No abstract given. Here are the first relevant paragraphs:
Śantideva was born, in lndia about the VIIIth Century A.D. and became one of the greatest mystics of the Buddhist Religion. The historians of Buddhism inform us that he was of aristocratic birth — the son of the king Kalyāṇavarman of Saurāṣṭra — but following the example of Buddha Śākyamuni and in harmony with the suggestions of Mañjuśrī, he entered the monastery o( Nālanda and dedicated himself to the ascetic life. Legend naturally enriched the history of his passage on earth but it remains that he was a giant figure, a fervent devotee and a profound philosopher, and his popularity reached beyond the frontiers of lndia.
His authenticated works, the Bodhicaryāvatāra and the Śikṣāsamuccaya, give us a complete picture of his mind and soul. He was a very erudite and at the same time very fervent monk and he confounded his follow-monks with his knowledge and the beauty of his expositions. Each of his books is different in character, but the matter treated is the same and both reveal his religious anxiety to show to others the Path and to support his assertions with exegetical and philosophical demonstrations as well as with many quotations from the Scriptures.
As a protagonist of Mahāyāna, Śāntideva magnifies the sanctity of the Bodhisattva calling him the most generous of creatures because he endeavours to save others from every kind of suffering, and this of his own volition, without being asked. Thus his merits are immeasurable (B.C. I, 26; Ś.S. I, p. 5). Even to think badly of the Bodhisattva—which in itself is a sin deserving of Hell—can become, in the end, a means of acquiring merit both for the sinner and the saint, since such a thought provokes the compassion of the Bodhisattva, raising him to greater heights and thus blessing in turn the evil-doer who was the instrument of this grace.
It is the Thought of the Bodhi, which transforms an ordinary man into a Bodhisattva (B.C. I, 9–10). The theory of the Bodhicitta is fully developped by Śāntideva in both the Bodhicaryāvatāra and the Śikṣāsamuccaya. The Bodhicitta is the force with which to conquer the Passions; it is the means to overcome the saṃsāra (Ś.S. I, p. 6). It is a seed of joy, a remedy to all suffering (B.C. I, 26). It arises in him who has a concrete resolve to acquire it. And this resolve can occur in him in whom there "is the spring of great mercy (mahākaruṇā)". In fact, the Though of the Bodhi has two main aspects, immanent and transcendent. Compassion (karuṇā) is the immanent aspect of it. The Bodhicitta arises indeed in a person who is never guity of neglect towards any living being. The transcendent aspect is the void (śūnyatā) and can be likened to the potential state whereas in the immanent aspect is the tangible state, the manifestation and the operative moment (Abhisamayālaṁkārāloka of Haribhadra p. 29). (Pezzali, "Śāntideva, A Mystic of Buddhism," 398–99)
