The Bodhisattva and the Ideal of Moral Wisdom in Śāntideva's Śikṣāsamuccaya

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The Bodhisattva and the Ideal of Moral Wisdom in Śāntideva's Śikṣāsamuccaya
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Abstract

In the Śikṣāsamuccaya Śāntideva, a Mādhyamika philosopher of the early eighth century A.D., builds upon the philosophy of śūnyatā (emptiness) to demonstrate its practical implications in religious life. In his portrayal of the Bodhisattva Śāntideva focuses on this religious hero's ascent from imperfection toward the realisation of prajñāpāramitā, the perfection of wisdom. Wisdom, philosophically the end of all false ideas about reality, in the sphere of behaviour is an ethical ideal characterised by compassion and altruism. The Bodhisattva is one who has mastered wisdom and whose conduct is permeated with this ethical ideal. Śāntideva's presentation of the Bodhisattva is not limited to the ideal, but also explores the many levels of achievement through which an aspiring novice-Bodhisattva must progress toward fulfilment of the ideal. Though Śāntideva refers to certain levels in a Bodhisattva's development and to certain turning points in his career these factors as presented in the Śikṣā do not explain how Śāntideva understands the novice-Bodhisattva in terms of the ideal. The concept of bodhicitta, the thought of enlightenment which all Bodhisattvas possess, parallels in its development with the Bodhisattva's development, and as a possible equivalent to wisdom itself serves to link the imperfect to the ideal. Śāntideva's use of comparison between the imperfect and the ideal suggests that his presentation of the Bodhisattva is designed to encourage novice-Bodhisattvas to strive for perfection. The themes of teaching, example, and purpose indicate that Śāntideva's understanding of the Bodhisattva and wisdom involves the idea of the Bodhisattva's function, as the link through which the ideal of moral perfection and wisdom has effect in the imperfect world.

Citation
Bastien, Leigh Ann. "The Bodhisattva and the Ideal of Moral Wisdom in Śāntideva's Śikṣāsamuccaya." MA thesis, McMaster University, 1982. https://macsphere.mcmaster.ca/bitstream/11375/10591/1/fulltext.pdf.
Table of contents
  • ABSTRACTiii
  • ACKNOWLEDGEMENTv
  • INTRODUCTION1
  • CHAPTER ONE: MORAL WISDOM3
    • The Ethics of Wisdom3
    • The Purpose: Collective Enlightenment17
    • Practice25
    • The Importance of Perfection30
  • CHAPTER TWO: THE BODHISATTVA35
    • Types of Bodhisattvas36
    • The Ideal Bodhisattva36
    • The Novice-Bodhisattva40
    • The Fallen Novice-Bodhisattva45
    • Levels of Development48
    • Turning Points in the Career56
    • Conversion56
    • The Vow61
    • Irreversibility63
  • CHAPTER THREE: BODHICITTA69
    • What is Bodhicitta?69
    • Śāntideva's Ideas about Bodhicitta75
    • Bodhicitta and Enlightenment80
  • CHAPTER FOUR: THE FUNCTION OF THE BODHISATTVA83
    • Comparisons83
    • Teaching and Example88
    • Purpose and Function92
  • CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSIONS94
    • Ethics and Philosophical Framework94
    • The Bodhisattva and the Ordinary Person98
  • BIBLIOGRAPHY102
Interconnections
1 Scholarship on
Classical WorksAbout this item
Śikṣāsamuccaya (T. Bslab pa kun las btus pa; C. Dasheng ji pusa xue lun; J. Daijōjū bosatsugakuron; K. Taesǔng chip posal hak non 大乘集菩薩學論). In Sanskrit, "Compendium of Training," a work by the eighth-century Indian Mahāyāna master Śāntideva. It consists of twenty-seven stanzas on the motivation and practice of the bodhisattva, including bodhicitta, the six perfections (pāramitā), the worship of buddhas and bodhisattvas, the benefits of renunciation, and the peace derived from the knowledge of emptiness (śūnyatā). The topic of each of the stanzas receives elaboration in the form of a prose commentary by the author as well as in illustrative passages, often quite extensive, drawn from a wide variety of Mahāyāna sūtras. Some ninety-seven texts are cited in all, many of which have been lost in their original Sanskrit, making the Śikṣāsamuccaya an especially important source for the textual history of Indian Buddhism. These citations also offer a window into which sūtras were known to a Mahāyāna author in eighth-century India. The digest of passages that Śāntideva provides was repeatedly drawn upon by Tibetan authors in their citations of sūtras. Although Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra and Śikṣāsamuccaya both deal with similar topics, the precise relation between the two texts is unclear. Several of the author's verses appear in both texts and some of the sūtra passages from the Śikṣāsamuccaya also appear in the Bodhicaryāvatāra. One passage in the Bodhicaryāvatāra also refers readers to the Śikṣāsamuccaya, but this line does not occur in the Dunhuang manuscript of the text and may be a later interpolation. (Source: "Śikṣāsamuccaya." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 821. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)