Chapter 10: Perfection of Effort

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Abstract

This chapter presents Śāntideva's teachings on the fourth perfection of effort, emphasizing that bodhisattvas should pursue learning and study with humility and proper motivation, avoiding texts that promote materialism or harmful practices while focusing on meaningful treatises that cultivate wisdom and pacify afflictive emotions. The chapter outlines eighty specific approaches to learning from The Teachings of Akṣayamati, stressing that genuine study combined with moral discipline leads to spiritual realization and protection from negative forces, with dedicated practitioners receiving blessings of longevity, health, memory, and correct understanding.

Citation

Phuntsho, Karma. "Chapter 10: Perfection of Effort." Śikṣāsamuccaya in-depth chapter overviews. Bodhicitta: A Tsadra Foundation Initiative, September 2, 2025.

Having discussed patience and forbearance, Śāntideva next advises putting effort into study while remaining conscious that what is learned should be put into practice with observance of moral discipline instead of puffing oneself up with pride. Learning should lead to wisdom, which can pacify afflictive emotions, and beings free from afflictive emotions cannot be harmed by the evil force (Māra). For one with a strong yearning to learn, even the buddhas will show themselves, give teachings, and reveal the texts that are hidden as treasures in mountains and forests. Such a person would be blessed to live long, be healthy, possess the power of memory, confidence, and realization, transcend wrong views and hold correct views, and avoid fears.

The Teachings of Akṣayamati Sūtra (Akṣayamatinirdeśasūtra) lists eighty different aspects or manners of learning a bodhisattva should adopt and the many ways in which to engage in learning Dharma. For instance, one must learn with interest, reflection, benevolent determination, following proper procedures, without pride, with vigilance, courteously, agreeably, and so forth. Similarly, one must engage without being distracted by other activities, with diligence in the morning and evening, with understanding of the topic, with repeated pursuit of learning, without mental pollution, and so forth. As to what one must learn, Śāntideva cites The Sūtra of Extensive Pristine Wisdom (Niṣṭhāgatabhagavajjñānavaipulyasūtraratnānanta) to state that a bodhisattva must learn meaningful treatises and avoid useless texts, such as those that teach the materialistic philosophy of the Cārvāka school, texts on curses and sorcery, texts on punishment, texts on the art of speech, texts on youthful plays, and texts on magical charms. In this chapter on effort, Śāntideva mainly deals with enthusiasm and effort in learning and study but does not cover the whole breadth of the perfection of effort as in The Way of the Bodhisattva. There also appears to be some corruption in the text.

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Śāntideva (ཞི་བ་ལྷ་). Śikṣāsamuccaya [शिक्षासमुच्चय]. bslab pa kun las btus pa [བསླབ་པ་ཀུན་ལས་བཏུས་པ།]. [The Compendium of Training]. Tengyur, RKTST 3281 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=3281&typ=2.

Classical WorksAbout this item

Śikṣāsamuccaya (T. Bslab pa kun las btus pa; C. Dasheng ji pusa xue lun; J. Daijōjū bosatsugakuron; K. Taesǔng chip posal hak non 大乘集菩薩學論). In Sanskrit, "Compendium of Training," a work by the eighth-century Indian Mahāyāna master Śāntideva. It consists of twenty-seven stanzas on the motivation and practice of the bodhisattva, including bodhicitta, the six perfections (pāramitā), the worship of buddhas and bodhisattvas, the benefits of renunciation, and the peace derived from the knowledge of emptiness (śūnyatā). The topic of each of the stanzas receives elaboration in the form of a prose commentary by the author as well as in illustrative passages, often quite extensive, drawn from a wide variety of Mahāyāna sūtras. Some ninety-seven texts are cited in all, many of which have been lost in their original Sanskrit, making the Śikṣāsamuccaya an especially important source for the textual history of Indian Buddhism. These citations also offer a window into which sūtras were known to a Mahāyāna author in eighth-century India. The digest of passages that Śāntideva provides was repeatedly drawn upon by Tibetan authors in their citations of sūtras. Although Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra and Śikṣāsamuccaya both deal with similar topics, the precise relation between the two texts is unclear. Several of the author's verses appear in both texts and some of the sūtra passages from the Śikṣāsamuccaya also appear in the Bodhicaryāvatāra. One passage in the Bodhicaryāvatāra also refers readers to the Śikṣāsamuccaya, but this line does not occur in the Dunhuang manuscript of the text and may be a later interpolation. (Source: "Śikṣāsamuccaya." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 821. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)

Chapter 10: Perfection of Effort

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