The Excellence and Benefits of Bodhichitta Overview
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Śāntideva begins his treatise, The Way of Bodhisattva (Bodhicaryāvatāra) with a chapter to inspire us on the vast and profound benefits of bodhicitta (byang chub sems), the mind wishing to attain enlightenment for the sake of all beings.
The structure of the whole text follows a pattern related to a verse taken from the Indian texts.
May bodhichitta, precious and sublime, Arise where it has not yet come to be. And where it has arisen may it never fail, But grow and increase ever more and more.[1]
In accord with this verse, Śāntideva's text is essentially divided into four sections. The first three chapters contain advice on how to give rise to bodhicitta where it has not previously been cultivated. Chapters 4 to 6—on conscientiousness, vigilance, and patience—discuss how to maintain bodhicitta and prevent it from declining once it has arisen. Chapters 7 to 9—on diligence, meditative absorption, and wisdom—explain how to then increase the strength of that bodhicitta further and further. The concluding 10th chapter, although not covered explicitly by the verse above, explains how to dedicate all of the merit that we have accumulated from our practice of all these deeds of the bodhisattvas to the temporary and ultimate happiness of others.[2]
Patrul Rinpoche (1808–1887), the great contemplative Dzogchen master, in his commentary The Brightly Shining Sun: A Step-by-Step Guide to Meditating on the Bodhicaryāvatāra, explains the process of taking the bodhisattva vow.
In order to adopt this kind of bodhicitta within our own mind streams we can receive the vows from a teacher, in which case we should follow the procedure of the specific ritual, whether of the Mind Only or the Middle Way. But here it will be shown how we can practice this by ourselves.
There are three stages to this: (a) preparation, (b) main part and (c) conclusion.
A. Preparation
This has three parts: (i) generating enthusiasm, (ii) the seven branch practice, and (iii) mind training.[3]
Usually the bodhisattva vow is received from a qualified teacher following a specific set of rituals, some of which are included in the third chapter. But here Patrul Rinpoche says that by following this text we will be able to practice this method by ourselves.
To help us understand the flow of the verses, it is helpful to rely on an outline of the text (sa bcad). Many of the Indian texts are explained through these textual outlines, which divide the text into sections of content. They help the reader to navigate their way through the text and to locate where they are in the flow of the material. The textual outlines do not seem to be present in the original Indian texts, but there was definitely a movement in the later Tibetan commentaries to give an outline and explain the text through that lens.
For texts that have been translated from the original Sanskrit into the Tibetan language, there are a series of outlines right at the beginning prior to the main body of the text. These are not added by the authors themselves, but they deal with the translation of the name and meaning of the text and the translator's homage.
The Meaning of the Title of the Text
The full name of the text in Sanskrit is Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra. Bodhi means enlightenment, sattva means hero or brave one, caryā means action or conduct, and āvatāra means entering into or engaging in.
The great contemporary Sakya master from Dzongsar Khyentse Chokyi Lodro Institute in Derge, Tibet, Khenpo Kunga Wangchuk, in his Commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra, gives a detailed breakdown of each of the syllables of the text's name according to the Tibetan translation as follows:
The syllable "བྱང་" (or byang in Tibetan) means having cleared away the two obscurations along with their imprints. "ཆུབ་" (or chub in Tibetan) means to comprehend the wisdom of knowable objects comprehending all qualities. "སེམས་དཔའ་" (or sems dpa') means a heroic one who is not daunted by the limitless number of sentient beings, the vast kalpas of time, or the difficulty of the activities. The འི་ is a connecting particle linking to the next word which "་སྤྱོད་པ་" (in Tibetan spyod pa). So "བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྤྱོད་པ་" means the activities of the enlightenment heroes (the bodhisattvas). This refers to the ocean of qualities of the six perfections which ripen oneself and the four ways of gathering disciples which ripen others. So the full meaning of the name of the text is to present the methods for correctly entering ("འཇུག་པ།") into those activities.[4]
Thus, the name of the text is to be understood as Entering the Conduct of the Bodhisattva or The Way of the Bodhisattva.
The Meaning of the Text
Having explained the meaning of the name of the text, the next part of the text is the explanation of the treatise itself and its meaning.
In his commentary, the great Tibetan Sakya master Sonam Tsemo (1142–1182), who was the son of the Sakya patriarch Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, gives an overall outline of the content of the text.
The three main parts of the Bodhicaryāvatāra are the introduction, the main body of the śāstra, and the conclusion. If distinguished in more detail, there are five parts.
- 1. The purposes of the composition [chapter 1, v1–3]
2. The primary basis: the individual person [v4–5]
3. The productive cause: the generation of bodhicitta [v6–chapter 3]
4. The cooperating condition: subsequently practising the training [chapters 4–9]
5. The subsequent results of the practice [chapter 10][5]
Sonam Tsemo then further divides the section on the purposes of composition into three.
1. Homage and praise 2. The commitment to compose 3. Discarding pride[6]
The Translator's Homage
At the beginning of the text, there is an homage to the buddhas and bodhisattvas. This initial homage is added by the translators and is not written by Śāntideva himself.
Homage to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.[7]
Paying homage here to all the buddhas and bodhisattvas is also a way of identifying the subject material of the text based on which section of the Three Baskets of teachings (Tripiṭaka) it was related to. For material connected primarily with the Abhidharma basket (piṭaka), homage was made to Mañjuśrī. For material related to the Vinaya basket, the translators paid homage to the omniscient Buddha. And for material connected to the Sūtras, the translators paid homage to all the buddhas and bodhisattvas. So from the translator's homage, we can deduce that the subject material of The Way of the Bodhisattva belongs to the Sūtra tradition.
In his commentary to the Bodhicharyāvatāra entitled The Entrance for the Children of the Conquerors, Gyaltsap Darma Rinchen (also popularly known as Gyaltsap Je), the great Gelug master and direct disciple of Lama Tsongkhapa, presents another purpose of the homage.
The purpose of the translator's prostration is to pacify the obstacles to the translation and to identify this text as a commentary belonging mainly to the sutra basket of teachings, although in general it is a commentary on all the baskets of teachings.[8]
Expression of Homage by the Author
The expression of homage is a very important part of many traditional Buddhist texts. The purpose of this expression of worship is described by Gyaltsap Je in his commentary.
By expressing the qualities of special objects and going for refuge, one comes to be understood as a holy being, and the obstacles to the composition of the treatise are pacified. In the end, one attains definite goodness and other disciples will also follow this example. As a result, they too will achieve all accumulations of goodness.[9]
The expression of homage is Śāntideva's own first words of the text, which are a praise to the Three Jewels–the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha:
To those who go in bliss,25‟Those who go in bliss” (Tib. bde gshegs, Skt. sugata): a title of the Buddhas. the dharmakāya26The word dharmakāya (Tib. chos sku, Skt. dharmakāya) means ‟dharma body.” According to the commentarial tradition, two interpretations are possible. The term may be taken to mean simply ‟the body of the Dharma of realization and transmission” (which is the interpretation of Kunzang Pelden and other authorities), with the result that the first line of the poem is a salutation to the Three Jewels of Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha. On the other hand, it may be understood as referring to the dharmakāya or ‟truth body,” the ultimate aspect of a Buddha, as contrasted with the rūpakāya or ‟form body” (further subdivided into the sambhogakāya and nirmānakāya). they possess, and all their heirs,27The ‟heirs” of the Buddhas are the Bodhisattvas. We have preferred this translation, which is gender-inclusive and corresponds more closely to Shāntidevaʼs obvious intention than the literal rendering of ‟sons” (Tib. sras) as this is likely to be understood by a modern Western readership. Phis interpretation is in fact supported by one of the earliest known Tibetan commentaries on the Bodhicharyāvatāra (composed by Sonam Tsemo, 1142–1182), where sras is glossed as gdung ʼtshob (inheritor, successor). In the present context, reference is actually being made to ‟noble” Bodhisattvas, so-called because their realization corresponds to the Mahāyāna path of seeing and beyond, in other words, who are abiding on the Bodhisattva bhūmis or grounds, and who are therefore sublime objects of refuge. To all those worthy of respect, I reverently bow. According to the scriptures, I shall now in brief describe The practice of the Bodhisattva discipline.
Page(s) 31
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
བདེ་གཤེགས་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྐུ་མངའ་སྲས་བཅས་དང་། ། ཕྱག་འོས་ཀུན་ལའང་གུས་པས་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ཏེ། ། བདེ་གཤེགས་སྲས་ཀྱི་སྡོམ་ལ་འཇུག་པ་ནི། །
ལུང་བཞིན་མདོར་བསྡུས་ནས་ནི་བརྗོད་པར་བྱ། །bde gshegs chos kyi sku mnga' sras bcas dang /_/ phyag 'os kun la'ang gus pas phyag 'tshal te/_/ bde gshegs sras kyi sdom la 'jug pa ni/_/
lung bzhin mdor bsdus nas ni brjod par bya/_/The detailed meaning of this verse is expounded in several commentaries, including the famous Kadampa master Gyalse Tokme Zangpo's (1295–1369) commentary An Ocean of Excellent Exposition. In that commentary Tokme Zangpo mentions that the "Ones Gone to Bliss" (sugata, bde gshegs) are the Buddha Jewel, the ones who have completely crossed over from the ocean of samsara to the fully enlightened state of buddhahood. He offers many meanings for "Ones Gone to Bliss." Here, he says it means "having gone to beauty or grace," which comes about by the abandoning of the obscurations, such as the afflictions. It also means "having irreversibly gone," which comes about by clearing away the ignorance obscuring the suchness of phenomena. And again it is "having gone to the final limit or final destination," which comes about by clearing away all the imprints.
But Tokme Zangpo also remarks on the qualities of realization. He says that they go beyond to bliss because they have apprehended every single object that could be understood. Putting these two together, we can summarize the meaning of "gone beyond" as the perfect completion of what is to be abandoned and what is to be known or realized (spongs togs pa'i yon tan).[10]
The last line of the first verse, where it mentions "The practice of the Bodhisattva discipline," connects with the last part of this commentary from Gyalse Tokme Zangpo, where it summarizes the meaning of "gone beyond" and sets the stage for the main subject material of the entire text—the bodhisattva's paths of practice, which can be summarized as the paths to the perfect completion of what is to be abandoned and what is to be known or realized.
A Pledge of Composition
The next outline in the text is a promise by the author, Śāntideva, to compose the text.
Here I shall say nothing that has not been said before, And in the art of prosody I have no skill. I therefore have no thought that this might be of benefit to others; I wrote it only to habituate my mind.
Page(s) 31
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
སྔོན་ཆད་མ་བྱུང་བ་ཡང་འདིར་བརྗོད་མེད། །
སྡེབ་སྦྱོར་མཁས་པའང་བདག་ལ་ཡོད་མིན་ཏེ། ། དེ་ཕྱིར་གཞན་དོན་བསམ་པའང་བདག་ལ་མེད། །
རང་གི་ཡིད་ལ་བསྒོམ་ཕྱིར་ངས་འདི་བརྩམས། །sngon chad ma byung ba yang 'dir brjod med/_/
sdeb sbyor mkhas pa'ang bdag la yod min te/_/ de phyir gzhan don bsam pa'ang bdag la med/_/
rang gi yid la bsgom phyir ngas 'di brtsams/_/Sonam Tsemo explains the purpose of this pledge as follows:
The purpose of the commitment to compose: having made the promise, the composition of the śāstra is sure to be completed because holy beings do not abandon whatever promises they have made.[11]
Here in this verse, Śāntideva first of all states that what he has to say in the text has already been said before. He says that he has no profound instructions to add that have not been revealed by the buddhas themselves or that cannot be found in the works of great masters like Nāgārjuna and Asaṅga. Śāntideva also adds that as well as there being no difference in the meaning, he also has no literary skill to compose verses with stylish elegance or any art in penning beautiful poetry.
Because of these reasons, Śāntideva says that he wrote this treatise merely to familiarize his mind with the topics and not for the purpose of others, who he says will be easily able to realize the meaning of the subject matter by directly relying on the teachings of the Buddha.
The Nyingma master Khenpo Kunzang Palden, aka Khenpo Kunpal (1862–1943), who was a direct student of Dza Patrul Rinpoche, wrote an extensive commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra entitled The Nectar of Manjushri's Speech. His commentary offers some further context in terms of this promise of Śāntideva to compose the text.
This being so, it could be argued that the composition of the present text is a repetition of what already exists and is therefore superfluous. But there is no fault here. For the teachings of the Conqueror are vast and the scriptures are numerous, while the beings of this decadent age are short-lived and feeble both in understanding and application. They are overpowered by foolishness and indolence. It is difficult for them to assimilate all these teachings, and they are ignorant of how to combine and im- plement them. Thinking of such beings with great kindness, Shantideva pledges to compose a treatise that will describe the activities of the Bodhisattvas, completely and without error, in the form of a practical in- struction; bringing together all the teachings, widespread as they are, in a manner that is easy to understand and practice.[12]
Dispelling Pride
Even though he was a great realized master, in the next verse Śāntideva adopts an attitude of humility and modesty.
My faith will thus be strengthened for a little while, That I might grow accustomed to this virtuous way. But others who now chance upon my words May profit also, equal to myself in fortune.
Page(s) 31
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
དགེ་བ་བསྒོམ་ཕྱིར་བདག་གི་དད་པའི་ཤུགས། །
འདི་དག་གིས་ཀྱང་རེ་ཞིག་འཕེལ་འགྱུར་ལ། ། བདག་དང་སྐལ་བ་མཉམ་པ་གཞན་གྱིས་ཀྱང་། །
ཅི་སྟེ་འདི་དག་མཐོང་ན་དོན་ཡོད་འགྱུར། །dge ba bsgom phyir bdag gi dad pa'i shugs/_/
'di dag gis kyang re zhig 'phel 'gyur la/_/ bdag dang skal ba mnyam pa gzhan gyis kyang /_/
ci ste 'di dag mthong na don yod 'gyur/_/Sonam Tsemo also describes the purpose of this section on the author's humility, stating, "The purpose of discarding pride: out of the pride of thinking of oneself as learned, one might abandon the composition of the text."[13] He describes how there might be a danger of an author of a treatise getting carried away with themselves. If this were to occur, they might abandon the composition of the text and never finish it, and therefore it is important for them to take up an appropriate sense of modesty.
Khenpo Kunpal explains further about the author taking a humble attitude.
What is the reason for taking a humble attitude? It is said that "On the peak of pride, the water of good qualities does not stay." When the mind is puffed up with conceit, it cannot contain the water of the excellent qualities of the Dharma of transmission and realization. Rather it is liable to be deceived by Mara. While in this state, therefore, even if one composes treatises, they will be of no benefit to others. Accordingly, it is in order to eliminate such faults that Shantideva adopts a humble attitude.[14]
Treatises composed with a motivation polluted by arrogance and conceit, he warns us, will never have any benefit to others.
The Perfect Support for Developing Bodhicitta
The main body of chapter 1 starts from verse 4, where the physical basis required for the generation of bodhicitta is presented. In particular, this refers to the human body as the basis. Śāntideva is quick to remind us of the preciousness of our human life, particularly as a support to develop this incredible mind.
So hard to find the ease and wealth28In order to progress toward enlightenment, it is necessary to possess eight forms of ease or freedom, and ten forms of wealth or endowment. The former are the freedoms of not being born (1) in one of the hells; (2) as a preta or hungry ghost; (3) as an animal; (4) in the realms of the gods; (5) among barbarians who are ignorant of the teachings and practices of the Buddhadharma; (6) as one with wrong views concerning karma and so forth; (7) in a time and place where a Buddha has not appeared; and (8) as mentally or physically handicapped. The ten forms of wealth or endowment are subdivided into five considered intrinsic and five considered extrinsic to the personality. The five intrinsic endowments are (1) to be born a human being; (2) to inhabit a ‟central land,”i.e., where the Dharma is proclaimed; (3) to be in possession of normal faculties; (4) to be one who is not karmically inclined to great negativity; and (5) to have faith in the Dharma. The five extrinsic endowments are the facts that (1) a Buddha has appeared in the universe in which one is living, and at an accessible time; (2) that he has expounded the Doctrine; (3) that his Doctrine still persists; (4) that it is practiced; and (5) that one has been accepted as a disciple by a spiritual master.
Whereby the aims of beings may be gained.
If now I fail to turn it to my profit,
How could such a chance be mine again?[p.32]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
Page(s) 31
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
དལ་འབྱོར་འདི་ནི་རྙེད་པར་ཤིན་ཏུ་དཀའ། །
སྐྱེས་བུའི་དོན་སྒྲུབ་ཐོབ་པར་གྱུར་པ་ལ། ། གལ་ཏེ་འདི་ལ་ཕན་པ་མ་བསྒྲུབས་ན། །
ཕྱིས་འདི་ཡང་[p.4]Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)Slob dpon zhi ba lha and Mkhan po kun dpal. Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1990.
dal 'byor 'di ni rnyed par shin tu dka'/_/
skyes bu'i don sgrub thob par gyur pa la/_/ gal te 'di la phan pa ma bsgrubs na/_/
phyis 'di yang [p.4]Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)Slob dpon zhi ba lha and Mkhan po kun dpal. Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1990.
This verse touches on the subject of precious human rebirth, a very fortunate rebirth endowed with the qualities of the eight freedoms and the ten endowments. The fourth chapter on conscientiousness touches more deeply on that topic, particularly the importance of being aware of how fortunate this opportunity is.
In verse 5 Śāntideva discusses the current condition of ordinary beings and implicitly mentions the mental support which is required for the cultivation of bodhicitta.
Just as on a dark night black with clouds, The sudden lightning glares and all is clearly shown, Likewise rarely, through the Buddhas’ power, Virtuous thoughts rise, brief and transient, in the world.
Page(s) 32
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
ཇི་ལྟར་མཚན་མོ་མུན་ནག་སྤྲིན་རུམ་ན* ནས། in the source text. ། །
གློག་འགྱུ་སྐད་ཅིག་རབ་སྣང་སྟོན་པ་ལྟར། ། དེ་བཞིན་སངས་རྒྱས་མཐུ་ཡིས་བརྒྱ་ལམ་ན། །
འཇིག་རྟེན་བསོད་ནམས་བློ་གྲོས་ཐང་འགའ་འབྱུང་། །ji ltar mtshan mo mun nag sprin rum na* nas/[ in the source text.] /_/
glog 'gyu skad cig rab snang ston pa ltar/_/ de bzhin sangs rgyas mthu yis brgya lam na/_/
'jig rten bsod nams blo gros thang 'ga' 'byung /_/The thought "I must act in virtuous ways" rarely arises in us. Śāntideva describes that thought as being as rare as a brief flash of lightning, glimpsed through the clouds on the darkest of nights. Even if it were to arise, it is gone in a moment. Instead, ordinary beings easily engage in nonvirtue and have tremendous difficulty overcoming strong negative habits that will cause rebirth in the lower realms.
This precarious situation in which beings currently find themselves, and the causes for that state, are described very emotively by Khenpo Kunpal.
The present situation of beings is indeed like such a night, for the sun of omniscient primordial wisdom does not shine. It is a state of profound obscurity, for beings are ignorant of what they should do and what they should avoid. The sky moreover is covered with clouds, the obscurations brought about by the presence in their minds of the three or five poisons. It is in such circumstances as these that, by the coming together of two factors—the light of the Buddhas' bodhichitta and aspirations, and the merit of beings accumulated in the past—virtuous thoughts arise very occasionally in the minds of ordinary, worldly beings, overshadowed as they are by the gloom of ignorance. Such virtuous thoughts are simply the desire or willingness to do something good and positive. They are fleeting impulses and they do not happen often (perhaps once in a hundred times, or twice in a thousand). They are extremely rare.[15]
The Benefits Common to Both Types of Bodhicitta
The next section of the text, from verses 6 to 14, explains the great benefits of the awakening mind of bodhicitta, whether that be aspirational bodhicitta or engaged bodhicitta. (See section below from verse 1.16 for the difference between these two.)
Śāntideva shows us how bodhicitta is superior to all other virtues. He draws the conclusion from verse 5 that the strength of our thoughts wishing to accomplish good is generally very weak, while the force of negative states of the mind is overwhelmingly strong.
Virtue, thus, is weak; and always Evil is of great and overwhelming strength. Except for perfect bodhichitta, What other virtue is there that can lay it low?
Page(s) 32
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
དེ་ལྟས་དགེ་བ་ཉམ་ཆུང་ཉིད་ལ་རྟག །
སྡིག་པ་སྟོབས་ཆེན་ཤིན་ཏུ་མི་བཟད་པ། ། དེ་ནི་རྫོགས་པའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་མིན་པ། །
དགེ་གཞན་གང་གིས་ཟིལ་གྱིས་གནོན་པར་འགྱུར། །de ltas dge ba nyam chung nyid la rtag_/
sdig pa stobs chen shin tu mi bzad pa/_/ de ni rdzogs pa'i byang chub sems min pa/_/
dge gzhan gang gis zil gyis gnon par 'gyur/_/Śāntideva does not mean to depress us here. He is trying to awaken us to this fraught situation, where the sheer force of negative thoughts can easily overpower the positive ones, which only leads us to future suffering.
However, there is hope also. Śāntideva explains how the infallible buddhas and bodhisattvas, when searching for a remedy to this frightening situation, discovered that there was only one truly effective way to lay low this cloud of negativity—that is, the vast virtue of bodhicitta.
Gyaltsap Je explains which of the different kinds of bodhicitta this verse is primarily pointing to.
It is appropriate to meditate on the two bodhicittas because how could this dreadful negativity, that is the cause of the lower realms, be overcome by any other virtue that is not the mind striving for complete enlightenment? It cannot.
This does not relate primarily to the ultimate bodhicitta that can abandon the seed of the obscurations. Rather, it shows mainly the benefit of conventional bodhicitta purifying the earlier accumulated causes for the lower realms, as well as cutting the continuity of later ones.[16]
Śāntideva goes on to praise bodhicitta for its quality of being able to accomplish all our wishes.
Those who wish to crush the many sorrows of existence, Who wish to quell the pain of living beings, Who wish to have experience of a myriad joys Should never turn away from bodhichitta.
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Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
སྲིད་པའི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་བརྒྱ་ཕྲག་གཞོམ་འདོད་ཅིང་། །
སེམས་ཅན་མི་བདེ་བསལ་བར་འདོད་པ་དང་། ། བདེ་མང་བརྒྱ་ཕྲག་སྤྱོད་པར་འདོད་པས་ཀྱང་། །
བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་ཉིད་རྟག་ཏུ་གཏང་མི་བྱ། །srid pa'i sdug bsngal brgya phrag gzhom 'dod cing /_/
sems can mi bde bsal bar 'dod pa dang /_/ bde mang brgya phrag spyod par 'dod pas kyang /_/
byang chub sems nyid rtag tu gtang mi bya/_/Sonam Tsemo explains the structure of this verse, saying, "The first line refers to the happiness of the śrāvakas, the second to bodhisattvas and the third to the happinesses of the higher realms."[17]
The first line refers to those individuals, such as the śrāvakās and pratyekabuddhas, who are in accord with practitioners of the middle scope and wish to escape not only from the suffering of the lower realms but all the sufferings of the samsaric world, including that of the higher realms.
The second line refers to the practitioners of the highest scope of the Mahāyāna path, who practice to attain the unsurpassed state of complete buddhahood in order to benefit all beings.
The last line refers to practitioners of the lower scope, who seek only to avoid the worst sufferings of the lower realms but are content to enjoy the highest states of samsaric existence, despite still being subject to more subtle forms of suffering.
This verse raises a doubt as to what would be the need for bodhicitta for those who wish only for freedom from the lower realms, or those who wish only for liberation from the samsaric realm.
Sonam Tsemo goes on to explain this point of how bodhicitta is extremely useful for all those practitioners and not just for those following the bodhisattva path.
Since the happiness of the śrāvakas and happiness within conditioned existence may arise without the generation of bodhicitta, if they do arise with it, is it not illogical to say they are results of bodhicitta? They are not contrary to it and although they are not part of its nature, results will occur even while generating bodhicitta as mere by-products. Since these are temporarily connected with it, they are presented as the results of bodhicitta. So even those who wish to train in the śrāvaka bhūmis should practise the training of the perfection of wisdom.[18]
While discussing here the benefits of bodhicitta, we may wonder whether bodhicitta is only a mental intention or whether it means that we have to get practically involved in removing others' suffering. In his commentary to the Bodhicaryāvatāra, the contemporary Kagyu master Thrangu Rinpoche (1933–2023) speaks about this balance between direct action and motivation as follows:
In the past I have been asked why Buddhists speak of benefiting others, but do nothing on a practical level to help others except to emphasize meditation. They also say wouldn’t it be preferable to look around and see what kind of help different people need and give them money or clothes or something practical? Yes, on the spur of the moment this seems true, but material goods benefit a person only temporarily. To benefit others, we must have a stable and firm motivation. If we lack this motivation, the benefit to others might only cause a slight, temporary benefit, whereas with a very stable and firm motivation to benefit others we can help them much more. So we should concentrate on trying to develop a steady and complete motivation to help others.[19]
Śāntideva presents a further quality of bodhicitta—that we will become blessed with an exalted name, The Child of the Sugatas, and we will take on the real meaning of that name.
Should bodhichitta come to birth In those who suffer, chained in prisons of saṃsāra, In that instant they are called the children of the Blissful One, Revered by all the world, by gods and humankind.
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Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་སྐྱེས་གྱུར་ན་སྐད་ཅིག་གིས། །
འཁོར་བའི་བཙོན་རར་བསྡམས་པའི་ཉམ་ཐག་རྣམས། ། བདེ་གཤེགས་རྣམས་ཀྱི་སྲས་ཞེས་བརྗོད་བྱ་ཞིང་། །
འཇིག་རྟེན་ལྷ་མིར་བཅས་པས་ཕྱག་བྱར་འགྱུར། །byang chub sems skyes gyur na skad cig gis/_/
'khor ba'i btson rar bsdams pa'i nyam thag rnams/_/ bde gshegs rnams kyi sras zhes brjod bya zhing /_/
'jig rten lha mir bcas pas phyag byar 'gyur/_/Khenpo Kunga Wangchuk gives a beautiful explanation of this verse in the following passage:
Whether it is the aspirational mind of bodhicitta or aspirational mind-generation that thinks how wonderful it would be if I could attain the state of complete buddhahood for the purpose of others; or if it is the engaged bodhicitta or engaged mind-generation that thinks how wonderful it would be if I could correctly engage in the paths of the six perfections and the four ways of gathering disciples for the purpose of attaining that enlightenment—the moment either aspiring or engaged bodhicitta arises in their mindstream or they attain that even for a brief moment, then by that one moment of bodhicitta, even if previously they were a completely ordinary, destitute samsaric being, bound in the prison of the three realms of samsara with the metal chains and ropes of their karma and afflictions, they will have a quality of changing their name, by being praised with the name "The Heart Sons of the Sugatas, the perfect buddhas." Not only will their name change, but they will be changed in meaning also and praised by the gods and men, as well as the asuras—including the worldly gods such as Brahmā and Indra, the thousand wheel-turning kings and minor kings of the realm—all of them will will bow down to whichever kind of being gives rise to bodhicitta in their mindstream, touching the crown jewel of their head to the lowest part of their bodies, the soles of their feet. As it says:
- In whomever the precious supreme mind arises
I will bow down to them.[20]
The Benefits of Bodhicitta Explained through Example
Verses 10 to 14 express a range of the benefits of bodhicitta shown by means of examples. In his commentary, Khenpo Kunpal lists these examples as follows:
Here there are six sections: (1) the example of alchemy, showing that bodhichitta leads to the attainment of buddhahood; (2) the example of a jewel, showing bodhichitta's great worth; (3) the example of the miraculous fruit-bearing tree, showing that bodhichitta's root of virtue is inexhaustible and constantly increases; (4) the example of the heroic bodyguard, showing how bodhichitta overpowers the kind of evil that is definite [in being certain to ripen in an experienced effect]; (5) the example of the fires at the end of the kalpa, showing how bodhichitta eradicates the kind of evil that is indefinite [and may not itself ripen in a corresponding effect]. Finally, (6) there are further examples that are not found in the root verses but are mentioned in other texts.[21]
1. The Alchemy of Bodhicitta
The first example that Śāntideva uses to present the incredible qualities of bodhicitta is that of an alchemical substance which is able to transform something of lower value into something of much higher value.
For like the supreme substance of the alchemists, It takes our impure flesh and makes of it The body of a Buddha, jewel beyond all price. Such is bodhichitta. Let us grasp it firmly!
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Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
གསེར་འགྱུར་རྩི་ཡི་རྣམ་པ་མཆོག་ལྟ་བུ། །
མི་གཙང་ལུས་འདི་བླངས་ནས་རྒྱལ་བའི་སྐུ། །
རིན་ཆེན་རིན་ཐང་མེད་པར་[p.5]Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)
Slob dpon zhi ba lha and Mkhan po kun dpal. Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1990.
gser 'gyur rtsi yi rnam pa mchog lta bu/_/
mi gtsang lus 'di blangs nas rgyal ba'i sku/_/
rin chen rin thang med par [p.5]Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)
Slob dpon zhi ba lha and Mkhan po kun dpal. Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1990.
Khenpo Kunpal provides us with a very clear explanation of how the analogy works in a passage from his commentary.
Here, bodhichitta is described using an example taken from alchemy, the point of comparison being the transformation of something bad into something good. By means of the supreme substance, the elixir of the alchemists (the gold-producing mercury), a single ounce of iron may be transmuted into a thousand ounces of pure gold. In the same way, if, with bodhichitta, one lays hold of this lowly human body composed of numerous impure substances, and if, instead of rejecting it as the Shravakas do, one adopts it throughout the course of many lifetimes in order to secure the welfare of others, this [human] body will itself become the body of the Buddha. It becomes something endowed with unimaginable qualities of excellence: a priceless wish-fulfilling jewel that protects from all the drawbacks of samsara and nirvana and grants the supreme perfection of the twofold aim. Since it is able to effect such an extraordinary transformation, the extraordinary elixir of bodhichitta is something to be tightly grasped, never to be relinquished. We should therefore pledge ourselves to take hold of it as Shantideva says.[22]
In ancient times, mercury was revered as being able to transform base metals into the supreme metal of gold. Likewise, the revered mind of bodhicitta is able to transform this ordinary and impure body of flesh and blood into the Buddha's pure body, endowed with the major and minor signs.
Throughout these examples, Śāntideva would have been implicitly drawing on references from the sūtras, and these references are explicitly mentioned in the various commentaries. For this example, The Stem Array chapter (Gaṇḍavyūha chapter) from the Ornaments of the Buddhas (Buddhāvataṃsaka) says:[23]
"Noble one, there is the kind of mercury called golden light, one pala of which can transform a thousand palas of iron into gold, but those thousand palas of iron do not eliminate that pala of mercury or transform it into iron. In the same way, one element of the mercury of the development of the aspiration to omniscience in the grasp of the wisdom of the dedication of roots of merit will eliminate all the iron of the obscurations of karma and kleśas and create the color of the omniscient wisdom of all phenomena, but all the iron of the obscurations of karma and kleśas cannot eliminate that single element of the mercury of the development of the aspiration to omniscience or transform it into kleśas.[24]
2. The Example of a Jewel
For the second example of the rarity and precious qualities of bodhicitta, Śāntideva turns to the analogy of a jewel.
Since the boundless wisdom of the only guide of beings
Perfectly examined and perceived its priceless worth,
Those who wish to leave this state of wandering
Should hold well to this precious bodhichitta.[p.33]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
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འགྲོ་བའི་དེད་དཔོན་གཅིག་པུ་ཚད་མེད་བློས། །
ལེགས་པར་ཡོངས་སུ་བརྟགས་ན་རིན་ཆེ་བས། ། འགྲོ་བའི་གནས་དང་བྲལ་བར་འདོད་པ་རྣམས། །
རིན་ཆེན་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་ལེགས་བརྟན་པར་གཟུང་། །gro ba'i ded dpon gcig pu tshad med blos/_/
legs par yongs su brtags na rin che bas/_/ 'gro ba'i gnas dang bral bar 'dod pa rnams/_/
rin chen byang chub sems legs brtan par gzung /_/In explanation of this verse, Gyaltsap Je says that
like the skilful captain, who brought the merchants to the jewel island, the unequalled sole captain of migrators, the Buddha, with his immeasurable wisdom awareness, investigated thoroughly what the best method may be to eliminate the poverty of migrators, and saw that only bodhicitta was that precious, i.e., rare and extremely beneficial method.[25]
After much examination, the guides of beings, the buddhas, have through their wisdom found that bodhicitta was the only thing which could help to completely alleviate suffering and put an end to wandering aimlessly in samsara. Therefore, bodhicitta is like a jewel of priceless worth which must never be let go of.
In the following passage, Khenpo Kunpal picks up on the theme of the skillful ship's captain found in Gyaltsap Je's words.
The image adopted here is that of merchants journeying to an island somewhere in the ocean. They rely on a captain, in other words, a skillful leader, and hold in high esteem the jewels that he has appraised. In the same way, those who wish to make the voyage to the isle of liberation and omniscience first rely on the only guide, the peerless Buddha. With his boundless knowledge of omniscience, he has well examined, without error or confusion and for aeons of time, all the sublime teachings. And he has seen that, since bodhichitta is that by which buddhahood itself is obtained, it is supremely beneficial and more precious than any other teaching.[26]
A reference for this example of the jewel is found in The Stem Array.
"Noble one, for as long as the disks of the sun and moon shine, for that long, all the wealth, grain, jewels, gold, silver, flowers, perfumes, garlands, clothes, and possessions there can be cannot all together reach the value of the great precious jewel called the king of power. In the same way, for as long as the wisdom of omniscience illuminates the realm of phenomena in the three times, for that long all the roots of merit, whether defiled or undefiled, of all devas, humans, śrāvakas, and pratyekabuddhas cannot all together reach the value of the great, precious king of power jewel of the aspiration to enlightenment.[27]
3. The Example of the Miraculous Fruit-Bearing Tree
Śāntideva then uses the example of trees like the plantain tree, which bear fruit once and then are exhausted, and he shows how bodhicitta is unlike them.
All other virtues, like the plantain tree, Produce their fruit, but then their force is spent. Alone the marvelous tree of bodhichitta Constantly bears fruit and grows unceasingly.
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Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
དགེ་བ་གཞན་ཀུན་ཆུ་ཤིང་བཞིན་དུ་ནི། །
འབྲས་བུ་བསྐྱེད་ནས་ཟད་པར་འགྱུར་བ་ཉིད། ། བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་ཀྱི་ལྗོན་ཤིང་རྟག་པར་ཡང་། །
འབྲས་བུ་འབྱིན་པས་མི་ཟད་འཕེལ་བར་འགྱུར། །dge ba gzhan kun chu shing bzhin du ni/_/
'bras bu bskyed nas zad par 'gyur ba nyid/_/ byang chub sems kyi ljon shing rtag par yang /_/
'bras bu 'byin pas mi zad 'phel bar 'gyur/_/Many ordinary trees, such as the plantain tree, will bear fruit once, but then all of their energy will be used up. With the strength of the tree spent, it will produce no further fruit. Likewise, any virtue that is not based on the generation of bodhicitta, once its positive result has ripened, will not be able to produce any further fruits. Those virtues that are based on the generation of bodhicitta will produce positive results which, once ripened, will grow in accord with their cause and will never be exhausted.
The great Drukpa Kagyu master Pema Karpo (1161–1211) also mentions two other qualities of bodhicitta in this example: (1) that the mind of enlightenment also possesses the quality of being highly effective in increasing virtue, and (2) it is also very effective in destroying negative thoughts and deeds.[28]
This quality of the fruits of bodhicitta never being exhausted is mentioned in The Stem Array as follows:
"Noble one, if the accumulation of all jewels, which is the name of the great king of precious jewels within the great ocean, does not leave for another world realm, then even all the incinerating fires at the end of a kalpa will be unable to dry up the great ocean, even to the depth of a palm tree. In the same way, for the bodhisattvas who have within their thoughts and the continuum of their minds that great king of precious jewels, the accumulation of all jewels, there will be no situation and no time when even one of all their roots of merit that have been dedicated to omniscience will be lost. [F.313.b] It would be impossible, as all the roots of merit dedicated to the development of the aspiration to omniscience will never dry up.[29]
Gyaltsap Je quotes from The Sūtra Taught by Inexhaustible Intellect (Akṣayamatinirdeśasūtra), using a slightly different analogy, to show how the virtue which is practiced under the influence of bodhicitta will never be exhausted.
Just as a drop of water that falls into the ocean abides until the end of the eon, the virtue that is dedicated for enlightenment remains until the essence of enlightenment is fulfilled, it does not cease.[30]
4. The Example of the Heroic Bodyguard
In the next example, Śāntideva likens bodhicitta to a brave and powerful person who can help protect us from the fears of a very dangerous road.
As though they pass through perils guarded by a hero, Even those weighed down with dreadful wickedness Will instantly be freed through having bodhichitta. Why do those who fear their sins not have recourse to it?
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སྡིག་པ་ཤིན་ཏུ་མི་བཟད་བྱས་ན་ཡང་། །
དཔའ་ལ་བརྟེན་ནས་འཇིགས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་ལྟར། ། གང་ལ་བརྟེན་ནས་ཡུད་ཀྱིས་སྒྲོལ་འགྱུར་བ། །
དེ་ལ་བག་ཅན་རྣམས་ཀྱིས་ཅིས་མི་བསྟེན། །sdig pa shin tu mi bzad byas na yang /_/
dpa' la brten nas 'jigs pa chen po ltar/_/ gang la brten nas yud kyis sgrol 'gyur ba/_/
de la bag can rnams kyis cis mi bsten/_/Here, Śāntideva mentions "dreadful wickedness," which is a reference to the five inexpiable acts, or the actions with immediate results (mtsham med lnga), such as harming the Three Jewels or causing a schism in the sangha. The effect of these actions is said to occur immediately at the death of the individual. They do not pass through the intermediate state of the bardo, and they result in being born in places of intense suffering, such as the Hell of Unrelenting Pain (Avīci).
Whoever has this precious mind of bodhicitta is instantly freed from the sufferings of hell, which are the result of these terrible negative actions. One does not take birth in hell, or if one does, then they take rebirth there only for a very short time. This is like skirting great terrors while guarded by a strong and courageous warrior who is able to help us avoid the temporary dangers and escort us to our destination unscathed.
As a reference to this example, The Stem Array says:
"Noble one, a person who is supported by a hero has no fear of any enemy. In the same way, the bodhisattva who is supported by the hero that is the development of the aspiration to omniscience has no fear of the enemy that is bad conduct."[31]
5. The Example of the Fires at the End of the Kalpa
In the first two lines of verse 14, Śāntideva also describes bodhicitta as being like the fire that consumes the world systems at the end of an eon.
Just as by the fire that will destroy the world, Great sins are surely and at once consumed by it. (1.14ab)[32]
Gyaltsap Je explains this analogy as follows:
If one has generated the mind, then one is endowed with great power to destroy negativity. Similarly to the fire at the end of the eon destroying all the worlds below the first form realm, bodhicitta definitely burns in an instant the strong karma that causes rebirth in the lower realms.[33]
Just like the fire at the end of time, all the great negative actions that we have done, including even the most heinous inexpiable deeds, are all consumed in a single instant by the arising of this mind of enlightenment. No remainder is left behind to be experienced, and those deeds are then gone forever. Therefore, how could we not wish to cultivate this amazing mind of bodhicitta?
In his commentary Pema Karpo explains that the quality of overcoming fears from verse 13 happens because of the arousing of the conventional bodhicitta. He then explains that through ultimate bodhicitta, which begins at the first moment of the path of seeing, all our evil deeds are burned up. This burning up of all our great evils is mentioned in verse 14 and is one of the benefits of arousing ultimate bodhicitta.[34]
6. Further Examples Revealed in Sūtra
The above discussion has illustrated only a few examples of the vast benefits of bodhicitta. In the last two lines of verse 14, Śāntideva points us to a particular sūtra source where many more examples of the incredible qualities of this mind of enlightenment are brought forth.
Its benefits are thus unbounded As the Wise and Loving Lord explained to Sudhana. (1.14cd)[35]
The sūtra mentioned here is The Stem Array chapter from the Buddhāvataṃsaka. This sūtra was spoken by the regent of the Buddha, the loving protector of great intelligence, Maitreya, to the youthful bodhisattva Sudhana, the son of a wealthy merchant. It contains over 230 examples of the magnificence of bodhicitta. The passage that is primarily connected with the reference Śāntideva makes here reads as follows:
The Gandavyuha says:
In the presence of the noble Manjushri, the Bodhisattva Sudhana generated the mind of enlightenment, whereupon Manjushri instructed him and sent him to the monk Meghashri. One by one, Sudhana attended one hundred and ten spiritual masters and each of them taught him a single aspect of the practice of the Bodhisattvas. Finally, he came again into the presence of the venerable Bodhisattva Maitreya, who was living in a southern land on the shore of the sea. Maitreya spoke to his attendants and said:
- Consider now the great perfection of his thought!
Sudhana (the son of one so well-endowed with wealth)
Comes seeking now the Bodhisattva deeds.
He, the wise and learned, has now come to me.
- Did you journey well, O you in whom
Compassion and a gentle love have sprung?
Did you journey well into Maitreya's mighty mandala?
Did you journey well, who are so peaceful to behold?
Accomplishing such hardships, are you not fatigued?
Approach, be welcome, you whose mind is pure!
Comforted and encouraged by these words, Sudhana gave an account of what he had experienced and requested Maitreya to speak about the deeds of Bodhisattvas. In reply, Maitreya told him to look into his palace, the name of which was "Essence Adorned by the Ornaments of Vairochana." Sudhana went to the palace and at each of its windows he saw one of the ways in which the venerable Maitreya had himself trained in the deeds of the Bodhisattvas, giving away his head and limbs. So it was that Sudhana learned all the Bodhisattva deeds and took them perfectly to heart.
The protector Maitreya taught to him the benefits of bodhichitta at great length: "O son of my lineage, bodhichitta is like a seed from which the qualities of the Buddhas grow. It is like a field, in which the goodness of all beings flourishes. It is like the earth, which is the foundation of the entire universe . . . Son of my lineage! These are the limitless qualities and benefits of bodhichitta, and even then there are more!"[36]
At the end of this section on the qualities of bodhicitta, Khenpo Kunpal summarizes them all down to three essential benefits: "There are, however, three main benefits of bodhichitta. It causes one to attain buddhahood; it increases virtue; and it purifies evil."[37]
Aspiring and Engaged Bodhicitta
In this first chapter Śāntideva introduces a crucial division of the mind wishing for enlightenment: aspiring bodhicitta and engaged bodhicitta.
Bodhichitta, the awakened mind, Is known in brief to have two aspects: First, aspiring, bodhichitta in intention; Then active bodhichitta, practical engagement.
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བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དེ་མདོར་བསྡུས་ན། །
རྣམ་པ་གཉིས་སུ་ཤེས་བྱ་སྟེ། ། བྱང་ཆུབ་སྨོན་པའི་སེམས་དང་ནི། །
བྱང་ཆུབ་འཇུག་པ་ཉིད་ཡིན་ནོ། །byang chub sems de mdor bsdus na/_/
rnam pa gnyis su shes bya ste/_/ byang chub smon pa'i sems dang ni/_/
byang chub 'jug pa nyid yin no/_/In his stage-by-stage manual titled The Brightly Shining Sun, Patrul Rinpoche quotes from The Ornament of Manifest Realizations (Abhisamayālaṃkāra) to explain the first of these forms of bodhicitta.
Arousing bodhicitta is: for the sake of others Longing to attain complete enlightenment. (1.18)[38]
It must be noted here that the division into aspiring and engaged is a division of what is known as conventional bodhicitta.
Conventional bodhicitta is the deep aspiration to attain the unsurpassed state of buddhahood. That wish is not for personal purposes but is for the highest welfare of both oneself and others. It is the wish to reach the state of our highest potential and then to most effectively lead all sentient beings to that highest of all happinesses. This is the same for both forms of bodhicitta, whether aspiring or engaged bodhicitta.
There is another form of bodhicitta called ultimate bodhicitta, which is usually explained as the nonconceptual wisdom or knowledge with regard to the ultimate nature of all phenomena. This is attained on the first bodhisattva ground of realization and is only present when the mind is absorbed in single-pointed meditative equipoise.
Aspiring and engaged bodhicitta differ in one very important way. In the root text Śāntideva uses a simple analogy to distinguish this difference.
As corresponding to the wish to go And then to setting out, The wise should understand respectively The difference that divides these two.
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འགྲོ་བར་འདོད་དང་འགྲོ་བ་ཡི། །
བྱེ་བྲག་ཇི་ལྟར་ཤེས་པ་ལྟར། ། དེ་བཞིན་མཁས་པས་འདི་གཉིས་ཀྱི། །
བྱེ་བྲག་རིམ་བཞིན་ཤེས་པར་བྱ། །gro bar 'dod dang 'gro ba yi/_/
bye brag ji ltar shes pa ltar/_/ de bzhin mkhas pas 'di gnyis kyi/_/
bye brag rim bzhin shes par bya/_/We may be lifted up by this overwhelming wish to attain enlightenment for others. That aspiration is the base. But then we face the challenge of turning that wish into more concrete practical action. The aspiration has to come first but must then be followed by engaging in the actual deeds and conduct that bring that wish to fruition. This practical engagement is referred to as the second kind of bodhicitta, engaged or active bodhicitta.
There is some discussion in the commentaries as to what the specific meaning of each of these forms of bodhicitta is, and in his commentary Sonam Tsemo delves into several of these differing explanations.
Some say that aspiration, as the wish to go, is generating the mind which arises from symbols [or words] because one merely takes motivation as one's object in order to have realization of the path. Application, as the actual going, is generating the mind of the attainment of the ultimate dharmata because one takes actual enlightenment as one's object by directly entering the uncorrupted path of seeing the truth. However, this is not the opinion of the Ācārya [Śāntideva] because he explains in the Śikṣā-samuccaya that ordinary individuals also train in application [bodhicitta] and hence the dharmata is attained only by receiving teachings on the practices of application bodhicitta.[39]
Here, Sonam Tsemo relates one particular presentation of the difference. That assertion states that aspiring bodhicitta relies on words and concepts and so can be achieved before the path of seeing, the third of the series of five paths from the path of accumulation up to the path of no-more-learning. However, aspirational bodhicitta must be connected with the direct understanding of the ultimate nature of reality, and therefore would only be achieved from the first moment of the path of seeing.
Sonam Tsemo makes it clear that this is not the thought of Śāntideva by quoting the source that Sāntideva uses.
The source for the explanation of aspiration and application given by the Ācārya is the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, where it says,
- It is rare for a person to have the aspiration for enlightenment.
It is even rarer to pursue the conduct.
Thus, pursuit of the result is the generation of aspiration bodhicitta, while pursuit of the means to achieve that result is application bodhicitta. Therefore, it is also called 'generating the mind endowed with conduct' because the conduct is motivated by the promise to practise it.[40]
Khenpo Kunpal provides us with a very clear explanation of the difference between these two forms of bodhicitta.
In brief, therefore, and in accordance with the distinction between intention and practical engagement, when one says "I will free all mother sentient beings, infinite in number as the sky is vast, from all the sufferings and shortcomings of both samsara and nirvana, and I will place them in the state of utterly perfect buddhahood," one is fervently wishing that one will also reach the resultant level of buddhahood. And one is making the pledge to do so. This is bodhichitta in intention endowed with two aims or orientations. When, after promising to undertake the path of the six paramitas (which are the cause), one engages and practices according to one's pledge, this is active bodhichitta. But just as when one sets off on a journey, the wish to go is not discarded; in the same way, where there is active bodhichitta, bodhichitta in intention is necessarily present.[41]
Khenpo Kunpal makes an important point here—that is, engaged bodhicitta is built upon aspiring bodhicitta. The engaged bodhicitta is not lost once we actively engage in the bodhisattvas deeds, just as the wish for a journey is not lost once we set out on that journey.
Śāntideva also makes it clear that the merit coming from each kind of bodhicitta is different in its scope.
From bodhichitta in intention Great results arise for those still turning in the wheel of life; Yet merit does not rise from it in ceaseless streams As is the case with active bodhichitta.
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བྱང་ཆུབ་སྨོན་[p.6]Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)
Slob dpon zhi ba lha and Mkhan po kun dpal. Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1990.
འཁོར་ཚེ་འབྲས་བུ་ཆེ་འབྱུང་ཡང་། ། ཇི་ལྟར་འཇུག་པའི་སེམས་བཞིན་དུ། །
བསོད་ནམས་རྒྱུན་ཆགས་འབྱུང་བ་མིན། །byang chub smon [p.6]Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)
Slob dpon zhi ba lha and Mkhan po kun dpal. Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1990.
'khor tshe 'bras bu che 'byung yang /_/ ji ltar 'jug pa'i sems bzhin du/_/
bsod nams rgyun chags 'byung ba min/_/He explains that though aspirational bodhicitta brings great results and provides us with abundant happiness within samsara, it does not compare to engaged bodhicitta, which takes great diligence in implementing the practices of the bodhisattva, such as the six perfections.
If we lack that actual cause that will fulfill the good intention of the aspiration, then its strength will naturally be weaker. Here, Śāntideva tells us, without the seriousness of being committed to the conduct, an uninterrupted stream of merit will not ensue. If, however, we engage in those practices, we will fulfill the cause of gathering great virtue and an uninterrupted stream of merit will flow, even when we are asleep or distracted.
A great and unremitting stream, A strength of wholesome merit, Even during sleep and inattention, Rises equal to the vastness of the sky.
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དེ་ནས་བཟུང་སྟེ་གཉིད་ལོག་གམ། །
བག་མེད་གྱུར་ཀྱང་བསོད་ནམས་ཤུགས། ། རྒྱུན་མི་འཆད་པར་དུ་མ་ཞིག །
ནམ་མཁའ་མཉམ་པར་རབ་ཏུ་འབྱུང་། །de nas bzung ste gnyid log gam/_/
bag med gyur kyang bsod nams shugs/_/ rgyun mi chad pa du ma zhig_/
nam mkha' mnyam par rab tu 'byung /_/Proving the Benefits of Bodhicitta by Scripture
There now follow in the text two sections on proving the benefits of bodhicitta—one by scripture and one by reasoning.
In relation to needing to rely on scripture, Khenpo Kunpal makes a very important point about our ability to understand the subtle workings of karma.
The karmic principle of cause and effect is an extremely hidden object of knowledge. It is therefore the exclusive domain of the omniscient Buddha. Consequently, we can only distinguish between what is to be done and what is not to be done by trusting in the pure teaching of the Conqueror, for the karmic principle cannot be demonstrated by [the unaided power of] reasoning. Nevertheless, since the Buddha repeatedly praised the immense benefits of bodhichitta, these benefits may be logically deduced and are thus established. The text therefore makes as if to supply a reasoned demonstration.[42]
The subtle workings of karma are considered to be an extremely hidden phenomena (shin du lkog gyur) only accessible to the omniscient mind of the buddhas. The vast benefits of bodhicitta are therefore very hard to prove just based on reasoning, and so we also trust in the words of the Buddha.
Thus, Śāntideva refers us to a valid scriptural source to understand these benefits.
This the Tathāgata,31Tathāgata (Tib. de bzhin gshegs pa): literally, ‟one thus gone”; a synonym for Buddha. In the sūtra Subāhu requested,32A reference to the Subāhu-paripṛicchā-sūtra, the Sūtra of the Questions of Subāhu. Lost in the original Sanskrit, this sūtra is preserved in Chinese translation. Said with reasoned argument For those inclined to lesser paths.
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འདི་ནི་འཐད་པ་དང་བཅས་པར། །
ལག་བཟང་ཀྱིས་ནི་ཞུས་པ་ལས། ། དམན་མོས་སེམས་ཅན་དོན་གྱི་ཕྱིར། །
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་གསུངས། །di ni 'thad pa dang bcas par/_/
lag bzang kyis ni zhus pa las/_/ dman mos sems can don gyi phyir/_/
de bzhin gshegs pa nyid kyis gsungs/_/In The Sūtra Petitioned by Subāhu (Subāhuparipṛcchāsūtra) the Buddha teaches on the qualities of bodhicitta for the sake of the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, who are inclined towards the lesser vehicles.
"In addition, Subāhu, bodhisattvas train properly with the following thought: 'Even those who wish for the qualities of a solitary buddha or a hearer will have roots of virtue grow and expand throughout each and every moment of thought. Such being the case, how much more so will that be the case for the sons or daughters of noble family who seek, wish, and aspire to perfect the mastery of the infinite and boundless qualities and powers of a buddha? For even when they are careless or asleep, the four causes, four conditions, and four aims will grow and expand in each and every moment of thought into four infinite and boundless heaps of roots of virtue and four infinite and boundless heaps of accumulations conducive to awakening. With the emergence in each and every moment of thought of the four infinite heaps of roots of virtue and the four infinite and boundless heaps of accumulations conducive to awakening it will not be difficult to attain awakening. Therefore, I shall now tend to the four infinite heaps of roots of virtue [F.165.b] and the four infinite heaps of accumulations for perfect awakening in each and every moment of thought. On that basis, I will ensure that perfect awakening will not be difficult to obtain. In so doing, why would I slacken my diligence, even at the cost of my own life, when it enables me to attain perfect awakening?[43]
The Buddha explains that if the practices of those on the vehicles of lesser scope can accumulate a vast array of merit, then how much more so that of practitioners who hold the Mahāyāna perspective. In terms of the number of beings they are concerned with, the amount of those beings' suffering that they will dispel, the unimaginable qualities of buddhahood to be attained, or the vast lengths of time required to bring about such an accomplishment—all of these factors are so beyond measure that the results of that vow of active bodhicitta must indeed be also immeasurable. These four reasons are the basis on which the Buddha proclaimed the difference in merit.
Proving with Reason the Benefits of Aspiring Bodhicitta
Verses 21 to 26 help to prove the benefits of aspiring bodhicitta through reason.
Śāntideva reminds us that there is no higher concern for others than that of this aspiring bodhicitta.
Could our father or our mother Ever have so generous a wish? Do the very gods, the ṛiṣhis,33According to ancient Indian tradition, the ṛiṣhis were sages who perceived the sound of the Vedas and transmitted them to the world. They form a class by themselves between gods and humans. even Brahmā34Brahmā, the creator of the universe according to the Vedas. Harbor such benevolence as this?
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ཕ་འམ་ཡང་ན་མ་ཡང་རུང་། །
སུ་ལ་འདི་འདྲའི་ཕན་སེམས་ཡོད། ། ལྷ་དང་དྲང་སྲོང་རྣམས་ཀྱང་རུང་། །
ཚངས་པ་ལ་ཡང་འདི་ཡོད་དམ། །pha 'am yang na ma yang rung /_/
su la 'di 'dra'i phan sems yod/_/ lha dang drang srong rnams kyang rung /_/
tshangs pa la yang 'di yod dam/_/Who can we find in this world that has such a powerful intention? Even mothers and fathers wish only for the temporary and mundane happiness of their child. But they never wish for their child the supreme exalted bliss of full enlightenment. And even in the realms of the sages, or even the gods such as Brahmā, who trained their minds in the four immeasurables, they certainly wish for temporary happiness, but we cannot find among them anyone with such a noble intention.
Śāntideva also points out that beings do not even have such a wish for themselves.
For in the past they never, Even in their dreams, Wished something like this even for themselves. How could they do so for another’s sake?
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Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
སེམས་ཅན་དེ་དག་ཉིད་ལ་སྔོན། །
རང་གི་དོན་དུ་འདི་འདྲའི་སེམས། །[p.7]Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)
Slob dpon zhi ba lha and Mkhan po kun dpal. Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1990.
sems can de dag nyid la sngon/_/
rang gi don du 'di 'dra'i sems/_/[p.7]Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)
Slob dpon zhi ba lha and Mkhan po kun dpal. Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1990.
Since beings have not even previously cultivated such a mind for themselves and not even dreamt of it in their dreams, then how could they generate it now while awake? And if they have not brought forth this kind of altruistic wish for themselves, how could they possibly cultivate that kind of wish for others?
In verse 26 Śāntideva suggests that the merits and benefits of this precious jewel-like bodhicitta are unfathomable.
This pain-dispelling draft, This cause of joy for those who wander through the world, 35‟Those who wander through the world” is a translation of the Tibetan ʼgro ba (lit. one who moves), a common epithet for sentient beings who migrate helplessly from one saṃsāric state to another. This precious attitude, this jewel of mind— How shall we calculate its merit?
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Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
འགྲོ་བ་ཀུན་གྱི་དགའ་བའི་རྒྱུ། །
སེམས་ཅན་སྡུག་བསྔལ་རྩིར་གྱུར་པ། ། རིན་ཆེན་སེམས་ཀྱི་བསོད་ནམས་གང་། །
དེ་ལ་ཇི་ལྟར་གཞལ་གྱིས་ལང་། །gro ba kun gyi dga' ba'i rgyu/_/
sems can sdug bsngal rtsir gyur pa/_/ rin chen sems kyi bsod nams gang /_/
de la ji ltar gzhal gyis lang /_/Bodhicitta is the cause of every happiness of all beings, whether in the immediate or the ultimate term. It is the great healing panacea that thoroughly dispels the sufferings and pains of every being. How, Śāntideva asks us, could we calculate its merit?
This boundless nature of the merit of bodhicitta is also captured in The Questions of the Householder Vīradatta (Vīradattagṛhapatiparipṛcchāsūtra), where it states the following:
"If the merits of the resolve for awakening Were to assume physical form, They would fill the whole expanse of space And exceed even that.[44]
Proving with Reason the Benefits of Engaged Bodhicitta
Verses 27 to 30 establish through reason the validity of statements regarding the qualities of engaged bodhicitta.
If the simple thought to be of help to others Exceeds in worth the worship of the Buddhas, What need is there to speak of actual deeds That bring about the weal and benefit of beings?
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ཕན་པར་བསམས་པ་ཙམ་གྱིས་ཀྱང་། །
སངས་རྒྱས་མཆོད་ལས་ཁྱད་འཕགས་ན། ། སེམས་ཅན་མ་ལུས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི། །
བདེ་དོན་བརྩོན་པ་སྨོས་ཅི་དགོས། །phan par bsams pa tsam gyis kyang /_/
sangs rgyas mchod las khyad 'phags na/_/ sems can ma lus thams cad kyi/_/
bde don brtson pa smos ci dgos/_/Commenting on this verse, Gyaltsap Je says that
it is taught in the King of Concentration Sutra that even the mere motivational thought, "I shall attain enlightenment to rescue all sentient beings" is more meritorious than making offerings to all the buddhas found in the billions of buddha fields.
If this is so, then what need is there to mention the infinite merit of striving extensively in the practice to achieve the highest happiness for all sentient beings?[45]
There follows one of Śāntideva's most famous verses, where he decries the terrible state in which samsaric beings find themselves and the process through which they exacerbate their own suffering.
For beings long to free themselves from misery, But misery itself they follow and pursue. They long for joy, but in their ignorance Destroy it, as they would their foe.
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Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
སྡུག་བསྔལ་འདོར་འདོད་སེམས་ཡོད་ཀྱང་། །
སྡུག་བསྔལ་ཉིད་ལ་མངོན་པར་རྒྱུག ། བདེ་བ་འདོད་ཀྱང་གཏི་མུག་པས། །
རང་གི་བདེ་བ་དགྲ་ལྟར་འཇོམས། །sdug bsngal 'dor 'dod sems yod kyang /_/
sdug bsngal nyid la mngon par rgyug_/ bde ba 'dod kyang gti mug pas/_/
rang gi bde ba dgra ltar 'joms/_/We may be tempted to think that there is no point to the mind of bodhicitta since beings wish always for happiness and strive to avoid suffering. We may think that since they are already skilled at extricating themselves from suffering and finding joy and happiness, then it is not necessary for us to strive for their welfare. But this is not the case at all. Even though they wish to be free of unwanted suffering, both now and in the future, their actions and their wishes are contradictory. To wish for happiness but to engage in acts such lying, stealing, and killing is to hurry themselves toward misery in this and future lives. Even though they wish for happiness, for long life, and for some amount of peace, they are ignorant of the causes of those forms of happiness. They ignore the ten virtuous deeds that would bring the happiness they crave and instead get caught up in negative habits. The cause of these faulty ways of acting is ignorance, both of the karmic law of cause and effect and of the nature of reality. They end up destroying their own happiness just as a sworn enemy of theirs would do. Therefore, it is extremely important that we cultivate bodhicitta and strive to attain the enlightened state in order to help all other beings.
Śāntideva further reminds us of the incredible value of bodhicitta.
But those who fill with bliss All beings destitute of joy, Who cut all pain and suffering away From those weighed down with misery,
Page(s) 35
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
གང་ཞིག་བདེ་བས་ཕོངས་པ་དང་། །
སྡུག་བསྔལ་མང་ལྡན་དེ་དག་ལ། ། བདེ་བ་ཀུན་གྱིས་ཚིམ་པ་དང་། །
སྡུག་བསྔལ་ཐམས་ཅད་གཅོད་བྱེད་ཅིང་། །gang zhig bde bas phongs pa dang /_/
sdug bsngal mang ldan de dag la/_/ bde ba kun gyis tshim pa dang /_/
sdug bsngal thams cad gcod byed cing /_/Who drive away the darkness of their ignorance— What virtue could be matched with theirs? What friend could be compared to them? What merit is there similar to this?
Page(s) 35
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
གཏི་མུག་ཀྱང་ནི་སེལ་བྱེད་པ། །
དེ་དང་དགེ་མཚུངས་ག་ལ་ཡོད། ། དེ་འདྲའི་བཤེས་ཀྱང་ག་ལ་ཡོད། །
བསོད་ནམས་དེ་འདྲའང་ག་ལ་ཡོད། །gti mug kyang ni sel byed pa/_/
de dang dge mtshungs ga la yod/_/ de 'dra'i bshes kyang ga la yod/_/
bsod nams de 'dra'ang ga la yod/_/Here, Śāntideva touches on a very important point which will become more relevant in the ninth chapter, the chapter on wisdom. At the heart of the path to enlightenment lies the need for the correct realization of the ultimate nature of self and phenomena. Only this understanding can ultimately free us from the bonds of samsara and drive us forward on the Mahāyāna path. So, as well as helping to relieve beings of their current pains, the bodhisattva also pledges to help them understand the deeper levels of reality, which is the only way to remedy their ignorance of the ultimate nature of things. "What virtue," Śāntideva asks, "could be greater than that? What greater friend could we find than one who instructs us in this wisdom and knowledge of how things truly are?"
The Greatness of One Who Has Bodhicitta in Their Mindstream
In the last verses of chapter 1, from verse 31 to 36, Śāntideva impresses upon us the need to remember that those who have taken hold of bodhicitta are praiseworthy and encourages us to continually recall their qualities. In many of these verses, he highlights the difference in qualities between those bodhisattvas and ordinary beings.
Śāntideva begins with the bodhisattva's quality of unconditional concern for others.
If someone who returns a favor Is deserving of some praise, Why need we speak of Bodhisattvas, Those who do good even unsolicited?
Page(s) 35
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
ཕན་བཏགས་ལན་ལྡོན་གང་ཡིན་པ། །
དེ་ཡང་རེ་ཞིག་བསྔགས་འོས་ན། ། མ་བཅོལ་ལེགས་པར་བྱེད་པ་ཡི། །
བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ་སྨོས་ཅི་[p.8]Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)Slob dpon zhi ba lha and Mkhan po kun dpal. Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1990.
phan btags lan ldon gang yin pa/_/
de yang re zhig bsngags 'os na/_/ ma bcol legs par byed pa yi/_/
byang chub sems dpa' smos ci [p.8]Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)Slob dpon zhi ba lha and Mkhan po kun dpal. Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1990.
Khenpo Kunpal's commentary touches on why the bodhisattvas are so much more praiseworthy than an ordinary person.
Those who acknowledge and repay the good that others have done to them in the past through the gift of such things as food or money are considered in this world to be worthy of praise. For as the saying goes:
- Honor and protection stay close by
The man who recognizes and repays the favors done to him.
Those who show their gratitude are protected by the gods themselves, and they possess other great excellent attributes. This being so, what shall we say of the Bodhisattvas, who do good where no good has been done to them before and who strive only in the means to achieve the benefit of beings both now and in future lives, without ever being asked? What need is there to say that they are worthy of offerings and praise?[46]
In the ordinary world people are respected and praised just for repaying the good that others have done to them in the past. But it is quite rare for people to be willing to help those who they have no connection with or who may have even caused them problems in the past.
But the situation for those who have taken hold of bodhicitta is very different. They do not think of repaying only those who have helped them or acted in a positive way to them. These bodhisattvas do not discriminate between those that help and those that harm them, and they are always willing to be of benefit regardless of who the other person is. They do not need to be asked for assistance, and the only question that these great beings ask themselves is, "How can I most effectively help others?"
Śāntideva continues with further reasons why those who have taken hold of bodhicitta should be worthy of praise. Ordinary people may contemptuously offer to another something of little value or even meaningless to them, and yet the world often praises them for that.
People praise as virtuous donors
Those who with contempt support
A few with plain and ordinary food:
A moment’s gift that feeds for only half a day.[p.36]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
Page(s) 35
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
འགྲོ་བ་ཉུང་ཟད་ནར་མའི་ཟས་སྦྱོར་བ། །
སྐད་ཅིག་ཟས་ཙམ་སྦྱིན་པར་བྱེད་པ་དང་། ། བརྙས་བཅས་ཉིན་ཕྱེད་འགྲངས་པར་བྱེད་པ་ཡང་། །
དགེ་བ་བྱེད་པ་ཡིན་ཞེས་སྐྱེ་བོས་བཀུར། །gro ba nyung zad nar ma'i zas sbyor ba/_/
skad cig zas tsam sbyin par byed pa dang /_/ brnyas bcas nyin phyed 'grangs par byed pa yang /_/
dge ba byed pa yin zhes skye bos bkur/_/What need is there to speak of those Who long bestow on countless multitudes The peerless joy of blissful Buddhahood, The ultimate fulfillment of their hopes?
Page(s) 36
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
སེམས་ཅན་གྲངས་མཐའ་ཡས་ལ་དུས་རིང་དུ། །
བདེ་བར་གཤེགས་ཀྱི་བདེ་བ་བླ་ན་མེད། ། ཡིད་ལ་བསམ་པ་མཐའ་དག་རྫོགས་བྱེད་པ། །
རྟག་ཏུ་སྦྱིན་པ་ལྟ་ཞིག་སྨོས་ཅི་དགོས། །sems can grangs mtha' yas la dus ring du/_/
bde bar gshegs kyi bde ba bla na med/_/ yid la bsam pa mtha' dag rdzogs byed pa'i/_/
rtag tu sbyin pa lta zhig smos ci dgos/_/If worldly people receive respect for basic forms of effort and giving, what need is there to speak of someone who continually offers the most superior object of all, the perfect bliss of the state of buddhahood? Their motivation is to provide the highest form of happiness to a limitless number of beings, over infinite periods of time, without any thought of reward.
The Sūtra Petitioned by Nārāyaṇa (Nārāyaṇaparipṛcchā) gives an amazing feeling for what a strong wish the bodhisattva has to be of aid to others, especially to be generous with everything they have, even their own bodies.
If I am willing to completely give away and let go even of my own body, what need is there to speak of external things? Whether this sentient being or that sentient being, whatever thing it is that each being might need, I will give them all those things.[47]
It is therefore appropriate to maintain a high level of respect for bodhicitta and those who embody this amazing mind.
Bodhicitta as a Particularly Powerful Field of Virtue or Nonvirtue
With all this tremendous merit and virtue possessed by those who have taken hold of bodhicitta, Śāntideva speaks of the terrible consequences that will result if one harbors any negative thoughts toward them.
All those who harbor evil in their minds Against such lords of generosity, the Buddha’s heirs, Will stay in hell, the mighty Sage has said, For ages equal to the moments of their malice.
Page(s) 36
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
གང་ཞིག་དེ་འདྲའི་རྒྱལ་སྲས་སྦྱིན་བདག་ལ། །
གལ་ཏེ་ངན་སེམས་སྐྱེད་པར་བྱེད་པ་དེ། ། ངན་སེམས་བསྐྱེད་པའི་གྲངས་བཞིན་བསྐལ་པར་ནི། །
དམྱལ་བར་གནས་པར་འགྱུར་ཞེས་ཐུབ་པས་གསུངས། །gang zhig de 'dra'i rgyal sras sbyin bdag la/_/
gal te ngan sems skyed par byed pa de/_/ ngan sems bskyed pa'i grangs bzhin bskal par ni/_/
dmyal bar gnas par 'gyur zhes thub pas gsungs/_/In his commentary to this verse, Sonam Tsemo warns also of the grave danger of having malevolent thoughts toward those with bodhicitta.
For even a momentary malevolent intent, one can remain in the hells for an entire aeon. In the sutra of the Display of Completely Definitive Pacification, it says,
- For however long they develop a mind of hatred and a mind of contempt for bodhisattvas, for as many aeons beings will remain in the hell realms.[48]
As heavy as the negative consequences of developing ill will or anger toward such an advanced practitioner are, if we cultivate strong positive thoughts in relation to them, how much more abundant will be our harvest of joy. Śāntideva states this in the next verse.
But joyous and devoted thoughts Will yield abundant fruits in greater strength. Even in great trouble, Bodhisattvas Never bring forth wrong; their virtues naturally increase.
Page(s) 36
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
འོན་ཏེ་གང་ཞིག་ཡིད་རབ་དང་བྱེད་ན། །
དེ་ཡི་འབྲས་བུ་དེ་བས་ལྷག་པར་འཕེལ། ། རྒྱལ་སྲས་རྣམས་ལ་དོ་གལ་ཆེན་པོས་ཀྱང་། །
སྡིག་པ་མི་འབྱུང་དགེ་བ་ངང་གིས་འཕེལ། །on te gang zhig yid rab dwang byed na/_/
de yi 'bras bu de bas lhag par 'phel/_/ rgyal sras rnams la do gal chen pos kyang /_/
sdig pa mi 'byung dge ba ngang gis 'phel/_/Khenpo Kunpal provides us with a very positive note in relation to this verse.
Even in times of famine; even when there is a dearth of clothing and possessions; even when there is loss of life of human beings and animals; even when there is disease, harm by negative forces, enemies and spirits, in all such terrible conditions, the Bodhisattvas, the offspring of the Buddha, are people for whom bad omens turn to good and for whom adversity becomes a friend. Such difficulties are no hindrance to their Dharma practice. Not only do they not give rise to evil deeds, but such troubles become a means for them to purify past evils and are an encouragement to virtuous actions.[49]
The bodhisattvas are able to apply themselves in the path with great dedication and take difficulties and unconducive conditions onto their path. Even at the cost of their lives, they refrain from performing nonvirtue, and their virtues continuously increase.
And Khenpo Kunpal draws on two further quotes to show the difference between the bodhisattvas and ordinary beings.
As the saying goes:
- When sun is warm and stomach full, You look like a practitioner.
When setbacks and hard times befall, You're really very ordinary!
On the other hand, for those whose minds are stable and who are skilled in means, it is as Asanga has said:
- Even when the world is full of evil
They turn hardship into the enlightened path.[50]
We can fool ourselves into thinking we are engaged in spiritual practice when everything is going well for us. But when things change and difficult circumstances befall us, then we may find out how strong our practice really is. The great beings who have harnessed the power of bodhicitta, of stable mind and possessed of skillful means, are able to transform all these hardships into the path.
In the last verse of chapter 1, Śāntideva pays respectful homage to all those in whom the precious mind of bodhicitta has arisen.
To them in whom this precious jewel of mind
Is born—to them I bow!
I go for refuge to those springs of happiness
Who bring their very enemies to perfect bliss.[p.37]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
Page(s) 36
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
གང་ལ་སེམས་ཀྱི་དམ་པ་རིན་ཆེན་དེ། །
སྐྱེས་པ་དེ་ཡི་སྐུ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ཞིང་། ། གང་ལ་གནོད་པ་བྱས་ཀྱང་བདེ་འབྲེལ་བ། །
བདེ་བའི་འབྱུང་གནས་དེ་ལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི། །gang la sems kyi dam pa rin chen de/_/
skyes pa de yi sku la phyag 'tshal zhing /_/ gang la gnod pa byas kyang bde 'brel ba/_/
bde ba'i 'byung gnas de la skyabs su mchi/_/This last line mentions these exalted beings wishing to bring to perfect bliss even beings who harm and revile them. Yet, this might strike us as being in contradiction to what was said in verse 34. Khenpo Kunpal helps to clarify this doubt.
It may be thought that it is contradictory to say, on the one hand, that an evil intention against a Bodhisattva will lead to birth in hell, and to say, on the other, that even if one harms a Bodhisattva, one will be joined with happiness. But this is not so. The former statement is made from the point of view of the ineluctable karmic law of cause and effect, on account of which the evil attitude will give the immediate result of birth in an infernal existence. The latter statement takes into account the fact that the compassion of the Bodhisattvas, and their skillful means deployed through bodhichitta, together with the strength of their powerful prayers, afford protection and care even for beings who afflict harm on them.[51]
There is no contradiction here. The karmic law is infallible unless we repair the negative action. So if we act in evil ways toward those with bodhicitta, there will be terrible consequences. But bodhisattvas have deep compassion for all and never reject anyone. With the strongest of prayers for others' welfare, even to those who harm them, they are able to provide care and protection and connect those beings with happiness.
This ends the first chapter from the Bodhicaryāvatāra, called "The Excellence and Benefits of Bodhicitta."
Notes
- ↑ For more on this verse, see the page The Bodhicitta Prayer. Source: Helena Blankleder and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans., The Nectar of Manjushri's Speech: A Detailed Commentary on Shantideva's Way of the Bodhisattva, by Kunzang Pelden (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2010), 38. According to the Padmakara Translation Group, these lines are perhaps traceable to Nāgārjuna. See Helena Blankleder and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans., The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra, by Śāntideva (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006), 2.
- ↑ See Khenpo Shenga, An Annotated Commentary to the Bodhicaryāvatāra, Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa'i mchan 'grel (Varanasi: Nyingma Students Welfare Committee 2009), 4.
- ↑ Adam Pearcey, trans., The Brightly Shining Sun: A Step-by-Step Guide to Meditating on the Bodhicaryāvatāra, by Patrul Rinpoche (Lotsāwa House, 2019), https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/patrul-rinpoche/bodhicharyavatara-brightly-shining-sun.
- ↑ Khenpo Kunga Wangchuk, A Commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra, Theg pa chen poi do'i dgongs don gyi bstan bcos byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa zhes bya ba'i 'grel pa (Taiwan: Chos kyi blo gros rtsom sgrig khang, 2016), 6.
- ↑ Adrian O'Sullivan, trans., Bodhicaryāvatāra with Commentary, by Sonam Tsemo (Los Angeles: Dechen Foundation, 2019), 1.
- ↑ O'Sullivan, Bodhicaryāvatāra with Commentary, 5.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Way of the Bodhisattva, 31.
- ↑ Fedor Stracke, trans., The Entrance for the Children of the Conquerors - A Commentary on the Introduction to the Actions of Bodhisattvas, Chapter One: The Benefits of the Mind of Enlightenment, by Gyaltsab Rinpoche (N.p.: Happy Monks Publication, 2016), 11, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/. Note that the pagination starts over for every chapter in Stracke's translation.
- ↑ Stracke, Entrance for the Children: Chapter One, 13, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/.
- ↑ Ngulchu Tokme Zangpo, An Ocean of Excellent Explanation: A Commentary on Entering into the Conduct of the Bodhisattva, Byang chub sems spa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa'i rtsa ba dang 'grel pa legs par bshad pa'i rya mtsho (Varanasi: Sakya Students Union 2003), 114.
- ↑ O'Sullivan, Bodhicaryāvatāra with Commentary, 7.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 37.
- ↑ O'Sullivan, Bodhicaryāvatāra with Commentary, 7.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 37.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 45.
- ↑ Stracke, Entrance for the Children: Chapter One, 20, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/.
- ↑ O'Sullivan, Bodhicaryāvatāra with Commentary, 30.
- ↑ O'Sullivan, Bodhicaryāvatāra with Commentary, 30.
- ↑ Thrangu Rinpoche, Shantideva's A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life: Commentary by Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, trans. Ken Holmes, Katia Holmes, and Thomas Doctor (Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 2016), 6.
- ↑ Khenpo Kunga Wangchuk, Commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra, 31.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 47.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 48.
- ↑ The Buddhāvataṃsaka is presented as a single, long sūtra (vaipulyasūtra), although many of its 45 chapters are independent works (Toh 44).
- ↑ Peter Alan Roberts and team, trans., The Stem Array, Gaṇḍavyūha, Toh 44-45 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024), https://read.84000.co/translation/UT22084-037-007.html?#UT22084-037-007-5528.
- ↑ Stracke, Entrance for the Children: Chapter One, 22, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 48.
- ↑ Roberts and team, Stem Array, https://read.84000.co/translation/UT22084-037-007.html?#UT22084-037-007-5511.
- ↑ Pema Karpo, A Lamp for the Middle Way: A Commentary on the Bodhisattvacharyavatara, Spyod 'jug gi 'bru 'grel dbu ma'i lam gyi sgron ma (Kathmandu: Shree Gautam Buddha Vihara, 2017), 7 (e-book).
- ↑ Roberts and team, Stem Array, https://read.84000.co/translation/UT22084-037-007.html?#UT22084-037-007-5475.
- ↑ Stracke, Entrance for the Children: Chapter One, 22, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/.
- ↑ Roberts and team, Stem Array, https://read.84000.co/translation/UT22084-037-007.html?#UT22084-037-007-5566.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Way of the Bodhisattva, 33.
- ↑ Stracke, Entrance for the Children: Chapter One, 23, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/.
- ↑ Pema Karpo, Lamp for the Middle Way, 7 (e-book).
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Way of the Bodhisattva, 33.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 51.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 51.
- ↑ Pearcey, Brightly Shining Sun, https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/patrul-rinpoche/bodhicharyavatara-brightly-shining-sun.
- ↑ O'Sullivan, Bodhicaryāvatāra with Commentary, 34.
- ↑ O'Sullivan, Bodhicaryāvatāra with Commentary, 35.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 54-55.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 54-55.
- ↑ Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans., The Sūtra of the Question of Subāhu, Subāhuparipṛcchāsūtra, Toh 70 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024), https://read.84000.co/translation/UT22084-043-007.html?#UT22084-043-007-85.
- ↑ University of Calgary Buddhist Studies, trans., The Questions of the Householder Vīradatta, Vīradattagṛhapatiparipṛcchā, Toh 72 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2023), https://read.84000.co/translation/UT22084-043-009.html?#UT22084-043-009-128.
- ↑ Stracke, Entrance for the Children: Chapter One, 29, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 60.
- ↑ Pema Karpo, Lamp for the Middle Way, 10 (e-book).
- ↑ O'Sullivan, Bodhicaryāvatāra with Commentary, 43.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 61.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 62.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 63.
