Bodies and Embodiment in the Bodhicaryāvatāra

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

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While the Guide to Bodhisattva Practice (Bodhicaryāvatāra, hereafter the Guide) is rightly celebrated for its intense focus upon the mind and its careful attention to a complex moral psychology (as many of the essays in this volume will attest), we should not lose sight of the significant role that the body and embodiment also play within Śāntideva's text. Indeed, throughout Śāntideva's work, the language of the mind cannot stand alone, but is constantly intertwined with and expressed through the language of the body. This should not be surprising if we remember the total interpenetration of the moral and physical orders characteristic of the Buddhist worldview. As Susanne Mrozik has so clearly demonstrated—specifically in connection with Śāntideva's other major work, the Training Anthology (Śikṣāsamuccaya)—the body and morality are intimately intertwined in Buddhist ethics: moral status is always reflected in the type of physical body one bears, and this body itself constitutes both the necessary condition for further moral development and the means by which such development is brought about, not only for oneself but also for others with whom one interacts.[1] It therefore stands to reason that as Śāntideva guides us along the bodhisattva path, he should pay ample attention to any number of different bodies: the body that should be avoided, the body one needs to advance, the body as a means of such advancement, the bodies that inspire us as we proceed, and the body one finally seeks to achieve. As Mrozik has noted, Śāntideva exists within a world of "corporeal specificity":[2] not all bodies are the same, and the Guide thus describes for us various types. As we move along the bodhisattva path, moreover, Śāntideva offers a plethora of techniques to encourage our advance, including attitudes toward the body whose cultivation can be helpful at specific points along the way—and these attitudes too are multiple and constantly shifting. To speak of "embodiment" in the Guide therefore involves both the actual physical bodies that are involved in the attainment of buddhahood and the attitudes toward the body that should be fostered along the path. In this chapter, I seek to offer a succinct account that encompasses both categories. In doing so, I draw freely from the Guide (using Crosby and Skilton's elegant translation for the most part),[3] for Śāntideva's statements concerning the body are scattered throughout the text rather than being limited to any single discussion. (Ohnuma, "Bodies and Embodiment in the Bodhicaryāvatāra," 114–15)

Notes

Mrozik, Virtuous Bodies.
Mrozik, Virtuous Bodies, 34.
Śāntideva, The Bodhicaryavatara, trans. Crosby and Skilton. On two occasions (as indicated in the notes), I have used an alternative translation.

Citation

Ohnuma, Reiko. "Bodies and Embodiment in the Bodhicaryāvatāra." In Readings of Śāntideva's Guide to Bodhisattva Practice, edited by Jonathan C. Gold and Douglas S. Duckworth, 114–31. New York: Columbia University Press, 2019.

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Works related to this item

1 Chapter or part of

Gold, Jonathan C., and Douglas S. Duckworth, eds. Readings of Śāntideva's Guide to Bodhisattva Practice. New York: Columbia University Press, 2019.

Books2019About this item

This book serves as a companion to the Bodhicaryāvatāra. The fifteen essays contained here illuminate the Guide's many philosophical, literary, ritual, and ethical dimensions.

1 Scholarship on

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.