Diligence Overview
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With the guardians of conscientiousness and vigilance at our side, and emboldened with the practice of patience, we are now able to prevent the bodhicitta in our mindstreams from declining.
In his commentary, Khenpo Shenga explains the third major outline of the text as follows:
The third [outline] is [having prevented] bodhicitta from declining to increase it more and more. It contains three chapters: (1) the chapter on diligence, which is the method or support which increases more and more both aspects of bodhicitta—the conventional and the ultimate, (2) the chapter on concentration, which increases the conventional bodhicitta more and more, [and] (3) the chapter on wisdom, which increases the ultimate bodhicitta more and more.[1]
In Śāntideva's text, this seventh chapter on diligence explains the methods that help our bodhicitta go from strength to strength. The importance of this practice of diligence, which is also the fourth of the perfections within the bodhisattva's path to enlightenment, is expressed in the first verse.
Thus with patience I will strive with diligence. For in such diligence enlightenment is found. If no wind blows, then nothing stirs, And neither is there merit without diligence.
Page(s) 97
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་ལྟར་བཟོད་པས་བརྩོན་འགྲུས་བརྩམ། །
འདི་ལྟར་བརྩོན་ལ་བྱང་ཆུབ་གནས། ། རླུང་མེད་གཡོ་བ་མེད་པ་བཞིན། །
བསོད་ནམས་བརྩོན་འགྲུས་མེད་མི་འབྱུང་། །de ltar bzod pas brtson 'grus brtsam/_/
'di ltar brtson la byang chub gnas/_/ rlung med g.yo ba med pa bzhin/_/
bsod nams brtson 'grus med mi 'byung /_/Here, Śāntideva reminds us that without diligence there is no hope of us really proceeding forward in our Dharma practice, let alone freeing ourselves from the prison of samsara or reaching further to the lofty state of complete enlightenment. Even in our daily lives, we can see that if we don't apply ourselves diligently, then it is hard to achieve our aims and goals. How much more so on the Buddhist path to enlightenment, which requires us to sustain positive practice over vast periods of time. But what is this diligence? In the second verse, Śāntideva explains its meaning.
Diligence means joy in virtuous ways (7.2a)[2]
Śāntideva defines diligence as taking delight in virtue. This is a crucial point in the path of the bodhisattva. Although there may be some wish to benefit others, the strength to engage in virtue is an essential factor in implementing that wish. And in turn that must be sustained by a sense of joy and delight that resonates from our innermost being. Śāntideva does not simply insist that we do better in our lives, that we just be better people and improve ourselves. He also stresses that in order to sustain our practice of the Buddhist path in general, and especially the bodhisattva path, where the final aim is to give all of ourselves for all others all of the time, there must be real delight in our pursuit of positive actions. Without this delight, we may feel a surge of inspiration when we meet the Buddhist path or encounter a heart-touching situation, but there will be no sustenance for the longer road ahead. It has been said that if we look at how we engage with others around us, even those dearest to us, how often is it that we have the thought to be completely involved and of help in all of the complicated difficulties and the minutiae of the problems of just one other person's life. If this is true for those dear to us, then how much more so the great diligence required to take on the vast web of complications of each and every being as extent as the sky itself. But this is what the bodhisattva path requires of us. As the late Buddhist scholar Luiz Gomez has said about Śāntideva's texts, the bodhisattva vow to help all sentient beings attain complete enlightenment is an almost insane wish. Yet, if that wish is to become a reality, it must be supported by great effort, and that great effort must be grounded in taking joy in virtue. Without these supporting factors, Śāntideva tells us, we cannot sustain our practice in the long run.
This joyous effort takes uncontrived delight in seeing others enjoy happiness. It is the joy of having the opportunity to work for others to achieve both their short- and long-term happiness. These powerful states of mind encourage us to create a life that is centered around active engagement in virtue. But why is this so hard? What is it that holds us back and prevents us from living a life filled with virtue? Śāntideva points his finger directly at laziness.
Its contraries have been defined as laziness (7.2a)[3]
Śāntideva identifies laziness (kausīdyam, ལེ་ལོ་) as the direct antagonist of this diligence. As it says in The Application of Mindfulness of the Sacred Dharma (Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna),
The single basis for affliction is laziness. Wherever laziness is present, the Dharma is absent.[4]
Different Categories of Laziness
Within the general category of laziness, there are a variety of different types, which Śāntideva goes on to explain in the next verses.
An inclination for unwholesomeness, Defeatism and self-contempt. (7.2cd)[5]
A taste for idle pleasure And a craving for repose and sleep, No qualms about the sorrows of saṃsāra: Laziness indeed is born from these.
Page(s) 97
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.
སྙོམ་ལས་བདེ་བའི་རོ་མྱང་དང་། །
གཉིད་ལ་བརྟེན་པའི་སྲེད་པ་ཡིས། ། འཁོར་བའི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་མི་སྐྱོ་ལས། །
ལེ་ལོ་ཉེ་བར་སྐྱེ་བར་འགྱུར། །snyom las bde ba'i ro myangs dang /_/
gnyid la brten pa'i sred pa yis/_/ 'khor ba'i sdug bsngal mi skyo las/_/
le lo nye bar skye bar 'gyur/_/Each tradition of commentary divides these forms of laziness in a slightly different way, but the Great Tibetan-Chinese Dictionary (Tshig mdzod chen mo) gives a common division as follows:
- the laziness of attachment to unwholesome activities (བྱ་བ་ངན་ཞེན་གྱི་ལེ་ལོ་)
- the laziness of shrinking from the task (སྒྱིད་ལུག་པའི་ལེ་ལོ་)
- the laziness of deprecating oneself (རང་ལ་བརྙས་པའི་ལེ་ལོ་)
Dungkar Rinpoche Lobsang Trinley adds on to these a fourth, the general indolence of being attached to base pleasures (སྙོམ་ལས་ཀྱི་བདེ་བ་ལ་ཞེན་པའི་ལེ་ལོ་).[6] The first three are mentioned directly in the second verse of the root text, and the last one, general indolence, is mentioned by implication in verse 3.
Khenpo Kunpal provides us with a basic sense of how these different kinds of laziness arise in us.
In itself, laziness, whereby the mind takes no joy in virtue, is caused by three things. These are first, the failure to strive in goodness, accompanied by an interest in idle entertainment; second, an indulgence in sleepiness and an increasing desire to lie in bed upon one's pillow; and third, the failure to be saddened by the sufferings of samsara. As we find in the detailed commentary, "Because they have no sorrow at the sufferings of samsara, people indulge in indolent pleasures and yearn for sleep." But although we enjoy the pleasures of distraction, and so on, and take delight in sleep, when all grosser cogitation is suspended, all such bliss transforms at length into suffering. So it is that, hankering after such sensations and feeling no sorrow at the ills of samsara, we engage in the activities of this life, getting the better of adversaries and protecting friends. However much we work at such activities, there is no end to them—and yet we do not grow weary of them but boast of all we do![7]
In his commentary, the great Kadampa master Gyalse Thokme Zangpo also divides laziness into three main categories.
- the laziness of lack of application
- the laziness of attachment to unwholesome activities
- the laziness of shrinking from the task[8]
The purpose of clearly identifying these unproductive states of mind is so that we may identify them in our own mindstreams. Once identified, we can then use the mental conditions which are conducive and supportive of diligence to strengthen our practice.
Gyalse Thokme then goes on to identify the specific causes of laziness.
Laziness is directly caused by not being disenchanted with the sufferings of samsara. [This lack of disenchantment] is caused by idleness, which is attached to the pleasure of just lazing around without engaging in virtue, and the craving of over attachment to sleep. As the great commentary says, "From not being disenchanted with the suffering of samsara comes craving for the taste of idle pleasure and for sleep."[9]
We become lazy because we do not take seriously the fearful sufferings that can befall us in our samsaric condition. Instead, we are overcome with the fog of idleness, which causes us to just laze around, engaging only in seeming pleasures, and that is attached to general sloth and sleep. Overcome by all these forms of laziness, we can never have any true contentment or grounded sense of well-being.
How to Rid Oneself of Laziness
To counter this state of sloth and laziness, verses 5 to 14 contain strong exhortations from Śāntideva on death and impermanence to try and shake us out of our complacency. The first verse contains a terrifying analogy in which he shows us how asleep we are.
Don’t you see how, one by one, Death has come for all your kind? And yet you slumber on so soundly, Like a buffalo beside its butcher.
Page(s) 98
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.
རང་སྡེ་རིམ་གྱིས་གསོད་པ་ཡང་། །
ཁྱོད་ཀྱིས་མཐོང་བར་མ་གྱུར་ཏམ། ། འོན་ཀྱང་གཉིད་ལ་བརྟེན་པ་གང་། །
གདོལ་པ་དང་ནི་མ་ཧེ་བཞིན། །rang sde rim gyis gsod pa yang /_/
khyod kyis mthong bar ma gyur tam/_/ 'on kyang gnyid la brten pa gang /_/
gdol pa dang ni ma he bzhin/_/Śāntideva likens us to buffalo, tied up in a line and marching slowly to the hands of the butcher, yet unaware that our death is close at hand. He encourages us to awaken from the deep slumber of our apathy and strive forward. In this section of the text, his tone is very insistent, as he tries to hurriedly stir us from our stupor and wake us up to the reality of our situation.
In verse 6 Śāntideva continues to impress upon us the importance of not wasting a moment of our precious time.
All the paths of flight are blocked, The Lord of Death now has you in his sights. How can you take such pleasure in your food, And how can you delight to rest and sleep?84The Tibetan word for ‟sleep” here is gnyid log. Judging from the translations of Crosby and Skilton, V. and A. Wallace, and Berzin, the Sanskrit term can be construed as referring also to sexual intercourse. Sleep and sexual activity are of course natural human functions. But the question ‟How can you take pleasure in sleep and sex?”expressed in such a matter of fact way and without further comment, is a strange one to put to an audience of celibate monks. The second syllable of the Tibetan term could perhaps be interpreted as an abbreviation for log g.yem (sexual misconduct), in which case, the question in the given context would have some point. However, the commentary of Kunzang Pelden does not advert to this and understands gnyid log simply as ‟sleep.”
Page(s) 98
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.
Khenpo Kunpal gives us a further analogy to stir us into action.
We should meditate too on impermanence, using the example of an ambushed wayfarer. Like highway robbers who kill travelers, blocking all paths of escape and watching and lying in wait ahead along the road, the pitiless Lord of Death seals off all the ways that we might flee from him. He leaves open only the high road that leads to death itself. And there he waits for us. He has us already in his sights. How can we continue to delight in food and drink by day and in sleep at night? How can we be happy when our days and nights are racing by? Instead we must diligently persevere in virtuous action.[10]
The Lord of Death does not wait for anyone. Our time can come at any moment, and whether we have just started something or are in the middle of a project, death will not stand by and patiently let us complete things.
"This I have not done, and this I’m only starting. And this—I’m only halfway through . . .” Then is the sudden coming of the Lord of Death, And oh, the thought "Alas, I’m finished!”
Page(s) 98
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.
འདི་ནི་མ་བྱས་བརྩམས་པ་དང་། །
འདི་ཕྱེད་* བྱེད་ in the source text. བྱས་པར་གནས་པ་ལ། ། གློ་བུར་འཆི་བདག་འོངས་ནས་ནི། །
ཀྱི་ཧུད་བཅོམ་ཞེས་སེམས་པར་འགྱུར། །di ni ma byas brtsams pa dang /_/
'di phyed * byed [ in the source text. ] byas par gnas pa la/_/ glo bur 'chi bdag 'ongs nas ni/_/
kyi hud bcom zhes sems par 'gyur/_/Śāntideva then moves on to contemplation of the suffering at the time of death.
You’ll look upon the faces of your hopeless friends, Their tearstained cheeks, their red and swollen eyes (For such will be the depths of their distress), And then you’ll see the heralds of the Deadly Lord.
Page(s) 98
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.
མྱ་ངན་ཤུགས་ཀྱིས་སྐྲངས་པ་ཡི། །
མིག་དམར་གདོང་ལས་མཆི་མ་འཛག ། ཉེ་དུ་རེ་ཐག་ཆད་པ་དང་། །
གཤིན་རྗེའི་ཕོ་ཉའི་བཞིན་ལ་ལྟ། །mya ngan shugs kyis skrangs pa yi/_/
mig dmar gdong las mchi ma 'dzag_/ nye du re thag chad pa dang /_/
gshin rje'i pho nya'i bzhin la lta/_/The contemporary master Thrangu Rinpoche remarks on the central importance of these meditations on death and impermanence on the path to enlightenment in the following way:
When we come under the influence of laziness, we do not develop any desire to renounce samsara. The Buddha suggested that contemplation of impermanence is the remedy for this type of laziness. By not knowing the nature of impermanence and the role it plays in our life, we will never be able to enter into the Dharma. But if we contemplate the impermanent nature of phenomena, we will develop the inclination to do Dharma practice. Thus it is said that contemplating impermanence acts as an entrance into the Dharma. This contemplation also helps us along the path by encouraging us to practice. In fact, the Buddha said that thoroughly understanding impermanence is essential for achieving enlightenment[11]
With the time of death uncertain and with no opportunity to do something about our situation when death actually comes, Śāntideva fiercely exhorts us to act now while we have this precious human life of opportunity to practice the path.
So take advantage of this human boat. Free yourself from sorrow’s mighty stream! This vessel will be later hard to find. The time that you have now, you fool, is not for sleep!
Page(s) 99
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.
མི་ཡི་གྲུ་ལ་བརྟེན་ནས་ནི། །
སྡུག་བསྔལ་ཆུ་བོ་ཆེ་ལས་སྒྲོལ། ། གྲུ་འདི་ཕྱི་ནས་རྙེད་དཀའ་བས། །
རྨོངས་པ་དུས་སུ་གཉིད་མ་ལོག །mi yi gru la brten nas ni/_/
sdug bsngal chu bo che las sgrol/_/ gru 'di phyi nas rnyed dka' bas/_/
rmongs pa dus su gnyid ma log_/The Antidote to the Laziness of Attachment to Negative Actions
The antidote to the laziness of attachment to negative activities is covered in verses 15 and 16.
You turn your back upon the Sacred Doctrine, Supreme joy and boundless source of bliss. Why delight in mere excitement, In distractions that will cause you misery?
Page(s) 99
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.
དགའ་བའི་རྒྱུ་ནི་མཐའ་ཡས་པའི། །
དམ་ཆོས་དགའ་[p.68]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. 
dga' ba'i rgyu ni mtha' yas pa'i/_/
dam chos dga' [p.68]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.
To counter our attachment to distractions, Śāntideva asks us, "Why would you turn your backs on the true and unfailing source of bliss and instead pay so much attention to base distractions and things that at best provide only momentary excitement?" We may respond, "But if not these things which seem of pleasure, what is it that we should take pleasure in?" To this, Śāntideva has a reply for us.
Do not be downcast, but marshal all your powers; Make an effort; be the master of yourself! Practice the equality of self and other; Practice the exchange of self and other.86These practices are discussed at length in chapter 8. See also appendixes 2 and 3.
Page(s) 99
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.
སྒྱིད་ལུག་མེད་པར་དཔུང་ཚོགས་དང་། །
ལྷུར་བླང་བདག་ཉིད་དབང་བྱ་དང་། ། བདག་དང་གཞན་དུ་མཉམ་པ་དང་། །
བདག་དང་གཞན་དུ་བརྗེ་བར་བགྱི། །sgyid lug med par dpung tshogs dang /_/
lhur blang bdag nyid dbang bya dang /_/ bdag dang gzhan du mnyam pa dang /_/
bdag dang gzhan du brje bar bgyi/_/Not falling into a defeatist attitude, instead we should don the armor of diligence, and we should summon all our power, the four counteractive forces, and with mindfulness and vigilant introspection, we should earnestly adopt positive behavior and reject all that is negative. By implementing the antidotal strengths, we must bring our body, speech, and mind under control. We should strive with joy and diligence in the trainings associated with bodhicitta. We should meditate on the methods for cultivating bodhicitta and particularly the equalizing and exchanging of self and other.
The Antidote to the Laziness That Consists in Self-Deprecation and Defeatism
Depression and self-discouragement are prevalent in modern life, with many of us holding unrealistic evaluations of our abilities. A self-deprecating outlook and despondency often abound. But Śāntideva encourages us to not fall prey to pessimistic attitudes. In verses 17 to 30, he counsels us to avoid putting ourselves down by telling ourselves that we are such great sinners. Nor, he says, should we think that we have so many self-destructive emotions and therefore doubt how we could ever get rid of them and attain the state of unsurpassable buddhahood.
The Buddha, who declares the truth, Has truly spoken and proclaimed (7.17cd)
That if they bring forth strength of perseverance,
Even bees and flies
And gnats and grubs will gain
Supreme enlightenment so hard to find.[p.100]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) 99
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.
སྦྲང་བུ་ཤ་སྦྲང་བུང་བ་དང་། །
དེ་བཞིན་སྲིན་བུར་གང་གྱུར་པ། ། དེས་ཀྱང་བརྩོན་པའི་སྟོབས་བསྐྱེད་ན། །
བྱང་ཆུབ་ཐོབ་དཀའ་བླ་མེད་འཐོབ། །sbrang bu sha sbrang bung ba dang /_/
de bzhin srin bur gang gyur pa/_/ des kyang brtson pa'i stobs bskyed na/_/
byang chub thob dka' bla med 'thob/_/Khenpo Kunga Wangchuk explains that Śāntideva is here referring to The Sūtra of the Question of Subāhu (Subāhuparipṛcchāsutra), where it says,
furthermore, Subāhu, bodhisattvas train properly by thinking as follows: "If even lions, tigers, dogs, jackals, vultures, curlews, crows, owls, worms, bees, horseflies, and gadflies can perfectly and completely awaken to buddhahood, then as a human being, why should I slacken my diligence, even at the cost of my own life, when it allows me to attain perfect awakening?"[12]
Almost all traditional commentaries make a point of discussing this quote. Khenpo Kunpal comments on the underlying Buddhist principle that informs this belief.
The idea that underlies this argument is that all beings are in primordial possession of the Buddha-nature. And when they encounter the buddhas and bodhisattvas, their Buddha-nature awakens, the seed of liberation is nourished, and, gradually, as they progress in the succession of their lives, they attain buddhahood.[13]
Thus, Śāntideva is implicitly mentioning here how all sentient beings possess the nature or seed of awakening within them, and that given the correct conducive conditions their true buddha-nature can awaken. Therefore, he asks, how could we, who have found this precious human life of fortune and have contact with these spiritual teachings, have any cause to feel despondent at our ability to practice the path?
Moving on, Śāntideva reminds us that in certain situations, though there is a short-term pain or discomfort, it is possible to bear that suffering in the knowledge of it preventing a much more dramatic result in the future.
The hardships suffered on the path to Buddhahood Are limited in their extent And likened to the pain of an incision Made to cure the harms of inward ills.
Page(s) 100
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.
བདག་གིས་བྱང་ཆུབ་སྒྲུབ་པ་ཡི། །
སྡུག་བསྔལ་འདི་ནི་ཚོད་ཡོད་དེ། །
ཟུག་རྔུ་[p.69]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.
bdag gis byang chub sgrub pa yi/_/
sdug bsngal 'di ni tshod yod de/_/
zug rngu [p.69]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.
And all our doctors cure disease By means of bitter remedies. Likewise, to destroy a vast amount of pain, We should be patient with our little hurts.
Page(s) 100
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.
སྨན་པ་ཀུན་ཀྱང་གསོ་དཔྱད་ཀྱིས། །
མི་བདེ་བ་ཡི་ནད་མེད་བྱེད། ། དེ་བས་སྡུག་བསྔལ་མང་པོ་དག །
གཞོམ་ཕྱིར་མི་བདེ་ཆུང་བཟོད་བྱ། །sman pa kun kyang gso dpyad kyis/_/
mi bde ba yi nad med byed/_/ de bas sdug bsngal mang po dag_/
gzhom phyir mi bde chung bzod bya/_/We may need to take a course of unpleasant medicine to cure a long-standing illness, or a skilled surgeon may have to make incisions into our bodies that could cause great pain, but these procedures are done with the purpose of clearing away much greater future suffering. When hardships meet us as we follow the Buddhist path, we should find ways to bear them and gradually increase our ability to bear a heavier and heavier load for the welfare of all others.
Therefore, Śāntideva tells us, we should never feel discouraged nor shrink from practicing the blissful path to enlightenment but gallop on ahead, riding the steed of bodhicitta, proceeding from joy to joy.
Mounted on the horse of bodhichitta, Which puts to flight all mournful weariness, What lucid person could be in despair Proceeding in this way from joy to joy?
Page(s) 101
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་བས་སྐྱོ་ངལ་[p.70]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.
བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་ཀྱི་རྟ་ཞོན་ནས། ། བདེ་ནས་བདེ་བར་འགྲོ་བ་ལ། །
སེམས་ཤེས་སུ་ཞིག་སྒྱིད་ལུག་འགྱུར། །de bas skyo ngal [p.70]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.
byang chub sems kyi rta zhon nas/_/ bde nas bde bar 'gro ba la/_/
sems shes su zhig sgyid lug 'gyur/_/Implementing the Favorable Conditions for Diligence
Having pointed out the condition of laziness that most of us ordinary beings find ourselves in, Śāntideva then wants to show us how to create a supportive, nurturing environment of conducive conditions, out of which our practice of diligence can grow.
The second half of the chapter, from verse 31 onward, provides us with remedies to these forms of laziness by introducing what are technically called the six powers or forces, which help implement the favorable conditions for diligence. These forces aid us in working for the welfare and aims of all sentient beings by destroying the factors that stand in opposition to our diligence.
The Six Forces
In many of the commentaries, the six forces are divided into four forces, or literally four massed armies (དཔུང་བཞི་), and two antidotal strengths (སྟོབས་གཉིས་). With the forces and strengths at our side, we can charge headlong into battle against the negative factors that cause us to avoid engaging wholeheartedly in virtue.
Firstly, Śāntideva identifies the four powers.
The forces that secure the good of beings, Are aspiration, steadfastness, relinquishment, and joy. Aspiration grows through fear of suffering And contemplation of the benefits to be attained.
Page(s) 101
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་དོན་བསྒྲུབ་བྱ་ཕྱིར་དཔུང་། །
མོས་བརྟན་དགའ་དང་དོར་བ་ཡིན། ། མོས་པ་སྡུག་བསྔལ་འཇིགས་པ་དང་། །
དེ་ཡི་ཕན་ཡོན་བསམ་པས་བསྐྱེད། །sems can don bsgrub bya phyir dpung /_/
mos brtan dga' dang dor ba yin/_/ mos pa sdug bsngal 'jigs pa dang /_/
de yi phan yon bsams pas bskyed/_/Therefore leaving everything that is adverse to it,
I’ll labor to increase my diligence,
Through aspiration and self-confidence, relinquishment and joy,
By strength of earnest application and exertion of control.[p.102]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) 101
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་ལྟར་མི་མཐུན་ཕྱོགས་སྤངས་ཏེ། །
མོས་དང་ང་རྒྱལ་དགའ་དང་དོར། ། ལྷུར་ལེན་དབང་སྒྱུར་སྟོབས་ཀྱིས་ནི། །
བརྩོན་འགྲུས་སྤེལ་ཕྱིར་འབད་པར་བྱ། །de ltar mi mthun phyogs spangs te/_/
mos dang nga rgyal dga' dang dor/_/ lhur len dbang sgyur stobs kyis ni/_/
brtson 'grus spel phyir 'bad par bya/_/The four supportive forces are aspiration (མོས་པའི་དཔུང་), steadfastness or self-confidence (བརྟན་པའི་དཔུང་), joyfulness (དགའ་བའི་དཔུང་), and relinquishment (དོར་བའི་དཔུང་). These four forces relate to a traditional analogy supposedly used in ancient times, when the kings were said to subdue their enemies using four forces or methods. Thrangu Rinpoche explains the relationship of these four powers to each other.
The four powers are aids for developing bodhisattva's activity, with the first support of aspiration being the root of the other three. Without aspiration there will be no steadfastness and without steadfastness there will be no joy, and finally without steadfastness and joy there will be no traversing from one level to the next.[14]
The Force of Aspiration
From verse 33 to verse 46, Śāntideva introduces the force of aspiration, which is the foundation on which all other virtues are built.
Aspiration, so the Sage asserted, Is the root of every kind of virtue. Aspiration’s root in turn Is constant meditation on the fruits of action.
Page(s) 103
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་བའི་ཕྱོགས་ནི་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི། །
རྩ་བ་མོས་པར་ཐུབ་པས་གསུངས། ། དེ་ཡིའང་རྩ་བ་རྟག་ཏུ་ནི། །
རྣམ་སྨིན་འབྲས་བུ་བསྒོམས་པས་སོ། །dge ba'i phyogs ni thams cad kyi/_/
rtsa ba mos par thub pas gsungs/_/ de yi'ang rtsa ba rtag tu ni/_/
rnam smin 'bras bu bsgoms pas so/_/And this aspiration comes from contemplating the relationship between harmful actions and suffering, on the one hand, and between positive actions and happiness, on the other hand. In turn, this leads us to the understanding of what we need to take up on the path and what we need to leave behind.
Patrul Rinpoche describes the meaning of this force as follows:
The preparation, which is the force of aspiration, is an aspiration to practise the Dharma that comes from reflecting on the benefits of virtue and the faults of harmful actions.[15]
The process of understanding this force of aspiration firstly involves identifying three aspects: the object of the force; the cause of the force; and the result of the force. Pema Karpo explains the object of the force through three outlines.
- Abandoning the faults of oneself and others
- Accomplishing all good qualities
- Kinds of acts[16]
In verses 33 and 34, Śāntideva presents the importance of abandoning the faults of oneself and others.
The boundless evils of myself and others— I must bring them all to nothing, Even though a single of these ills May take unnumbered ages to exhaust!
Page(s) 102
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.
བདག་དང་གཞན་གྱི་ཉེས་པ་ནི། །
དཔག་མེད་བདག་གིས་གཞོམ་བྱ་སྟེ། ། གང་དུ་ཉེས་པ་རེ་རེ་ལའང་། །
བསྐལ་བ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ཟད་འགྱུར་པ། །bdag dang gzhan gyi nyes pa ni/_/
dpag med bdag gis gzhom bya ste/_/ gang du nyes pa re re la'ang /_/
bskal ba rgya mtsho zad 'gyur pa/_/And if I find within myself No sign that faults are even starting to be cleansed, Why does my heart not burst asunder, Destined as I am for boundless pain?
Page(s) 102
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.
ཉེས་ཟད་རྩོམ་པ་དེ་ཡི་ནི། །
ཆ་ཡང་བདག་ལ་མ་མཐོང་ན། ། སྡུག་བསྔལ་དཔག་ཏུ་མེད་པའི་གནས། །
བདག་ཀོ་ཅིའི་ཕྱིར་སྙིང་མ་གས། །nyes zad rtsom pa de yi ni/_/
cha yang bdag la ma mthong na/_/ sdug bsngal dpag tu med pa'i gnas/_/
bdag ko ci'i phyir snying ma gas/_/The "boundless evils" here refers primarily to the afflictions. Śāntideva sets up an unshakeable resolve that however long each of these delusions takes to destroy, he will eventually bring them all to nothing. However, when he looks inside himself, Śāntideva sees no sign of progress in this regard and wonders why he does not have a metaphoric heart attack. Khenpo Kunpal captures this reaction very succinctly.
And yet, he reflects that in the interests of such a great enterprise, he does not find within himself even the slightest degree of diligent enterprise. Seeing that he himself must be destined to boundless sufferings in the future, he asks himself why his heart does not burst asunder. [Using this rhetorical device,] he shows how necessary it is for people to free themselves from faults.[17]
The next two verses, 35 and 36, instruct us on the necessity of accomplishing all good qualities.
Good qualities for my and others’ sake, Though they be many, I must now accomplish, Even though for each of them I must endeavor for unnumbered ages.
Page(s) 102
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.
བདག་དང་གཞན་གྱི་ཡོན་ཏན་ནི། །
མང་པོ་བདག་གིས་བསྒྲུབ་བྱ་སྟེ། ། དེ་ལ་ཡོན་ཏན་རེ་རེ་ཡང་། །
བསྐལ་པ་རྒྱ་མཚོས་གོམས་འགྱུར་ན། །bdag dang gzhan gyi yon tan ni/_/
mang po bdag gis bsgrub bya ste/_/ de la yon tan re re yang /_/
bskal pa rgya mtshos goms 'gyur na/_/Acquaintance I have never gained With even part of such great qualities. It is indeed amazing that I render meaningless This life that somehow I have gained.
Page(s) 102
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.
བདག་གི་ཡོན་ཏན་ཆ་ལ་ཡང་། །
གོམས་པ་ནམ་ཡང་མ་སྐྱེས་ཏེ། ། ཇི་ཞིག་ལྟར་རྙེད་སྐྱེ་བ་ནི། །
བདག་གིས་དོན་མེད་བྱས་པ་མཚར། །bdag gi yon tan cha la yang /_/
goms pa nam yang ma skyes te/_/ ji zhig ltar rnyed skye ba ni/_/
bdag gis don med byas pa mtshar/_/These verses follow the same structure as the previous two verses on destroying the afflictions, except here Śāntideva turns his attention to practicing virtue. He remarks on the tremendous importance of acquiring all the innumerable qualities which will lead us on the path and to the enlightened state. He says to himself that even if a single quality, such as acquiring clairvoyant powers like the ability to read other's minds, were to take countless eons, he will still endeavor to acquire them. But again, as in the previous verses, when he looks inside of himself, Śāntideva finds that he has not even a fragment of the kind of diligence required to achieve such qualities. "It is amazing" he reflects to himself, "how I have managed to squander this opportunity of a meaningful life."
In verses 37 and 38, Śāntideva reflects on the kind acts he has done and those he has failed to do.
Offerings to the Buddhas I have never made; No feasts were ever held through my donations; No works have I accomplished for the Teachings; The wishes of the poor I left unsatisfied.
Page(s) 102
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.
བདག་གིས་བཅོམ་ལྡན་མ་མཆོད་ཅིང་། །
དགའ་སྟོན་ཆེན་པོའི་བདེ་མ་བྱིན* མ་ཕྱིན་ in the source text. ། །
བསྟན་ལ་བྱ་བ་མ་[p.71]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.
bdag gis bcom ldan ma mchod cing /_/
dga' ston chen po'i bde ma byin* ma phyin [ in the source text.] /_/
bstan la bya ba ma [p.71]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.
I have not saved the frightened from their fear; The wretched I have not consoled. My mother’s pain, her womb’s discomfort: These alone are my accomplishments.
Page(s) 102
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.
འཇིགས་ལ་མི་འཇིགས་མ་བྱིན་དང་། །
ཉམ་ཐག་བདེ་མ་བྱིན་ན་བདག ། མ་ཡི་མངལ་གྱི་ཟུག་རྔུ་དང་། །
སྡུག་བསྔལ་འབའ་ཞིག་བསྐྱེད་པར་ཟད། །jigs la mi 'jigs ma byin dang /_/
nyam thag bde ma byin na bdag_/ ma yi mngal gyi zug rngu dang /_/
sdug bsngal 'ba' zhig bskyed par zad/_/The great Geluk master Gyaltsap Darma Rinchen reflects further on these verses and explains why we should feel regret at the kind things we have been unable to do.
Previously I did not make offerings to the Three Jewels, who are represented by the tatagata, nor did I offer the happiness of great celebrations that praise sentient beings and the tatagata. I did nothing for the teachings since I did not practice accordingly the presentation of the objects of abandonment that have to be abandoned and antidotes that have to be adopted. I also did not accomplish the wishes of the sentient beings who are destitute. I did not offer protection to those in danger from enemies or sicknesses. I also did not offer satisfaction to those that are wretched due to suffering, and hence I have not practiced the holy dharma at all and have only caused pain and suffering while being in the mother's womb.
This is the regret of not having done anything for others.[18]
The Force of Steadfastness
Śāntideva then goes on to present the force of steadfastness or self-confidence in verses 47 to 62.
In Tibetan, the term brtan pa (Skt. dhīra) has the connotation of being stable, firm, steadfast, or fixed—something which does not move or fluctuate. However, in the context of this second force, it takes on a sense of confidence in relation to various aspects of practice.
As Patrul Rinpoche explains, this force can be looked at through the perspective of self-confidence in the face of negative emotions. This means regarding negative emotions as insignificant, having confidence that we can overcome them, and being able to cope and overcome adversity on the path.[19]
The first thing Śāntideva encourages us to do is to realistically assess what our own strengths and abilities are.
Let me first consider my reserves— To start or not to start accordingly. It might be better not to start, But once begun, I should not then withdraw.
Page(s) 104
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.
དང་པོ་འབྱོར་པ་བརྟགས་ནས་ནི། །
བརྩམ་མམ་ཡང་ན་མི་བརྩམ་བྱ། ། མ་བརྩམ་པ་ཉིད་མཆོག་ཡིན་གྱི། །
བརྩམས་ནས་ལྡོག་པར་མི་བྱའོ། །dang po 'byor pa brtags nas ni/_/
brtsam mam yang na mi brtsam bya/_/ ma brtsam pa nyid mchog yin gyi/_/
brtsams nas ldog par mi bya'o/_/For if I do such things, the pattern will return In later lives, and sin and pain will grow. And other actions will be left undone Or else will bear a meager fruit.
Page(s) 104
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.
སྐྱེ་བ་གཞན་དུའང་དེ་གོམས་ཤིང་། །
སྡིག་དང་སྡུག་བསྔལ་འཕེལ་བར་འགྱུར། ། གཞན་དང་འབྲས་བུའི་དུས་ཀྱང་ནི། །
དམན་འགྱུར་དེ་ཡང་འགྲུབ་མི་འགྱུར། །skye ba gzhan du'ang de goms shing /_/
sdig dang sdug bsngal 'phel bar 'gyur/_/ gzhan dang 'bras bu'i dus kyang ni/_/
dman 'gyur de yang 'grub mi 'gyur/_/He makes it very clear that in many ways it is better not to start a project or activity if we do not feel we have the necessary resources to sustain the work and bring it to a complete and successful conclusion.
The Sakya master Sonam Tsemo explains these verses in terms of three kinds of result—the fully ripening effect (རྣམ་སྨིན་གྱི་འབྲས་བུ་), the effect resembling the cause (རྒྱུ་མཐུན་པའི་འབྲས་བུ་), and the proliferating effect (ལས་ཆེ་བའི་འབྲས་བུ་).
The fault of undertaking and then stopping is that one becomes habituated to stopping in future lives. This is called the 'effect similar to the cause'. An increase of negative deeds in this life is called the 'proliferating effect'. An increase in suffering throughout future lives is called the 'fully ripened effect'. It diminishes other actions—i.e. Since conduct ceases, it is an action diminishing the unattained. It also diminishes results—i.e. since it is impossible to attain the results themselves, it is an action diminishing the attained. Since one does not fulfil what should have been accomplished, it is an action diminishing their attainment.[20]
In relation to this force of steadfastness, Khenpo Kunpal quotes from the sixth chapter of The Sūtra of the Ornament of the Buddhas (Buddhāvataṃsakamahāvaipūlyasūtra, commonly referred to simply as the Avataṃsakasūtra), describing the dedication of Vajradhvaja (one of the ten beings called Vajra who, coming from the ten directions, all appeared in the presence of Buddha Vairocana).
Devaputra, when the sun rises, it is not dismayed by the fact that some men are blind nor by the mountain shadows that it is unable to dispel. No, it sheds light on all that can be illuminated. In the same way, when bodhisattvas appear for the sake of beings, they are not dismayed by the fact that some are wild and hostile. They bring to maturity and liberate all those who are capable of liberation.[21]
Khenpo Kunpal goes on to explain how this relates to making sure we complete actions once we have started them.
It is therefore with this kind of courage, as described in the Vajradhvajasutra, that we must cultivate an assured confidence and determination, telling ourselves that we will bring to completion whatever positive action we have begun for the sake of others.[22]
Kate Crosby and Andrew Skilton further remark on this quotation from this sūtra in relation to assessing our capabilities and the unwanted consequences of not following through on our good intentions.
The awesome picture of the Bodhisattva's task painted in the Vajradhvaja Sūtra (a section of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, and quoted by Śāntideva in his Śikṣā Samuccaya, Bendall and Rouse, pp. 24 ff. and 255 ff.) is clearly something that requires many lifetimes of effort. To undertake it and then back out sets up a pattern of behaviour that is itself productive of further suffering. Only when one has ascertained the 'means' at one's disposal can one be sure of making a skilful and productive commitment. Here, no doubt, pride, as explained in the following verses, will play its own crucial part in one's conviction that such a task is possible to achieve.[23]
It is with this kind of courage or steadfastness that we must cultivate an assured confidence and determination to shine light out into the world, whether or not it is currently possible to illuminate every single dark place. We understand that temporarily our light may not be of benefit, but we are not dismayed by that. We continue to work to inspire and encourage those who can feel that light to practice the path. This courage helps us to bring to completion whatever positive action we have begun for the sake of others.
This is one important aspect of this confidence—the quality of stability to continue on with what one has begun, which allows us to bring tasks to a successful conclusion.
In the commentaries this self-confidence is usually divided into three kinds:
- self-confidence with regard to the task
- self-confidence with regard to one's abilities
- self-confidence with regard to the afflictive emotions
Cultivating a Feeling of Self-Confidence with Regard to the Task
Khenpo Kunpal shows how the Avataṃsakasūtra, again, provides us with the inspiration.
The outer palace of the sun, Devaputra, which is material, has no choice but to do its work of illuminating the four continents all by itself. It is unobstructed by cloud, dust, or wind, and it sheds its light impartially over everything. And although all beings place their hope in it, the sun for its part has no need to rely on anything. In the same way, I, a Bodhisattva skilled in emptiness and the means of great compassion, will bring to maturity and liberation all beings, whose number is as limitless as space itself. And I will do this by myself alone! I shall be impeded by none of the faults or defects of beings, wild and barbarous as they are. I will become the great and unknown friend of every being. Though they may place their hopes in me, I do not place my hopes in them.[24]
This is the kind of determination and confidence required in relation to the bodhisattva following the Mahāyāna.
Śāntideva looks around at the ways of worldly people and finds a little confidence that, compared to them, he, as a bodhisattva, could secure the happiness of both himself and others.
Overpowered by their minds’ afflictions, Worldly folk are helpless to secure their happiness. Compared with those who wander, I am able! This therefore shall be my task.
Page(s) 104
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.
ཉོན་མོངས་དབང་མེད་འཇིག་རྟེན་འདིས། །
རང་དོན་སྒྲུབ་པར་མི་ནུས་པས། ། འགྲོ་བས་བདག་ལྟར་མི་ནུས་ཏེ། །
དེ་བས་བདག་གིས་འདི་བྱའོ། །[p.73]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.
nyon mongs dbang med 'jig rten 'dis/_/
rang don sgrub par mi nus pas/_/ 'gro bas bdag ltar mi nus te/_/
de bas bdag gis 'di bya'o/_/[p.73]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.
Ordinary worldly beings are overpowered by their defilements and are therefore powerless. Unable to accomplish virtue, they cannot accomplish their own happiness, let alone that of others. And so, Śāntideva concludes, he must take on the responsibility to do this on his own. Gyaltsap Je elaborates on this theme, stating that
one needs to achieve the works of sentient beings by oneself, independently from others, because these worldly beings, which have no control due to their afflictions, cannot achieve even their own purpose.
Hence migrators cannot strive in virtue for the purpose of others like one can, and even if one were to rely on them it would be useless. Therefore think, 'I have to do the actions for the benefit of others all by myself'.[25]
However, Śāntideva points out that it is also extremely important never to develop arrogance, even when others allow themselves to engage in lower forms of conduct.
When others give themselves to low behavior, What shall be my stance in their regard? In any case, I’ll not be arrogant; My best way is to give up such conceit.
Page(s) 104
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.
གཞན་དག་དམན་པའི་ལས་བྱེད་ན། །
བདག་ཉིད་ཀྱང་ནི་ཇི་ལྟར་འདུག ། ང་རྒྱལ་གྱིས་ནི་མི་བྱེད་དེ། །
བདག་ལ་ང་རྒྱལ་མེད་པ་མཆོག །gzhan dag dman pa'i las byed na/_/
bdag nyid kyang ni ji ltar 'dug_/ nga rgyal gyis ni mi byed de/_/
bdag la nga rgyal med pa mchog_/Khenpo Kunpal provides two alternative readings of these two verses.
When others give themselves to low activities (confounding their enemies, protecting their friends, and indulging in farming and trade), how, Shantideva asks, can he connive as their companion? Such a course of action would be quite inappropriate. Instead, he should practice the six paramitas of the way of the Bodhisattvas.
Alternatively, Shantideva's words could be interpreted as meaning that, when others are engaged in the mundane activities of making hay, chopping wood, carrying loads, and so on, how can he idly stand by? It is not at all correct. On the contrary, he should give help to people in everything that does not involve negative action—just as Dromtönpa carried the luggage of an old tantrika and the Indian master Padampa Sangye did the same for the yellow-bearded acharya.[26]
Whichever interpretations of the verses we follow, we must be very careful not to have any sense of pride in thinking that our actions make us superior to others. Getting rid of this kind of ordinary conceit is a very important part of the bodhisattva practices.
Cultivating Self-Confidence with Regard to One's Abilities
Verse 52 and the first two lines of verse 53 explain the faults of not having pride and confidence in our own abilities.
When they find a dying serpent,
Even crows behave like soaring eagles.
Therefore if I’m weak and feeble-hearted,
Even little faults will strike and injure me.91Following the terms of the comparison, the crows are the faults; oneʼs weakness is the dying serpent.[p.105]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) 104
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.
ཤི་བའི་སྦྲུལ་དང་ཕྲད་གྱུར་ན། །
ཁྭ་ཡང་མཁའ་ལྡིང་ལྟ་བུར་སྤྱོད། ། གལ་ཏེ་བདག་ཉིད་ཉམ་ཆུང་ན། །
ལྟུང་བ་ཆུང་ངུའང་གནོད་པར་བྱེད། །shi ba'i sbrul dang phrad gyur na/_/
khwa yang mkha' lding lta bur spyod/_/ gal te bdag nyid nyam chung na/_/
ltung ba chung ngu'ang gnod par byed/_/But if, depressed, I give up trying, How can I gain freedom from my abject state? (7.53ab)[27]
When crows find a dead snake, they will behave like eagles soaring up into the sky and contemptuously playing with the dead snake before devouring it. Likewise, if we have a very low estimation of ourselves and our own abilities, we will be in the position of the dead snake—vulnerable to harm from even the smallest of faults, which can then easily cause us to fall into the lower realms. Here, the low estimation of ourselves also has the connotation of our antidote to the afflictions being weak.
Discouraged about our ability to practice virtue and to avoid negative actions, it is easy to get depressed and give up even trying to follow the path, and we get stuck in this miserable condition. Crosby and Skilton's translation from the Sanskrit of verse 52 adds a further layer to this understanding.
Even a crow acts like Garuḍa when attacking a dead lizard. If my mind is weak, even a minor difficulty is oppressive.[28]
In relation to these verses, Pema Karpo quotes from the Ornament of the Great Vehicle Sūtras (Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra). Since we have decided to shoulder the burdens of all beings, we are encouraged to drop any sense of discouragement and to intensify our diligence in order to cut the fetters that bind both ourselves and others to the world of suffering.
For supreme beings who shoulder the burdens of beings, It is not becoming to walk leisurely. Numerous are the ties that bind oneself and others— This calls for a hundredfold diligence. [V.28][29]
The answer to this situation is to proudly stand our ground in the fight against the afflictions. The last two lines of verse 53 as well as verse 54 explain the great benefits of being proud of our own abilities.
But if I stand my ground with proud resolve, It will be hard for even great faults to attack me. (7.53cd)
Therefore with a steadfast heart I’ll get the better of my weaknesses. But if my failings get the upper hand, My wish to overcome the triple world is laughable indeed.
Page(s) 105
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་བས་སེམས་ནི་བརྟན་པ་ཡིས། །
ལྟུང་བ་རྣམས་ནི་གཞོམ་བྱ་སྟེ། ། བདག་ནི་ལྟུང་བས་ཕམ་བྱས་ན། །
ཁམས་གསུམ་རྒྱལ་འདོད་བཞད་གད་འགྱུར། །de bas sems ni brtan pa yis/_/
ltung ba rnams ni gzhom bya ste/_/ bdag ni ltung bas pham byas na/_/
khams gsum rgyal 'dod bzhad gad 'gyur/_/If we hold our ground firmly with great diligence and a strong resolve to confess any of our faults as they arise, then we can never be defeated by serious downfalls of our vows and conduct, and we will be saved from falling into the lower realms. As The Skill-in-Means Sūtra (Upāyakauśalyasūtra) says:
Son of the family: the Bodhisattva who is skilled in means attenuates even a grave transgression with skill in means.[30]
Khenpo Kunga Wangchuk expands on these verses in his commentary to explain how it is important to have pride in one's abilities to be able to tackle the afflictions.
For that reason, with one's own own mind set firmly with pride in one's abilities, we give rise to the mental force that thinks, "I will accomplish all forms of virtuous karma. I will abandon all afflictions. I have the ability to do those things," with which I must defeat and abandon all downfalls. If the downfalls were to overcome me, so that when downfalls arose I had no ability to confess them, then after death if those faults overcame me with such things as rebirth in the unhappy realms, then that wish to conquer the three realms and attain the complete state of buddhahood would become a point of utter laughter.[31]
In verses 56 to 59, Śāntideva brings up an interesting doubt that may arise in relation cultivating pride and feelings of self-worth. Throughout this section on steadfastness, we have been encouraged to develop self-confidence, and yet in earlier chapters this is something that we have been told to abandon. So how can we understand Śāntideva's insistence here on the need for pride as an antidote to laziness?
Those whom arrogance destroys Are thus defiled; they lack self-confidence. Those who have true confidence escape the foe, While others fall into the power of an evil pride.
Page(s) 105
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་གང་ང་རྒྱལ་གྱིས་བཅོམ་དེ། །
ཉོན་མོངས་ང་རྒྱལ་ཅན་མ་ཡིན། ། ང་རྒྱལ་ཅན་དགྲའི་དབང་མི་འགྲོ། །
དེ་དག་ང་རྒྱལ་དགྲ་དབང་འགྱུར། །gro gang nga rgyal gyis bcom de/_/
nyon mongs nga rgyal can ma yin/_/ nga rgyal can dgra'i dbang mi 'gro/_/
de dag nga rgyal dgra dbang 'gyur/_/Śāntideva answers this doubt by explaining that the pride that is meant here is not defiled pride. Khenpo Kunga Wangchuk expands on this by pointing out that there are two kinds of pride.
One kind of pride is an antidote to pride, and the other type of pride is something to be abandoned. Moreover, any kind of migrator who is conquered by afflictive pride, will put others down, downplay others, and undervalue them, thinking of themselves as wise. One like that, who is overcome by the enemy of the afflictions, is one afflicted by what is to be abandoned, which is not the kind of self-confidence in their abilities which is an antidote of the bodhisattvas. If one possesses the pride in one's capability to [apply] the antidotes, they will not be controlled by the enemy of afflicted pride, whereas those who have ordinary pride will be under the control of the enemy of the pride that is to be abandoned.[32]
What then are the consequences when one falls under the power of this afflicted type of pride? Śāntideva explains in verses 57 and 58 that such self-satisfaction can result in various negative outcomes.
When arrogance inflates the mind, It draws it down to states of misery— Or ruins happiness, should human birth be gained. Thus one is born a slave, dependent for one’s sustenance,
Page(s) 105
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.
ཉོན་མོངས་ང་རྒྱལ་གྱིས་ཁེངས་ནི། །
ངན་འགྲོར་ང་རྒྱལ་གྱིས་ཁྲིད་ཅིང་། ། མི་ཡི་དགའ་སྟོན་བཅོམ་པ་དང་། །
གཞན་གྱི་ཟས་ཟའི་བྲན་དང་ནི། །nyon mongs nga rgyal gyis khengs ni/_/
ngan 'gror nga rgyal gyis khrid cing /_/ mi yi dga' ston bcom pa dang /_/
gzhan gyi zan za'i bran dang ni/_/Or feebleminded, ugly, without strength, The butt and laughingstock of everyone. These "ascetics” puffed up with conceit! If these you call the proud, then tell me who are wretched?
Page(s) 105
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.
གླེན་པ་མི་སྡུག་ཉམ་ཆུང་དང་། །
ཐམས་ཅད་དུ་ནི་བརྙས་པར་འགྱུར། །
ང་རྒྱལ་གྱིས་ཁེངས་དཀའ་[p.74]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.
glen pa mi sdug nyam chung dang /_/
thams cad du ni brnyas par 'gyur/_/
nga rgyal gyis khengs dka' [p.74]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.
In their translation of verse 57 from the Sanskrit, Crosby and Skilton bring out some further nuances of the negative results of pride.
Led by pride to a bad rebirth, even as a human being their jubilation is destroyed—slaves, eating food scrounged from others, stupid, ugly, and thin.[33]
With our minds puffed up with conceit and arrogance, we will eventually be pulled down into the lower realms. Even if we are fortunate to be born as a human, we will end up as someone else's slave, desperately reliant on others for even basic sustenance, or we may be born with an unpleasant appearance or emaciated and weak. And even if there is no direct harm, we will become despised by others, the butt of their jokes and the laughingstock of all. Those "ascetics" whose minds are puffed up with conceit are the real objects of contempt. They never taste the real Dharma and are unable to cultivate the true and confident pride of a bodhisattva.
In conclusion to this section on self-confidence with regard to one's abilities, Śāntideva identifies those who deserve to be truly named the proud.
Those who uphold pride to vanquish pride, the enemy,
Are truly proud, victorious, and brave.
And they who stem the increase of that evil pride,
Perfect, according to their wish, the fruit of victory for beings.[p.106]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) 105
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་ང་རྒྱལ་དགྲ་ལས་རྒྱལ་ཕྱིར་ང་རྒྱལ་འཆང་། །
དེ་ནི་ང་རྒྱལ་ཅན་དང་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་དཔའ་དེ་ཉིད། ། གང་ཞིག་ང་རྒྱལ་དགྲ་བདོ་བ་ཡང་ངེས་བཅོམ་སྟེ། །
འགྲོ་ལ་འདོད་བཞིན་རྒྱལ་བའི་འབྲས་བུ་རྫོགས་པར་བྱེད། །gang zhig nga rgyal dgra las rgyal phyir nga rgyal 'chang /_/
de ni nga rgyal can dang rnam rgyal dpa' de nyid/_/ gang zhig nga rgyal dgra bdo ba yang nges bcom ste/_/
'gro la 'dod bzhin rgyal ba'i 'bras bu rdzogs par byed/_/Khenpo Kunpal, commenting on this verse, puts this very succinctly.
The offspring of the Conqueror, who maintain a stable self-confidence (the antidote that overturns the enemy of afflictive pride) are the ones who are truly proud [in the positive sense] and worthy of praise. For they are heroes who have vanquished their foe, the pride that is a defilement. Those who have true self-confidence in their ability overwhelm completely the mighty force that holds the three worlds in its power—the thought of "I." And thus, according to their wish, they are able to offer to beings the perfect fruit of buddhahood. It is in this way that Shantideva praises the qualities of a healthy sense of self-worth that is the antidote [to pride].[34]
Those who can be considered in a positive sense to be truly proud are the ones who bring to completion their conquest of the afflictions, and thus become a conqueror, able then to fulfill the wishes of all beings.
Cultivating a Sense of Self-Confidence with Regard to the Afflictive Emotions
In this first verse regarding self-confidence in relation to the afflictions, Śāntideva reveals his deep determination not to give in to any afflictive state but instead to stand tall like a lion in the face of whatever comes.
When I am beleaguered by defilements, I will stand and face them in a thousand ways. I’ll not surrender to the host of the afflictions But like a lion I will stand amid a crowd of foxes.
Page(s) 106
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.
ཉོན་མོངས་ཕྱོགས་ཀྱི་ཁྲོད་གནས་ན། །
རྣམ་པ་སྟོང་དུ་སྲན་གཟུགས་ཏེ། ། ཝ་ལ་སོགས་པས་སེང་གེ་བཞིན། །
ཉོན་མོངས་ཚོགས་ཀྱིས་མི་ཚུགས་བྱ། །nyon mongs phyogs kyi khrod gnas na/_/
rnam pa stong du sran gzugs te/_/ wa la sogs pas seng ge bzhin/_/
nyon mongs tshogs kyis mi tshugs bya/_/Khenpo Kunpal provides us with the a detailed explanation of this verse.
When one keeps the company of attractive people, desire will grow; when one is with hateful people, anger develops. When therefore we find ourselves in dangerous situations in which there are abundant stimulants for the afflictions, we should cultivate the antidotes to them with a proportionate intensity and we should stand up to them in a thousand ways. For example, just as a lion cannot be injured by a fox, we should ensure that our minds are proof against the onslaught of the afflictions. It is said that the best practitioners use as the path the very object that gives rise to the afflictions. Average practitioners apply the antidotes and hold their ground. By contrast, practitioners of a more basic capacity must abandon such objects and retreat.[35]
An important point he makes here is that if we are not strong practitioners, then we cannot cope with the onslaught of situations which only strengthen our afflictions. Eventually, we may need to retreat away and completely avoid these situations. But an advanced practitioner can use the objects and situations that give rise to the afflictions. Such a practitioner can not only neutralize them but actually take them onto the path.
In verses 61 and 62 Śāntideva explains how to develop strength in dangerous situations and how to make sure that we remain focused on not being tainted by defilements.
However great may be their peril, People will by reflex guard their eyes. And likewise I, whatever dangers come, Must not fall down beneath defilement’s power.
Page(s) 106
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.
ཉམ་ང་ཆེ་ཐང་བྱུང་གྱུར་ཀྱང་། །
མི་ཡིས་མིག་ནི་བསྲུང་བ་ལྟར། ། དེ་བཞིན་ཉམ་ང་བྱུང་གྱུར་ཀྱང་། །
ཉོན་མོངས་དབང་དུ་མི་འགྱུར་བྱ། །nyam nga che thang byung gyur kyang /_/
mi yis mig ni bsrung ba ltar/_/ de bzhin nyam nga byung gyur kyang /_/
nyon mongs dbang du mi 'gyur bya/_/Better for me to be burned to death, And better to be killed, my head cut off! At no time will I bow and scrape Before that foe of mine, defiled emotion.93This stanza does not appear in the Sanskrit text that is now available to us. Some commentators have, moreover, questioned the authenticity of the half-stanza 62a. It is, however, generally included.
Page(s) 106
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.
བདག་ནི་བསྲེགས་ཏེ་བསད་གྱུར་ཏམ། །
བདག་གི་མགོ་བོ་བཅད་ཀྱང་སླའི། ། རྣམ་པ་ཀུན་ཏུ་ཉོན་མོངས་པའི། །
དགྲ་ལ་འདུད་པར་མི་བྱའོ། །bdag ni bsregs te bsad gyur tam/_/
bdag gi mgo bo bcad kyang sla'i/_/ rnam pa kun tu nyon mongs pa'i/_/
dgra la 'dud par mi bya'o/_/Śāntideva holds to the strongest of resolves—that however difficult things get, whatever happens, even if his life is threatened, he will never allow himself to bow to or be brought under the control of these destructive afflictions.
The Force of Joyfulness
The last of the four forces is the force of joy. Patrul Rinpoche, in his meditation manual on Śāntideva's verses, describes this force.
The force of special joy means practising virtue with joyful enthusiasm, but without any expectation of a positive result, celebrating all the good things that we do.[36]
Verses 63 to 66 deal with this force of joyfulness, especially the importance of working for the sake of others without any thought of a reward.
Like those who take great pleasure in their games, Whatever task the Bodhisattvas do, Let them devote themselves without reserve, With joyfulness that never knows satiety.
Page(s) 106
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.
རྩེད་མོའི་བདེ་འབྲས་འདོད་པ་ལྟར། །
འདི་ཡིས་བྱ་བའི་ལས་གང་ཡིན། ། ལས་དེ་ལ་ནི་ཞེན་བྱ་སྟེ། །
ལས་དེས་མི་ངོམས་དགའ་བར་བྱ། །rtsed mo'i bde 'bras 'dod pa ltar/_/
'di yis bya ba'i las gang yin/_/ las de la ni zhen bya ste/_/
las des mi ngoms dga' bar bya/_/Children at play take pure delight in their games, present in that moment and thinking nothing of future reward. They are aware only of the simple joy of play, which they can never have enough of. Likewise, the bodhisattvas should be intensely engaged in a life lived purely for others, practicing the perfections such as generosity with great joy and never satisfied that they have done enough.
The meaning of the first line of this verse has the connotation of "those who hanker after the joyful results of their games." But in Skilton and Crosby's translation of the root text based on the Sanskrit, it is rendered as "like someone hankering for the pleasure and the fruit of love-play."[37]
Alan and Vesna Wallace, in their translation of the Bodhicaryāvatāra, note that according to Prajñākaramati's Bodhicaryāvatārapañjikā, "'a game' refers to the game of dice, that is, gambling and so forth," and so they would cling to the results of those games, their winnings.[38]
However, commentaries such those by Khenpo Kunpal and Gyaltsap Je explain this verse using the analogy of a child who takes uninterrupted pleasure in play, absorbed in the simple moments of their games, without a care in the world, and thinking nothing of any future result. Likewise, bodhisattvas should devote themselves to the path and have an insatiable wish to be virtuous for the benefit of all sentient beings.
Śāntideva also reminds us of the unreliable nature of ordinary activities and the uncertainty of achieving the desired result and fulfilling the hopes of happiness we have placed in them. As Khenpo Kunpal says, "In a bid for happiness and contentment, worldly people toil strenuously in their work of farming or commerce. But success is very far from certain."[39]
In contrast, the actions of the bodhisattva, based as they are in a deep delight in virtue, are certain to guarantee us both temporary and ultimate happiness. Therefore, Śāntideva asks, who would not immediately engage with that path?
Even though we may have a sincere wish to attain either liberation or the state of complete buddhahood, we still never seem to have enough of what we perceive to be pleasurable samsaric experiences. Yet, Śāntideva warns us that we are mistaken in our estimation of these experiences. Although appearing pleasurable, these worldly things are like licking delicious honey from the edge of a sharp razor blade. The immediate attachment to the pleasure of the taste of the honey is quickly followed by a much greater pain.
And since they never have enough of pleasure, Honey on the razor’s edge, (7.65ab)[40]
Śāntideva chides us with reason, saying that if you can never have enough of short-term worldly pleasure, which will eventually provide you only with pain, then how could you ever have enough of doing meritorious virtue, whose fruits are stable peace and long-term happiness?
How could they have enough of merit, Fruits of which are happiness and peace? (7.65cd)[41]
He urges us to dive headlong into our Dharma practice with the same feeling of relief and enthusiasm that an elephant, baked by the heat of the midday sun, would feel plunging headlong into a cool watering hole.
The elephant, tormented by the noonday sun, Will dive into the waters of a lake, And likewise I must plunge into my work That I might bring it to completion.
Page(s) 106
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་ལས་ཚར་ཕྱིན་བྱའི་ཕྱིར། །
ཉི་མ་ཕྱེད་དུས་གདུངས་པ་ཡི། ། གླང་ཆེན་མཚོ་ཕྲད་མཚོར་འཇུག་ལྟར། །
ལས་དེ་ལ་ཡང་འཇུག་པར་བྱ། །de ltas las tshar phyin bya'i phyir/_/
nyi ma phyed dus gdungs pa yi/_/ glang chen mtsho phrad mtshor 'jug ltar/_/
las de la yang 'jug par bya/_/The Force of Relinquishment
Although the practice of joy in virtue, particularly in the service of others, is essential on the path, Śāntideva recognizes that there are times when it is not possible help others with great intensity, and we may need to take a healthy break.
If impaired by weakness or fatigue, I’ll lay the work aside, the better to resume. And I will leave the task when it’s complete, All avid for the work that’s next to come.
Page(s) 107
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.
སྟོབས་ཉམས་པ་དང་རྗེས་འབྲེལ་ན། །
སླར་བྱའི་དོན་དུ་དོར་བར་བྱ། ། ལེགས་པར་ཟིན་ན་ཕྱི་མ་དང་། །
ཕྱི་མ་འདོད་པས་དེ་སྤང་བྱ། །stobs nyams pa dang rjes 'brel na/_/
slar bya'i don du dor bar bya/_/ legs par zin na phyi ma dang /_/
phyi ma 'dod pas de spang bya/_/The body and mind can get run down. We may be tired and sick, or we may feel discouraged, and it may not be possible to feel that delight. There are times when we need to take a break, and that is the role of the force of relinquishment. It is not an indulgence in laziness but an important component in allowing us to be realistic about our strengths and a practical way of being able to manage our efforts. But the principal factor is that it is only a temporary laying aside of these activities. We are recuperating only to then be more enthusiastic when we get going again.
Patrul Rinpoche explains this force as a response of moderation that helps to prevent us from getting completely worn down.
The force of moderation means to clear away hindrances by resting for a while whenever we are physically tired or disheartened, in order to continue with renewed vigour shortly thereafter.[42]
The Two Strengths
The last verses of chapter 7, from verse 68 until the end, discuss cultivating the two strengths: the strength of earnest practice and the strength of controlling body, speech, and mind. These are two strengths that are said to relate to each other like king and minister respectively, and they assist in helping us carry from strength to strength the diligence which has arisen from applying the four supportive forces. Stated more precisely, they are:
- the strength which is the actual practice of diligence to vanquish mental afflictions, held by mindfulness and conscientiousness, and which is the sincere implementation of the principle of adopting what is required on the path and rejecting what is counter to the path.
- the strength which is the mastery of one's body and mind. This strength means to train ourselves in all disciplines, remembering the advice about conscientiousness, and maintaining control over our own body, speech and mind, making body and mind ready and serviceable for the path ahead.
Patrul Rinpoche gives us a slightly different way of looking at these two strengths, emphasizing the use of mindfulness and vigilance, compared to the way to use conscientiousness.
The force of sincere application means to overcome what is to be abandoned, devoting ourselves to the vanquishing of the disturbing emotions by employing mindfulness and vigilance.
The force of mastery means to train ourselves in all disciplines, remembering the advice about conscientiousness, and maintaining control over our own body, speech and mind.[43]
Verse 75 discusses the second strength of mastery over our own mind and body, and the concluding verse, 76, explains the need for that through example.
By all means, then, before I start some work, That I might have the strength sufficient to the task, I will recall the teachings upon carefulness And lightly rise to what is to be done.
Page(s) 108
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.
ཅི་ནས་ལས་བྱེད་སྔོན་རོལ་ནས། །
ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་ནི་མཐུ་ཡོད་པ། ། དེ་ལྟར་བག་ཡོད་གཏམ་དྲན་ཏེ། །
བདག་ཉིད་ལྡང་བ་ཡང་བར་བྱ། །ci nas las byed sngon rol nas/_/
thams cad la ni mthu yod pa/_/ de ltar bag yod gtam dran te/_/
bdag nyid ldang ba yang bar bya/_/Just as flaxen threads waft to and fro, Impelled by every breath of wind, So all I do will be achieved, Controlled by movements of a joyful heart.
Page(s) 108
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་རླུང་ནི་འགྲོ་བ་དང་། །
འོང་བས་ཤིང་བལ་དབང་བསྒྱུར་བ། ། དེ་བཞིན་སྤྲོ་བས་དབང་བསྒྱུར་ཏེ། །
དེ་ལྟར་ན་ནི་འགྲུབ་པར་འགྱུར། །ji ltar rlung ni 'gro ba dang /_/
'ong bas shing bal dbang sgyur ba/_/ de bzhin spro bas dbang bsgyur te/_/
de ltar na ni 'grub par 'gyur/_/Just as a piece of light cotton is blown here and there at the whim of the wind, likewise, the influence of a mindset which takes real joy in virtue inevitably seeps into the way we think, act, and speak, affecting our own lives and those around us. As the great Geluk master Gyaltsap Je remarks in his own concluding stanza on the seventh chapter:
Earnest practice in the search for meaningful liberation Depends on setting out with diligence, which itself relies on effort To initially start/begin, and once engaged to bring to its conclusion Hence one should generate diligence, complete with the four powers.[44]
As with all situations in our lives, we need something that encourages us to initially take up an activity, but we also need something which sustains us to continue with it and which then helps bring that activity to a complete and successful conclusion. Gyaltsap Je summarizes the chapter by explaining the need for effort at the start and indeed throughout a task in order to bring it to completion. This effort relies on diligence which takes delight in being positive and engaging in virtue, and that diligence must be underpinned by the four forces of aspiration, steadfastness, joy, and temporary relinquishment, which directly counter the causes of our laziness.
Notes
- ↑ 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), 192.
- ↑ 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), 97.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Way of the Bodhisattva, 97.
- ↑ Thomas Doctor, Benjamin Collet-Cassart, and Timothy Hinkle (Dharmachakra Translation Committee), trans., The Application of Mindfulness of the Sacred Dharma, Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna, Toh 287 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024), https://read.84000.co/translation/toh287.html?#UT22084-068-021-355.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Way of the Bodhisattva, 97.
- ↑ Dungkar Rinpoche Lobsang Trinley, An Introduction to the Bodhicaryāvatāra, Spyod 'jug gi gzhung gi ngo sprod (Dharamsala: Sara Tibetan Publishing House), 56.
- ↑ 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), 236.
- ↑ Ngul Chu Thokme 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), 244.
- ↑ Thokme Zangpo, Ocean of Excellent Explanation, 244.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 131.
- ↑ 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), 129.
- ↑ 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?#UT22084-043-007-88.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 241.
- ↑ Thrangu Rinpoche, Shantideva's A Guide, 135.
- ↑ Adam Pearcey, trans., The Brightly Shining Sun, by Patrul Rinpoche (Lotsawa House, 2019), https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/patrul-rinpoche/bodhicharyavatara-brightly-shining-sun.
- ↑ Adrian O'Sullivan, trans., Bodhicaryāvatāra with Commentary (Los Angeles: Dechen Foundation, 2019), 229.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 131.
- ↑ Fedor Stracke, trans., The Entrance for the Children of the Conquerors - A Commentary on the Introduction to the Actions of Bodhisattvas, Chapter Seven: The Way of Training in Enthusiasm, by Gyaltsab Rinpoche (N.p.: Happy Monks Publication, 2016), 18, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/. Note that the pagination starts over for every chapter in Stracke's translation.
- ↑ Pearcey, Brightly Shining Sun, https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/patrul-rinpoche/bodhicharyavatara-brightly-shining-sun.
- ↑ O'Sullivan, Bodhicaryāvatāra with Commentary, 235–36.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 249.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 249.
- ↑ Kate Crosby and Andrew Skilton, trans., The Bodhicaryāvatāra: A Guide to the Buddhist Path to Awakening, by Śāntideva (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), 66.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 250–51.
- ↑ Stracke, Entrance for the Children: Chapter Seven, 25, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 251.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Way of the Bodhisattva, 105.
- ↑ Crosby and Skilton, Bodhicaryāvatāra, 72.
- ↑ Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans., Ornament of the Great Vehicle Sūtras: Maitreya's Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra with Commentaries by Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham (Boston: Snow Lion Publications, 2014), 107.
- ↑ Mark Tatz, trans. The Skill in Means (Upāyakauśalya) Sūtra (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2001), 29.
- ↑ 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), 483.
- ↑ Khenpo Kunga Wangchuk, Commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra, 484–85.
- ↑ Crosby and Skilton, Bodhicaryāvatāra, 72.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 253.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 254.
- ↑ Pearcey, Brightly Shining Sun, https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/patrul-rinpoche/bodhicharyavatara-brightly-shining-sun.
- ↑ Crosby and Skilton, Bodhicaryāvatāra, 73.
- ↑ Vesna Wallace and Alan Wallace, trans., A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life (Bodhicaryāvatāra), by Śāntideva (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 1997), 85n214.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 254.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Way of the Bodhisattva, 106.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Way of the Bodhisattva, 106.
- ↑ Pearcey, Brightly Shining Sun, https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/patrul-rinpoche/bodhicharyavatara-brightly-shining-sun.
- ↑ Pearcey, Brightly Shining Sun, https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/patrul-rinpoche/bodhicharyavatara-brightly-shining-sun. See section titled Cultivating Condusive Factors under the heading The Pāramitā of Diligence.
- ↑ Gyaltsab Darma Rinchen, The Gateway for the Children of the Conquerors: An Extensive Explanation of the Bodhicaryāvatāra, Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa'i rnam bshad rgyal sras 'jug ngogs (Taiwan: Gaden Jangtse Thosam Norling Dratsang, 2007), 335.
