Entering the Path of Enlightenment-Review by Cook

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Review of Entering the Path of Enlightenment: The Bodhicaryāvatāra of the Buddhist Poet Śāntideva, by Marion L. Matics

Review

Śāntideva's Life and Cultural World

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

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The Bodhicaryavātāra, by the eighth century Buddhist poet, Śāntideva, is one of several important Buddhist works devoted to the exposition of the Bodhisattva's career. This ardent and detailed account of the heroic acts and grand ideals which characterize the Bodhisattva on his way to enlightenment has now been translated, with an introductory commentary, by Professor Marion L. Matics, under the title Entering the Path of Enlightenment.
Śāntideva was an adherent of the doctrine of emptiness (śūnyatā), apparently as taught by the Mādhyamika School of Nāgārjuna. Like many other Buddhist authors, Śāntideva follows the traditional scheme of the successive stages (bhūmi) of the Bodhisattva's career, with their corresponding perfections, or virtues (pāramitā) in structuring his poem. With the exception of the substitution of several sections on the "thought of enlightenment" (bodhicitta) for the traditional first two perfections, giving (dāna) and morality (śīla), the poem leads one gradually through the perfections of patience (kṣānti), vigor (vīrya, translated by Matics as "strength"), concentration (dhyāna, translated as "contemplation"), and wisdom, (prajñā). The poem ends with a chapter on pariṇāmanā, the transfer of one's own accumulated merit to all other living beings.
Professor Matics's lucid translation is greatly enhanced by a lengthy introductory commentary, which deals with the historical and doctrinal background of the poem and the concepts of the poem. Of particular value and interest is his commentary on the important Mahāyāna concept of "arousing the thought of enlightenment," the literature on which is exceedingly uncommon in English. Also noteworthy is his commentary on vīrya, which contributes greatly in dispelling a common western stereotype of Buddhism as a refuge for the lazy and indolent. Matics's commentary is based not only on a close and sympathetic reading of the Bodhicaryāvatāra itself, but also on a vast body of primary and secondary material. (Cook, "Review," 123–4) Read more here

Citation

Cook, Francis H. Review of Entering the Path of Enlightenment: The Bodhicaryāvatāra of the Buddhist Poet Śāntideva, by Marion L. Matics. Journal of the American Academy of Religion 40, no. 1 (1972): 122–24.

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Matics, Marion L., trans. Entering the Path of Enlightenment: The Bodhicaryāvatāra of the Buddhist Poet Śāntideva. London: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1970. https://archive.org/details/enteringpathofenlightenmentbodhicharyatvaofsantidevamarionmaticsl._245_J/mode/2up.

Books1970About this item

The first complete English translation of the Sanskrit Bodhicaryāvatāra by Marion L. Matics