The Path of Light (1959)

Book

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

The following pages contain an abridged translation of the original Sanskrit of the Bodhicharyāvatāra, based upon two editions, that contained in vol. ii. of the Journal of the Buddhist Text Society (Calcutta, 1894) and that published with Pranjākara-mati's commentary by Professor L. de la Vallée Poussin in the Bibliotheca Indica.[1] I have omitted a good deal of the text where it seemed needlessly prolix, and the whole of the scholastic disputation which makes up the bulk of the ninth chapter. But I hope that even in this curtailed form my translation will enable readers to understand and fairly appreciate the fervent devotion and brotherly love which make this little book, in spite of its errors, a lasting monument of true religious emotion, " an everlasting possession." (Barnett, introduction, 35–36)

Notes

I have much pleasure in acknowledging my debt of gratitude to Professor Poussin's masterly French translation of the text published in the Revue d'Histoire et de Littérature Religieuses, vols. x.-xii. (1905-1907) under the title Bodhicaryāvatāra: Introduction à la Pratique des futurs Bouddhas.

Citation

Barnett, Lionel David, trans. The Path of Light: Rendered from the Bodhi-charyāvatāra of Sānti-Deva; A Manual of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Repr. of 2nd ed. Wisdom of the East. London: John Murray Publishers, 1959. First published 1909 by E. P. Dutton (New York).

Texts Translated

Shastri, Hara Prasad, ed. "Bodhicaryāvatāram." Journal and Text of the Buddhist Society of India 2, pt. 1 (1894): 1-16; and in the same volume, pt. 2, 17–32. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924081588240&view=2up&seq=34&size=150.
La Vallée Poussin, Louis de, ed. Bodhicaryāvatārapañjikā: Prajñākaramati's Commentary to the Bodhicaryāvatāra of C̜āntideva; An Introductory Treatise on the Duties of a Buddhist. Bibliotheca Indica 150. Calcutta: Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1901-14. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101046823025&view=2up&seq=8.

Translation of

Bodhicaryāvatāra

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.

Text

Other editions

The Path of Light (1909)

Lionel T. Barnett's English translation of the Bodhicaryāvatāra based upon the Sanskrit editions edited by Louis de la Vallée Poussin and Hara Prasad Shastri.

Book

INTRODUCTION7
l. THE PRAISE OF THE THOUGHT OF ENLIGHTENMENT 34
II. THE CONFESSION OF SIN 37
III. TAKING THE THOUGHT OF ENLIGIITENMENT 41
IV. HEEDFULNESS IN THE THOUGHT OF ENLIGHTENMENT44
V. WATCHFULNESS48
VI. THE PERFECT LONG-SUFFERING 53
VII. THE PERFECT STRENGTH 66
VIII. THE PERFECT CONTEMPLATION 74
IX. THE PERFECT KNOWLEDGE 83

Notes 85
Appendix 95
Select Bibliography 99