are found in the world spheres, enjoy the happiness and delight of Sukhāvatī. Let those afflicted by cold find warmth; let those afflicted by heat be cooled by oceans of water pouring from the great cloud of Bodhisattvas.” (10.4-5)

“May the regions of hell become glades of delight, with lakes scented by a profusion of lotuses, splendid and delightful with the chorus of song from grey geese, ducks, swans, and other water-birds. Let the heap of hot coals be a heap of jewels, and let the red-hot earth be a crystal mosaic, and the ‘crushing’ mountains of hell become celestial palaces of worship filled with Sugatas. Let the rain of burning coals, heated rocks, and daggers from this day forth be a shower of flowers; and let the warring with these weapons, one against the other, now be merely playful—a tussle with flowers.” (10.7-9)

“Whatever suffering is in store for the world, may it all ripen in me. May the world find happiness through all the pure deeds of the Bodhisattvas.” (10.56)

The Kingdom of God, anyone?

Just magnificent.

[Eric Rupert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won't ever become a bodhisattva, but I can still hold myself to a higher standard. While there are good ideas present in the poetry of this rather personal buddhist action plan, Shantideva consistently speaks from a position of superiority rather than authority. Many of the qualities he admires cannot be achieved by the "common run of people" but only by those with "yogic insight." I disagree and am disappointed with the exclusive tone. Ironically, the best points he makes are about equality and empathy.

[Shashi Martynova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Остро, разнообразно, сверхплотно полезный текст.
VIII век - как вчера писано (да-да, я понимаю, что есть неизбежные издержки перевода на европейские языки) для нас сегодняшних. Для меня сегодняшней.
Пока - самая понятная мне буддийская книга. Переводческая группа "Падмакара" сделала мне лично громадный подарок. Математика буддийской духовности - умственное фигурное катание (индивидуальная программа, где и я, и рассказчик, и рассказываемое легко и непринужденно сливаемся воедино - в одно сияющее, наполненное ничем пустое место), которым я лично могу заниматься почти бесконечно.
Это очень красиво, это остолбенительно изящно и безупречно, точно, бесспорно, освободительно.

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actually, infinite stars. Goodreads only shows five.

[Mehmet]

"Bu dünya kendini avutmak için çabalayan delirmiş insanların kargaşasıdır" (s. 65)

O zamanlar da aynı sorular insanların kafasını kurcalıyormuş. Aynı korku, ölüm korkusu.
Hiç değişmemiş.
Ölüme cevap arayışı.

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bodhi: enlightenment/awakening
Sattva: Buddhist - being/person. Hindu - goodness, positivity, truth, wholesomeness, serenity, wholeness, creativity, constructiveness, balance, confidence, peacefulness, and virtuousness
Chitta: attitude/mind/consciousness

Having encountered the idea of the Bodhisattva in college, I finally got around to reading one of the greatest works on the concept. The current Dalai Lama has said of the Shantideva, “If I have any understanding of compassion and the practice of the bodhisattva path, it is entirely on the basis of this text that I possess it” (30). That’s a pretty strong recommendation, eh?

The chapters of the work are:
1. The Excellence of Bodhichitta
2. Confession
3. Commitment
4. Awareness
5. Vigilance
6. Patience
7. Heroic Perseverance
8. Meditation
9. Wisdom
10. Dedication

In general, chapters 1-3 describe the arising or dawn of Bodhichitta (enlightened or awakened mind or attitude). Chapters 4-6 concern the maintenance of Bodhichitta, chapters 7-9 discuss ways to intensify it (with chapter 9, the “Wisdom” chapter, arguing for the interconnectedness and mystery of all things, including identity). Chapter 10 is a closing dedication.

In college I loved the idea of someone achieving enlightenment but “staying in the trenches” to help others. After reading this, I’m not sure that’s exactly what being a Bodhisattva is about. I think the goal is to develop one’s own virtue and thereby alleviate the suffering of others through the mystery of interconnectedness. It’s very difficult to work toward your own enlightenment and remain humble about your ability to help others, but you must take ego out of the equation. You aren’t helping others because you’re better than them or more “woke,” you’re fundamentally working on yourself and hoping that this allows your presence to heal others. I think it’s something along the lines of a favorite quote of mine by Maya Angelou:
*”I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

The keystone verse of the work is:
*All the joy the world contains
Has come through wishing happiness for others.
All the misery the world contains
Has come through wanting pleasure for oneself. (8.129)

There are also teachings on anger and sin. James 1:19-20 (NLT) says, “Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.” Shantideva agrees. According to the translators’ introduction, “Aside from a purely external and as it were artificial indignation, put on for educational purposes - which has compassion as its motive and is acted out by one whose mind is under control - anger has absolutely no place in the scheme of spiritual development. It is totally inimical to mental training and will ruin and annihilate in an instant all the progress and merit gained” (13). Romans 6:23 (NLT) says that “the wages of sin is death” and in the movie “The Shack” we are told that sin is its own punishment. Shantideva seems to agree:
“But if, in search of happiness, my works are evil,
Then no matter where I turn my steps,
The knives of misery will cut me down -
The wage and retribution of a sinful life. (7.43)



Potent Quotables:

For all anxiety and fear,
All sufferings in boundless measure,
Their source and wellspring is the mind itself. (5.6)

The hostile multitudes are vast as space -
What chance is there that all should be subdued?
Let but this angry mind be overthrown
And every foe is then and there destroyed. (5.12)

*To cover all the earth with sheets of hide -
Where could such amounts of skin be found?
But simply wrap some leather round your feet,
And it’s as if the whole earth had been covered! (5.13)

We can never take
And turn aside the outer course of things.
But only seize and discipline the mind itself,
And what is there remaining to be curbed? (5.14)

This mind of mine, a wild and rampant elephant,
I’ll tether to that sturdy post: reflection on the Teaching.
And I shall narrowly stand guard
That is might never slip its bonds and flee. (5.40)

And when you yearn for wealth, attention, fame,
A circle of admirers serving you,
And when you look for honors, recognition -
It’s then that like a log you should remain. (5.51)

When useful admonitions come unasked
To those with skill in counseling their fellows,
Let them welcome them with humble gratitude,
And always strive to learn from everyone. (5.74)

When enemies or friends
Are seen to act improperly,
Be calm and call to mind
That everything arises from conditions. (6.33)

If those like wanton children
Are by nature prone to injure others,
What point is there in being angry -
Like resenting fire for its heat? (6.39)

Come what may,
I’ll hold fast to the virtuous path
And foster in the hearts of all
An attitude of mutual love. (6.69)

The satisfaction that is mine
From thinking “I am being praised,”
Is unacceptable to common sense,
And nothing but the silly ways of children.

All enemies are helpers in my bodhisattva work
And therefore they should be a joy to me.
The fruits of patience are for them and me,
For both of us have brought it into being.
And yet to them they must be offered first,
For of my patience they have been the cause. (6.107-108)

*The wise man does not crave,
For from such craving fear and anguish come.
And fix this firmly in your understanding:
All that may be wished for will by nature fade to nothing. (8.19)

They indeed, possessed of many wants,
Will suffer many troubles, all for very little:
Mouthfuls of the hay the oxen get
As recompense for having pulled the cart! (8.80)

*If this “I” is not relinquished wholly,
Sorrow likewise cannot be avoided.
For if he does not keep away from fire,
A man cannot escape from being burned. (8.135)

If objects show that consciousness exists,
What, in turn, upholds the truth of objects?
If both subsist through mutual dependence,
Both thereby will lose their true existence. (9.112)

May every being ailing with disease
Be freed at once from every malady.
May all the sickness that afflicts the living
Be instantly and permanently healed.
May those who go in dread have no more fear.
May captives be unchained and now set free.
And may the weak receive their strength.
May living beings help each other in kindness. (10.21-22)

*And now as long as space endures,
As long as there are beings to be found,
May I continue likewise to remain
To drive away the sorrows of the world. (10.55)

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful poem about cultivating bodhicitta. Shantideva is revered in certain parts of the Mahayana and Vajrayana tradition, and it's no small wonder. To a casual reader, this will probably seem like a nice book of beatitudes intermixed with warnings about the torments of "hell" ending in a confusing chapter called Wisdom, but it's much more than that. There's a reason that the Dalai Lama and masters like Patrul teach and taught this as often as possible. More than any other single work I've read, this shastra shows the two key components of bodhicitta as profound compassion and perfect wisdom (prajnaparamita as relating to shunyata or emptiness). Compared to the rest of the poem, the section on wisdom is exponentially more dense and complex, but anyone reading it should be aware that it's a masterful condensation of Prasangika Madhyamika in under 200 stanzas, which is and was unprecedented. Cultivating bodhicitta is a lifetime-long pursuit (if not longer), and I know without a doubt that I'll be returning to this book repeatedly for guidance in the simultaneous cultivation of compassion and wisdom.

[Bernie Gourley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bodhisattva is one who achieves enlightenment but sticks around to help others pursue the path. Shantideva was a Buddhist monk who lived [mostly] in the 8th century in the part of India that is today in the state of Bihar. Shantideva’s lesson on how to be a good bodhisattva is delivered via 10 chapters of verse, mostly in four-line stanzas. This instructional poem makes up almost 240 pages of the edition of the book put out by Shambhala as translated by the Padmakara Translation Group, and the rest is front matter, appendices, notes, and a bibliography.

The chapters of Shantideva’s poem are: 1.) The Excellence of Bodhichitta (lit. “enlightened mind”); 2.) Confession (fear is a major theme in this statement of modesty); 3.) Taking Hold of Bodhichitta; 4.) Carefulness (discussion of what to avoid.); 5.) Vigilant Introspection (on the need to keep one’s attention concentrated, and to not let the mind roam.); 6.) Patience (on not being focused on self, but on all those suffering.); 7.) Diligence (on avoiding hedonism and being industrious.); 8.) Meditative Concentration (avoidance of getting caught up in the material / physical world.); 9.) Wisdom (karma, illusion, and, particularly, the illusion of self.); 10.) Dedication.

As mentioned, there’s a lot of ancillary matter in this edition of the book. There’s a forward by the Dalai Lama, an extensive introduction (which is helpful as even a modern translation requires background), three appendices (a brief biography, a discussion of equalizing self and other, and a meditation on exchanging self and other), notes (which are also necessary give the nature of a 21st century global reader spoken to by an 8th century Indian monk), and a bibliography. There are no graphics (except a single line-drawn panel) but none are needed.

I had mixed feelings about this work. There was a great bit of wisdom, and the meditation described in the final appendix (based on Shantideva’s discussion) seems to be tremendously valuable. One the other hand, there was a lot of degradation and abasement of the physical body. Granted, I know that Shantideva is talking to an audience of primarily monks and he’s trying to keep them from being horn-dogs or otherwise being distracted by physicality. However, I’m always turned off by those who fail to recognize the tremendous awesomeness and beauty of the human body. There’s also the pessimism. Buddhists are often accused of being pessimistic. Starting with an opening statement of “life is suffering,” this might not be a surprise. Of course, Buddhists counter by saying that they aren’t pessimistic because they are offering a solution to the fact that life is misery, to which non-Buddhists tend to say, “Yes, but the defining characteristic of life need not be agony in the first place.” I won’t weight in on that debate, but the reader should be prepared for a certain dismal tone here and there.

I found this book to be loaded with food for thought. The introduction and notes are extremely beneficial, and this is one of those few cases in which they don’t just feel like padding to hit a desired page count. The verse is readable, and can be understood by a general audience.

I’d recommend this for those interested in Buddhist philosophy.

[Cassandra Kay Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

The images Santideva conjures to counteract his inherent nature: the corpse, and flesh of surrounding humans is very vivid. Far better thoughts on consciousness than I have heard from many modern psychoanalysts. I also appreciated this translations additional notes and explanations for the work. Oxford always does a good job with this.

[r · Rating 4 out of 5]

“In the same way, since I cannot control external events, I will control my own mind. What concern is it of mine whether other things are controlled?”

“One should be the pupil of everyone all the time.”

[Aidan Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

the only reality is illusion! go to war with your undesirables! discover beauty in mind!

dude is a little silly and all over the place but this is a really impassioned exaltation on why the path is worth walking. am i going to? probably not, but he makes a compelling case.

[Ryan D · Rating 4 out of 5]

"One should not sit with ones legs outstretched, and one should not rub one's hands together."

It's upsetting to find out that the path to Nirvana and the act of scheming schemes are exclusive. I'm still deciding which path to take.

[Mert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Puanım 4/5 (%76/100)

Mutluluk nadir bulunur, üzüntü ise çabasız ele geçer; üzüntü çekmeden kurtuluşa ermek olmaz. O sebeple ey aklım, güçlü olmalısın! (p.38)

Yoğunluktan dolayı kafa dağıtacağım, okuması kolay bir kitap olduğunu düşünerek başladım ve haklı çıktım. Dokuzuncu bölüm hariç genel olarak okuması ve anlaması kolay bir kitaptı. Kitap toplam on bölümden oluşuyor ve her bölümde farklı ana konular üzerinden gidiliyor (Günahların İtirafı, Sabrın Mükemmelliği, Gayretin Mükemmelliği gibi). Bol bol altını çizdim ve kitaptakı çoğu öğüte katıldım. Bazıları günümüzde pek anlam ifade etmiyor olsa da günlük hayatta uygulayabileceğiniz güzel bilgiler var. Felsefi kişisel gelişim tarzı bir kitap ama bol bol dini, tarihi ve mitolojik elementler de yer alıyor. Kitabın başındaki Sunuş kısmını okumanızı da kesinlikle tavsiye ediyorum, güzel açıklamalar vardı.

[Alice Rogatto · Rating 5 out of 5]

penso, mas o “eu” não existe!
:o

[Rami · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't read much anymore, and it's because we're so inundated with language and linguistic acrobatics that words just seem to be a form of pollution these days.

Yet this is the one text that I keep coming back to, because it's just so utterly crazy (from a modern perspective) that it de-programs me at a root level. It's a reminder that how we're living our lives is actually profoundly unwise given the effects it'll have: that reaching for our own wellbeing while stepping on others will create the karma for later dispossession, and other terrifying aphorisms which I've highlighted to use as a whip for my psyche whenever I find myself slipping into spiritual complacency.

There's just something magical about this text. The fact that it was the most popular text to come out of Ancient India's Nalanda University is reason enough to read it, but the centrality it took up in Tibet for a thousand years after that just adds fuel to the fire. It's apparently what made the Dalai Lama into the learned person he is today, and it does add a balm to existential wounds in a way that nothing else seems able to. This isn't dry psychology, nor fake deep life advice, but a real manual for stepping onto the Great Path, which requires things of us that popular culture wouldn't dare to even think about, such as behaving like an altruistic phantom, offering up one's own limbs for others, and never losing a mind bent on evolution, even for a moment. It's essentially a how-to guide for sainthood - and there is a 0% chance that you're ready to hear everything that it has to say (which is why you should read it).

[Forked Radish · Rating 3 out of 5]

The good:
1. Brilliant analogies.
2. Sound logic.
3. Genuine wisdom.
4. Practical advice.
The bad:
1. It's not Buddhism, but rather Shantidevaism.
2. The idea of selfish altruism* i.e. One should accumulate good karma for basically the same reason that a squirrel accumulates nuts.
3. The idea that wisdom is a reifiable and therefore transferable i.e. Bodhisattvaism.
4. Impractical advice.
Note on the translation: Very good but a bit too modern/contemporary for my taste.
*Altruism is defined by Merriam Webster as: "unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others."

[Ericka Clou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some interesting things to think about. Some weird stuff. Short but dense. Read it because Dan Harris said Dalai Lama recommended it. Hm.

I was particularly interested in some (accidental?) overlap with Christianity (love thy enemy) and modern particle physics.

As one reviewer mentioned, this is definitely not an introductory text for Buddhism but a more advanced book, and despite the previous Buddhism books I've read, a substantial amount was probably just above my head.

[George Ilsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

An essential text of Tibetan Buddhism, that can be read and re-read and savoured, dwelled on and laughed at.

Layers and layers of meaning. All from a monk who was known for his laziness, until one day he wrote this profound little text.

Oh, that we should all be so perfectly lazy!

[s · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many subtle and often moving passages, and a useful summary of Mahayana ethics. Maybe the translation, maybe his aristocratic background, but the moralizing feels a bit unconvincing sometimes. Self-serious in a sort of Don Quixote way.