Chapter 2 - Confession of Negativity

Summary

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The understanding and practice of bodhicitta depends on the knowledge of the stories, key concepts, texts, and people associated with it. Explore these various aspects to gain a better understanding of bodhicitta, the desire to seek the ultimate happiness for all sentient beings.

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Concise Summary of Essential Points

Chapter 1 introduces to us to the incredible qualities and vast intent of bodhicitta, the mind wishing to attain complete enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings.

We may feel tremendous appreciation for this incredible altruistic thought for the welfare of all sentient life. Its great depth and profundity may inspire us to begin the process of cultivating that noble mind, but we need to know how to set out on that journey.

The Supreme Worship

In chapters 2 and 3, Śāntideva provides us with a framework within which to begin the journey of cultivating bodhicitta, the seven-limb prayer. This is one form of the ancient Buddhist practice of the supreme worship (annutara pūja), which includes the practices of accumulating merit and purifying the negative actions that we have performed. This practice seems to date back to at least the fourth century CE, and in its shortest form is literally seven lines. The roots of this prayer are found in the Mahāyāna sūtra entitled Samantabhadra's Prayer Called The King of Prayers (Samantabhadracarīpraṇidhānarāja), which makes up the last section of the Gaṇḍavyūha in the Avataṃsakasūtra.

This second chapter contains the first three branches of the supreme worship—the practices of prostration or paying homage, making offerings, and the confession of negative actions. In this chapter Śāntideva also adds the central practice of taking refuge to the traditional seven-limb prayer, to make a total of eight limbs or branches.

The initial part of the chapter, verses 1 to 23, actually starts with the practice of making offerings. We make offerings primarily to the Three Jewels—the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. These offerings include things which we ourselves possess and which we manifestly offer up, but they also include all the beautiful and wonderful things of the whole universe, such as those things of natural beauty, which are not personally owned. Moreover, they also include the virtue that we have performed throughout all of our lives, whether that be our physical, verbal, or mental actions. And these offerings are not limited to that which is physically manifest. It is also considered very positive to imagine many wonderful places, environments, or things which we create in our minds and to offer them up.

There are also verses of homage and prostrations to the Three Jewels. We pay reverence to them for the incredible qualities of wisdom and compassion that they possess.

Refuge

Śāntideva then describes one of the key elements of a Buddhist practitioner’s life, that of taking refuge in the Three Jewels. Refuge is a practice shared by all the Buddhist traditions across the world, although here, in the context of the conduct of a bodhisattva, there is special emphasis on Mahāyāna refuge.

Until the essence of enlightenment is reached, I go for refuge to the Buddhas. Also I take refuge in the Dharma And in all the host of Bodhisattvas.

Verse 2.26

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 41
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.

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བྱང་ཆུབ་སྙིང་པོར་མཆིས་ཀྱི་བར། །

སངས་རྒྱས་རྣམས་ལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི། ། ཆོས་དང་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ་ཡི། །

ཚོགས་ལའང་དེ་བཞིན་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི། །

This means that we take refuge in the Three Jewels as our guides and sources of protection but with the specific purpose of attaining complete enlightenment for the welfare of all. This refuge is maintained until we reach the state of buddhahood. It is not a process of asking for another powerful and omnipotent force to help us out. It is an active process of training one’s own mind. The Buddha very clearly stated that he can only show us the path but that it is up to us to actually walk that path.

Confession of Our Negative Actions

Having oriented ourselves with refuge, we need to create a stable ground on which the qualities and practices can be built.

If we look closely, we may understand how a lot of our lives have been characterized by harmful actions of body, speech, and mind.

We do not need to look any further than this life to see that there are many negative things which we have done, which have either directly or indirectly harmed other sentient beings. At times we have rejoiced in being negative and have even encouraged others to join in. If we bring in the perspective of past lives, then there must be countless actions which we need to feel remorse for and to purify. This is not supposed to make us feel bad about ourselves or cause us to sink into guilt. We are not trying to beat ourselves up but to recognize the reality of who we are and where we are. Confession is not an avoidance of responsibility. Indeed, it is the opposite. We approach all these past negative actions with the goal of letting the bad habits go and moving forward positively. The second half of the chapter, from verse 27 until the end, focuses on the process and sentiment of laying open our actions through confession. We then purify our negative actions through wisdom that understands what we did, and we make a commitment to not repeat the same mistakes. This is done in a formal way through the four antidotal forces or strengths, such as the force of regretting what one has done wrong, which are explained more fully in the introductory essay.

Avoiding Laziness

Even though we may be inspired by the spirit of bodhicitta and now have the tools at our disposal to start building a solid foundation for our Dharma practice, it is easy for us to get sidetracked or to lose sight of our long-term goals.

We may easily become lazy and drawn into the byways of distraction. To counteract this, Śāntideva forcefully points out to us that we cannot wait for tomorrow. Verses 32 to 45 provide us with powerful reminders of how everything, including our own lives, is momentary, in a state of constant flux.

We cannot trust the wanton Lord of Death. The task complete or still to do, he will not wait. In health or sickness, therefore, none of us can trust Our fleeting, momentary lives.

Verse 2.33

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 42
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.

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[ tib / wyl ]

ཡིད་བརྟན་མི་རུང་འཆི་བདག་འདི། །

བྱས་དང་མ་བྱས་མི་སྡོད་པས། ། ན་དང་མི་ན་ཀུན་གྱིས་ཀྱང་། །

གློ་བུར་ཚེ་ལ་ཡིད་མི་བརྟན། །

We, as individuals, those for whom we engaged in negative actions, and those who we harmed in the process will all eventually pass. Death will not wait for us to finish all that we have planned, and nothing but our Dharma practice can help us at the time of death.

These verses are there to inspire us to ensure we do not pass away with so much negativity left unresolved. We will carry forward the effects of those actions imprinted on our mental continuums, and in the future we may be born in realms of great suffering. There is no way to avoid the unwanted and painful results of these negative actions if we cannot overcome them.

Understanding the fragility of our situation, we are encouraged to confess everything right away and to rid ourselves of all our destructive habits.

The remaining verses, from verse 54 until the end of the chapter, relate an essential part of the confession process—that is, to regret what we have done and to promise to restrain ourselves from ever doing it again. There must be some commitment moving forward, a real positive sense of change of direction. Without this sincere commitment, the process of purification will not be complete.

Additional resources

Learn About Śāntideva's Texts

Bodhicaryāvatāra
The Way of the Bodhisattva

The Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra is considered to be one of the most influential Buddhist classical writings. Combining highly inspirational exhortations and incisive philosophical arguments in an evocative poetic language, the book, it is safe to claim, has shaped the lives of millions throughout the centuries.

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Śikṣāsamuccaya
The Compendium of Training

The Compendium of Training is an anthology of excerpts from the Mahāyāna sūtras that discusses the bodhisattva path and principles in much greater length and detail.

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Recommended Texts Related to Chapter 2

Triskandhakasūtra

The Three Heap Sūtra (Skt. Trīskhandhadharmasūtra; Wyl. phung po gsum pa'i mdo) is a Mahāyāna confession sutra with homage to the thirty-five buddhas of confession, confession, and dedication. The sūtra is used in the purification of transgressions and downfalls of the bodhisattva vows. The General Confession prayer is used in the purification of transgressions of the prātimokṣa, bodhisattva vows, and the commitments of the Vajrayāna. The Three Heap Sūtra and General Confession can be recited on their own or combined. (Source Accessed Feb 26, 2026)

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Ratnolkādhāraṇīsūtra

The Dhāraṇī of the Jewel Torch starts with a profound conversation between the Buddha and the bodhisattvas Samantabhadra and Mañjuśrī on the nature of the dharmadhātu, buddhahood, and emptiness. The bodhisattva Dharmamati then enters the meditative absorption called the infinite application of the bodhisattva's jewel torch and, at the behest of the millions of buddhas who have blessed him, emerges from it to teach how bodhisattvas arise from the presence of a tathāgata and progress to the state of omniscience. Following Dharmamati's detailed exposition of the "ten categories" or progressive stages of a bodhisattva, the Buddha briefly teaches the mantra of the dhāraṇī and then, for most of the remainder of the text, encourages bodhisattvas in a long versified passage in which he recounts teachings by a bodhisattva called Bhadraśrī on the qualities of bodhisattvas and buddhas. Some verses from this passage on the virtues of faith have been widely quoted in both India and Tibet. (Source: 84000)

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Rājāvavādakasūtra

Sutra of Advice to the King (Skt. Rājāvavādakasūtra; Tib. འཕགས་པ་རྒྱལ་པོ་ལ་དམས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།, Wyl. 'phags pa rgyal po la gdams pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo) — The main topic of this sutra is impermanence. (Source: Rigpawiki)

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Ākāśagarbhasūtra

While the Buddha is dwelling on Khalatika Mountain with his retinue, an amazing display of light appears, brought about by the bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha’s liberating activities. As he joins the gathering, Ākāśagarbha manifests another extraordinary display, and the Buddha, praising his inconceivable accomplishments and activities, explains how to invoke his blessings. He sets out the fundamental transgressions of rulers, ministers, śrāvakas, and beginner bodhisattvas, and, after explaining in detail how to conduct the rituals of purification, encourages those who have committed such transgressions to turn to Ākāśagarbha. When people pray to Ākāśagarbha, Ākāśagarbha adapts his manifestations to suit their needs, appearing to them while they are awake, in their dreams, or at the time of their death. In this way, Ākāśagarbha gradually leads them all along the path, helping them to purify their negative deeds, relieve their sufferings, fulfill their wishes, and eventually attain perfect enlightenment. (Source: 84000)

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Bhadracaryāpraṇidhānarāja

Bhadracarīpranidhāna. (T. Bzang po spyod pa'i smon lam; C. Puxian pusa xingyuan zan; J. Fugen bosatsu gyōgansan; K. Pohyǒn posal haengwǒn ch'an 普賢菩薩行願讚). In Sanskrit, "Vows of Good Conduct," the last section of the Gaṇḍavyūha in the Avataṃsakasūtra and one of the most beloved texts in all of Mahāyāna Buddhism; also known as the Samantabhadracarīpraṇidhānarāja. The Bhadracarīpraṇidhāna focuses on the ten great vows (praṇidhāna) taken by Samantabhadra to realize and gain access to the dharmadhātu, which thereby enable him to benefit sentient beings. The ten vows are: (1) to pay homage to all the buddhas, (2) to praise the tathāgatas, (3) to make unlimited offerings, (4) to repent from one's transgressions in order to remove karmic hindrances (cf. karmāvaraṇa), (5) to take delight in others' merit, (6) to request the buddhas to turn the wheel of dharma (dharmacakrapravartana), (7) to request the buddhas to continue living in the world, (8) always to follow the teachings of the Buddha, (9) always to comply with the needs of sentient beings, and (10) to transfer all merit to sentient beings for their spiritual edification. The text ends with a stanza wishing that sentient beings still immersed in evil be reborn in the Pure Land of Amitābha. The text was translated into Chinese in 754 by Amoghavajra (705–774). Other Chinese recensions appear in the Wenshushili fayuan jing ("Scripture on the Vows made by Mañjuśrī"), translated in 420 by Buddhabhadra (359–429), which corresponds to the verse section from Ru busiyi jietuo jingjie Puxian xingyuan pin, the last roll of the forty-roll recension of the Huayan jing translated by Prajña in 798. (There is no corresponding version in either the sixty- or the eighty-roll translations of the Huajan jing.) The verses are also called the "Précis of the Huayan jing (Lüe Huayan jing), because they are believed to constitute the core teachings of the Avataṃsakasūtra. In the main Chinese recension by Amoghavajra, the text consists of sixty-two stanzas, each consisting of quatrains with lines seven Sinographs in length, thus giving a total number of 1,736 Sinographs. In addition to the sixty-two core stanzas, Amoghavajra's version adds ten more stanzas of the Bada pusa zan ("Eulogy to the Eight Great Bodhisattvas") from the Badapusa mantuluo jing ("Scripture of the Maṇḍalas of the Eight Great Bodhisattvas") . . . Buddhabhadra's version consists of forty-four stanzas with 880 Sinographs, each stanza consisting of a quatrain with lines five Sinographs in length. Prajña's version contains fifty-two stanzas with each quatrain consisting of lines seven Sinographs in length. There are five commentaries on the text attributed to eminent Indian exegetes, including Nāgārjuna, Dignāga, and Vasubandhu, which are extant only in Tibetan translation. In the Tibetan tradition, the prayer is called the "king of prayers" (smon lam gyi rgyal po). It is incorporated into many liturgies; the opening verses of the prayer are commonly incorporated into a Tibetan's daily recitation. (Source: "Bhadracarīpraṇidhāna." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 106. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)

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Caturdharmakasūtra

In this short sūtra the Buddha explains that throughout one’s life there are four beliefs one should not hold: (1) that there is pleasure to be found among women, (2) or at the royal court; (3) that happiness can be ensured by depending on health and attractiveness, (4) or on wealth and material possessions. (Source: 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha)

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Prātimokṣasūtra

Prātimokṣasūtra. (T. So sor thar pa'i mdo; C. Jie ben; J. Kaihon; K. Kye pon 根本). In Sanskrit, "Sūtra on the Code," a scripture that provides a separate listing of the code of conduct and monastic rules (prātimokṣa) for monks (bhikṣu) and for nuns (bhikṣunī). Several of the mainstream Buddhist schools, including the Mahāsāṃghika and Mūlasarvāstivāda schools, had a separate text, called the Pratimokṣasūtra, that listed the prātimokṣa rules for monks and for nuns. There is no such separate text in the Theravāda school, where the pāṭimokkha is included in the suttavibhaṅga, the first major section of the Pāli Vinayapiṭaka, which includes the mahāvibhaṅga with the rules for monks and the bhikkunīvibhaṅga with the rules for nuns. (Source: "Prātimokṣasūtra." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 667. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)

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Recommended Books Related to Chapter 2

The Confession of Downfalls

The Confession of Downfalls contains translations along with extensive commentaries to the two main sutra and tantra practices of mental purification in Tibetan Buddhism, the Sutra of Three Heaps and the visualization and mantra recitation of Vajrasattva. The commentaries include excerpts from a śāstra by the Indian master Nāgārjuna to the Sūtra of Three Heaps and both practices are supplemented by verbally transmitted commentaries from the Tibetan lamas Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, Geshe Rabten, Tubten Zopa Rinpoche, and Gegen Kyentse. (Source Accessed Feb 23, 2026)

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Maintaining the Bodhisattva Vow and the Bodhicitta Precepts

Lodrö, Lama. Maintaining the Bodhisattva Vow and the Bodhicitta Precepts. San Francisco: KDK Publications, 1984.

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Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life: An Oral Explanation of Chapter 1

This book contains a lightly edited transcript of Kyabje Gelek Rinpoche's oral explanations of Chapter One of Shantideva's Bodhisattvacharyavatara, A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life. Rinpoche gave these teachings as a series on Tuesday nights in Ann Arbor, Michigan, from May to October 1996. . . .

The English translation Rinpoche uses throughout is that by Stephen Batchelor, published by the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives. Since Rinpoche frequently makes reference to Tibetan words and phrasing, the Tibetan translation of the Sanskrit original is included in Wylie transliteration in Appendix I.

Appendices II to IV consist of material presented during the period of these teachings that was not strictly a part of the oral explanation of the Bodhisattvacharyavatara, yet may be of interest to the reader. They include a discussion by Rinpoche of the Seven-Limb Practice, and a Dharma talk by Kyabje Rilbur Rinpoche, one of Gelek Rinpoche's own teachers.

Rinpoche did not introduce a traditional outline in giving this teaching. For those interested, an outline of this sort may be found in Geshe Kelsang Gyatso's Meaningful to Behold. The headings and subheadings in this present volume have been added by the editor for ease of reference, and to help delineate changes of topic. Footnotes and a glossary provide some background information; the first use of each term mentioned in the glossary is printed in bold.

The transcription of these teachings from tapes was done by Hartmut Sagolla, who has spent countless hours transcribing a great number of Rinpoche's teachings. Much editorial advice and support was given by Marianne Soeters, to whom all Jewel Heart owes a debt of gratitude for the efforts she has put in as editor to make transcripts of Rinpoche's teachings available in useful form. Marianne also provided the glossaries from which most of the entries in the glossary in this volume were drawn. (Anne Warren, acknowledgements, i-iii)

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Everlasting Rain of Nectar

In Purification in Tibetan Buddhism, Geshe Jampa Gyatso explains The Bodhisattva’s Confession of Downfalls, a daily practice for purifying negativities. This essential practice helps us to clear negative thoughts and actions from our body, speech, and mind. In his delightfully conversational manner, Geshe Jampa teaches us the details of the law of cause and effect, the powerful use of the four opponent powers, and the proper manner and movements of prostrating, and provides clear descriptions of each of the thirty-five confession buddhas. (Source: Wisdom Publications)

Book

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Chapter 2 Topics Page

A complete list of sources related to Bodhicaryāvatāra chapter 2

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Key Terms for Chapter 2

Bodhicitta

The altruistic thought to seek enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. It is said to have two aspects: compassion aimed at sentient beings and their problems and the wisdom of enlightenment as the solution.

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Abhidharma

Abhidharma generally refers to the corpus of Buddhist texts which deals with the typological, phenomenological, metaphysical, and epistemological presentation of Buddhist concepts and teachings. The abhidharma teachings present a meta-knowledge of Buddhist sūtras through analytical and systemic schemas and are said to focus on developing wisdom among the three principles of training. The Abhidharma is presented alongside Sūtra and Vinaya as one of the three baskets of the teachings of the Buddha.

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Chapter 2 - Confession of Negativity

Contents

Concise Summary of Essential Points

The Supreme Worship

Refuge

Confession of Our Negative Actions

Avoiding Laziness

Additional resources

Learn About Śāntideva's Texts

Recommended Texts Related to Chapter 2

Recommended Books Related to Chapter 2

Recommended Articles Related to Chapter 2

Recommended Videos Related to Chapter 2

Explore All Resources Related to Chapter 2

Key Terms for Chapter 2

Bodhicitta

Abhidharma

Notes