Bodhisattva e Prajñāpāramitā nel Bodhicaryāvatāra di Śāntideva

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Articles/Bodhisattva e Prajñāpāramitā nel Bodhicaryāvatāra di Śāntideva

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Bodhisattva e Prajñāpāramitā nel Bodhicaryāvatāra di Śāntideva
Chapter in a Book
The Bodhisattva Path According to Śāntideva


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Description

In her contribution to the Atti del Primo Convegno Nazionale di Studi Sanscriti (Turin, 1982), Amalia Pezzali situates Śāntideva (685–763) as the last exponent of Mādhyamika philosophy in its purest form, drawing a parallel with Nāgārjuna, who preceded him by roughly four centuries. Despite this gap, she argues both thinkers present the Mahāyāna as an exaltation of the bodhisattva ideal and the prajñāpāramitā.

The article's central focus is the relationship between the bodhisattva path and wisdom in the Bodhicaryāvatāra. Pezzali argues that prajñāpāramitā functions as both the starting point and the culmination of the bodhisattva's path. It begins with the generation of bodhicitta—the intention to attain awakening for the benefit of all beings—and unfolds through the six perfections (pāramitā): generosity, ethical discipline, patience, energy, meditation, and wisdom. She gives particular attention to the three aspects of the perfection of patience (kṣāntipāramitā), especially dharmanaidhyānakṣānti (reflection on the nature of dharmas), tracing its three progressive stages across the bodhisattva levels (bhūmi).

For Śāntideva, she concludes, prajñāpāramitā, śūnyatā, pratītyasamutpāda, and nirvāṇa are ultimately identical—and the bodhisattva, poised at the threshold of that infinite beatitude, deliberately refrains from disappearing into it in order to continue ripening beings and liberating them from suffering.

Citation
Pezzali, Amalia. "Bodhisattva e Prajñāpāramitā nel Bodhicaryāvatāra di Śāntideva." In Atti del Primo Convegno Nazionale di Studi Sanscriti (Torino, 17 Ottobre 1980), edited by Stefano Piano and Antonella Comba, 93–101. Turin, Italy: Associazione Italiana di Studi Sanscriti, 1982.
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.