Mapping the Bodhicaryāvatāra

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Mapping the Bodhicaryāvatāra: Essays on Mahāyāna Ethics
Book
Śāntideva's Vision in a Secular World


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Description

Mapping the Bodhicaryavatara is an interpretive study of the great Mahayana ethical treatise focusing on Bodhisattvayana as it is variantly called. The Bodhicaryavatara is a world classic, and the author, Santideva is a hallowed name in Mahayana discourse, his views and ideas are regarded as of great authority, and the text is incorporated in the Tengyur, the Tibetan cannon of apocryphal writings.

The Bodhicaryavatara is a philosophical poem, and the theme is the ethicised consciousness of a bodhisattva, the one who vows to dispel the misery of the human kind, and for that noble purpose alone he wishes to attain Buddhahood. His Holiness the Dalai Lama's discourses are replete with inspiration drawn from Santideva's work.

The present study is an analytic- descriptive inquiry into the scope and extent of the paramitas or virtues, and how, when perfected, they lead to the apex of moral endeavour or prajna. The author seeks to situate the text in the continuum of the ethical thinking and literature of the East as well as the West, and even cutting across the so-called Theravada-Mahayana divide. In course of the study the author has raised points of doubt as regards conceptual linkages and ideas in Buddhist ethical thought and practice, and attempted to resolve the issues as well. This is a philosophical study with an East-West perspective in view. (Source Accessed Jan 22, 2021)

Citation
Roy, Pabitrakumar. Mapping the Bodhicaryāvatāra: Essays on Mahāyāna Ethics. Shimla, India: Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 2011.
Publisher Link
Table of contents
    • AcknowledgementsIX
    • PrefaceXIII


PART ONE


  • 1. Santideva and the Bodhicaryavatara3
  • 2. Buddhist Ethics: Morality and Theory15
    • (i) Opening Ideas: Bodhicaryavatara: Method and Approach22
    • (ii) From Bodhicitta to Prajnaparamita35
    • (iii) Buddhist Virtues: Paramitas45
  • 3. The Bodhisattva and his Career52
  • 4. The Motivational Context of Maitri and Karuna66


PART TWO


  • 5. Danaparamita: The Virtue of Charity81
  • 6. Sila: The Buddhist Concept of Ethics91
  • 7. Karuna: The Supreme Emotion117
  • 8. Ksantiparamita: The Virtue of Forbearance137
  • 9. Samprajanya-raksana: Guarding Mindfulness154
  • 10. Prajnaparamita: Human Excellence - Eudaimonia171


PART THREE


  • 11. Duhkha: The Human Predicament207
  • 12. The Problematic of Altruism and Rebirth: Bodhicaryavatara, 8: 97–8230
  • 13. Persons and the Problem of Altruism: Bodhicaryavatara, 8: 101-3242
  • 14. Meditation and Action: Problematic Polarities? A Piece of Prthagajana Logic266


PART FOUR


  • 15. The Lesson and Relevance of the Bodhisattva Ideal275
  • 16. Bhavana and Action: Buddhist Ethics in Perspective285
  • 17. Concluding Thoughts: Buddhist Ethics304
    • Afterword332
    • Postscript333
    • Appendix
  • I. Bodhicaryavatara: IX.1 - Unity of the Paramitas339
  • II. The Bodhisattva Ideal and its Recent Assertions In India342
    • Select Bibliography345
    • Glossary351
Interconnections
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Classical WorksAbout this item
An "Introduction to Bodhisattva Practice," the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra is a poem about the path of a bodhisattva, in ten chapters, written by the Indian Buddhist Śāntideva (fl. c. 685–763). One of the masterpieces of world literature, it is a core text of Mahāyāna Buddhism and continues to be taught, studied, and commented upon in many languages and by many traditions around the world. The main subject of the text is bodhicitta, the altruistic aspiration for enlightenment, and the path and practices of the bodhisattva, the six perfections (pāramitās). The text forms the basis of many contemporary discussions of Buddhist ethics and philosophy.