A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life

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A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life (Bodhicaryāvatāra)

Book

See Timeline of BCA TranslationsTranslation of the BCA Source Texts (Tib-Eng)

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

In the whole of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, there is no single treatise more deeply revered or widely practiced than A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life. Composed in the eighth century by the Indian Bodhisattva Santideva, it became an instant classic in the curricula of the Buddhist monastic universities of India, and its renown has grown ever since. Santideva presents methods to harmonize one's life with the Bodhisattva ideal and inspires the reader to cultivate the perfections of the Bodhisattva: generosity, ethics, patience, zeal, meditative concentration, and wisdom. (Source: Shambhala Publications)

Citation

Wallace, Vesna, and B. Alan Wallace, trans. A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life (Bodhicaryāvatāra). By Śāntideva. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 1997.

Table of contents

Preface7
Introduction11

Chapter I: The Benefit of the Spirit of Awakening17
Chapter II: The Confession of Sin23
Chapter III: Adopting the Spirit of Awakening33
Chapter IV: Attending to the Spirit of Awakening39
Chapter V: Guarding Introspection47
Chapter VI: The Perfection of Patience61
Chapter VII: The Perfection of Zeal77
Chapter VIII: The Perfection of Meditation89
Chapter IX: The Perfection of Wisdom115
Chapter X: Dedication137

Bibliography145

Interconnections

Works related to this item

1 Full translation of

Śāntideva (ཞི་བ་ལྷ་). Bodhicaryāvatāra [बोधिचर्यावतार]. byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa [བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྤྱོད་པ་ལ་འཇུག་པ།]. [The Way of the Bodhisattva]. Tengyur, RKTST 3216 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=3216&typ=2.

Classical WorksAbout this item

An "Introduction to Bodhisattva Practice," the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra is a poem about the path of a bodhisattva, in ten chapters, written by the Indian Buddhist Śāntideva (fl. c. 685–763). One of the masterpieces of world literature, it is a core text of Mahāyāna Buddhism and continues to be taught, studied, and commented upon in many languages and by many traditions around the world. The main subject of the text is bodhicitta, the altruistic aspiration for enlightenment, and the path and practices of the bodhisattva, the six perfections (pāramitās). The text forms the basis of many contemporary discussions of Buddhist ethics and philosophy.

4 Reviews

Cantwell, Cathy. Review of A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life (Bodhicaryāvatāra), by Śāntideva, translated by Vesna Wallace and B. Alan Wallace. The Tibet Journal 24, no. 2 (1999): 62–65.

Articles1999About this item

Cathy Cantwell's review of A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life, translated by Vesna Wallace and B. Alan Wallace. Published in The Tibet Journal 24, no. 2 (1999): 62–65.

De Jong, J. W. Review of A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life (Bodhicaryāvatāra), translated by Vesna A. Wallace and B. Alan Wallace. Indo-Iranian Journal 42, no. 1 (1999): 75–78.

Articles1999About this item

J. W. de Jong's review of A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life, translated by Vesna Wallace and B. Alan Wallace. Published in the Indo-Iranian Journal 42, no. 1 (1999): 75–78.

Pettit, John W. "A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life." A review of A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life, translated by Vesna A. Wallace and B. Alan Wallace, and The Way of the Bodhisattva, translated by the Padmakara Translation Group. Tricycle: The Buddhist Review 6, no. 4 (1997): 94–99. https://tricycle.org/magazine/guide-bodhisattva-way-life/.

Articles1997About this item

John Pettit's review of A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life translated by Vesna Wallace and B. Alan Wallace and The Way of the Bodhisattva, translated by the Padmakara Translation Group.

Gómez, Luis O. "The Way of the Translators: Three Recent Translations of Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra." Journal of Buddhist Literature 1 (1999): 262–354.

Articles1999About this item

Luis Gómez discusses three translations of the Bodhicaryāvatāra: Crosby and Skilton (1996), the Padmakara Translation Group (1997), and Wallace and Wallace (1997).