A Short Presentation of Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra

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A Short Presentation of Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra
Journal Article
Śāntideva's Works


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Description

The Bodhicaryāvatāra (BCA) is a Buddhist text dealing with the spiritual practice of the aspirant to awakening (bodhisattva). It has been composed by Śāntideva, a Buddhist philosopher and teacher who lived in India around the 8th century. As the BCA occupies a respectable position within the corpus of spiritual literature of the world, it is comparable to similar works of other religious traditions, for example, Thomas à Kempis' De imitatione Christi. Consequently, the BCA, in addition to exposing the main philosophical points of one of the most important schools of Buddhism, is also a practical guide that can serve as a basis of comparison between the major spiritual traditions of the world and even be a source of inspiration for all spiritual seekers, no matter their religious or philosophical affiliation. After having provided a summary of the life of its author and some details about the history and structure of the BCA, the present essay introduces and discusses, in a way that is accessible to non-Buddhists, the significance of the main themes and ideas of this important spiritual manual of the Buddhism.
Citation
Brassard, Francis. "A Short Presentation of Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra." RIThink 8 (2019): 1–16. http://www.rithink.hr/archive/2019/1_Brassard_(RIThink).pdf.
Interconnections
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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.