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Atīśa and Bodhipathapradīpa
Book
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Description
Atīśa and the Bodhipathapradīpa pairs a Bengali translation of Atiśa Dīpaṃkara's Bodhipathapradīpa with an introductory account of the transmission of Buddhism to Tibet, framing the historical circumstances that led to Atiśa's invitation there. The introduction covers the traditional narrative of the mysterious box of sacred objects said to have fallen onto the roof of the palace of the 27th Tibetan king Lha Thothori Nyentsen, the reigns of the 33rd king Songtsen Gampo (617–698) and of Trisong Detsen (742–797), the latter's invitation of Padmasambhava and Śāntarakṣita and the founding of Samye, the early Tibetan translation effort involving figures such as Vairocana, Yeshé Dé, and Kawa Paltsek, and the persecution of Buddhism under Langdarma before its later restoration. The volume was translated from Tibetan into Bengali with the assistance of Shibashish Mal and Ritiman Das, with language review by Sampa Das (Bengali) and Dashayita Thakur (English), and was published with the support of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT).
Citation
Das, Sanjib Kumar, ed. and trans. Atīśa and Bodhipathapradīpa. Kolkata: Tathagata, 2023.
Table of contents
- ক. প্রকাশকীয় (Publisher's Note)6
- খ. প্রস্তাবনা (Introduction)7-26
- বাংলা (Bengali)7
- ইংরেজী (English)17
- গ. মূলগ্রন্থ (Root Text)27-95
- ঘ. জীবন বৃত্তান্ত (Biography)96-142
- বাংলা (Bengali)96
- ইংরেজী (English)121
- ঙ. অতীশ প্রণীত গ্রন্থসূচী (List of Works Composed by Atiśa)143
- চ. শব্দকোষ (Glossary)151
- ছ. পরিশিষ্ট (শ্লোক-অনুক্রমণী) (Appendix: Verse Index)156
- জ. পরিশিষ্ট (Works done on Bodhipathapradīpa)171
- ঝ. গ্রন্থপঞ্জি (Bibliography)173
Interconnections
1 Full translation of
Bodhipathapradīpa. (T. Byang chub lam gyi sgron ma). In Sanskrit, "Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment"; a work composed by the Indian scholar Atiśa Dīpamkaraśrījñāna at Tho ling gtsug lag khang shortly after he arrived in Tibet in 1042. Tibetan histories often note that Atiśa wrote this text in order to clarify problematic points of Buddhist practice, especially tantra, which were thought to have degenerated and become distorted, and to show that tantra did not render basic Buddhist practice irrelevant. The Bodhipathapradīpa emphasizes a gradual training in the practices of the Mahāyāna and vajrayāna and became a prototype and textual basis first for the bstan rim, or "stages of the teaching" genre, and then for the genre of Tibetan
religious literature known as lam rim, or "stages of the path." It is also an early source for the instructions and practice of blo sbyong, or "mind training." Atiśa wrote his own commentary (pańjikā) (Commentary on the Difficult Points of the Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment) to the text. The text says bodhisattvas must first follow one of the sets of prātimokṣa disciplinary rules; based on those precepts, they practice the six perfections (pāramitā); with those perfections as a solid foundation, they finally practice Buddhist tantra. (Source: "Bodhipathapradīpa." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 133. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)
