Chapter 5 - Vigilant Introspection

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Concise Summary of Essential Points

In chapter 5 Śāntideva continues the flow of the text that was taken up in chapter 4 and that continues on to chapter 6. These chapters cover the second major section of the whole text, which includes the practices and contemplations that help us prevent the bodhicitta that we have given rise to from weakening and declining. From chapter 4 onward, Śāntideva also introduces the six perfections, or pāramitās, which are an integral part of the Mahāyāna path to complete enlightenment.

The second of the perfections, ethical discipline, is required to maintain this mind of enlightenment, and chapters 4 and 5 provide us with mental tools to guard and enhance this practice. These mental factors are conscientiousness (apramādha), mindfulness (smṛtiḥ), and vigilant introspection (saṃprajanyam).

Conscientiousness was covered extensively in chapter 4, and chapter 5 now explains how to cultivate mindfulness and vigilant introspection.

Mindfulness

In this modern world there is so much talk about mindfulness as a life-enhancing as well as a spiritual tool, and there are many explanations as to what mindfulness is and how to cultivate it. Here, in the Buddhist context, mindfulness is a mental factor that functions to hold the mind to its object, preventing the mind from forgetting its object or straying away from its object.

But Śāntideva also adds another context to the practice of mindfulness. He argues that it is not just mindfulness of any kind of object but mindfulness of the actions that are to be implemented and those that are to be avoided when following the Mahāyāna path.

Vigilant Introspection

The other guardian of the mind that is discussed in this chapter is vigilant introspection, also translated as alertness, mental introspection, or watchfulness. Vigilant introspection is the repeated examination in all situations of our physical, verbal, and mental behavior, and the conscious implementation of those factors that are required on the path, while turning away from what is to be avoided.

There is an analogy that is commonly used to describe the relationship between these two crucial mental factors: mindfulness is like a rope which secures a sheep in place, whereas vigilant introspection is like the shepherd who watches the sheep to ensure that it does not break free from the rope and get away. Mindfulness holds our minds focused on the focal object of meditation, and vigilance continually checks to see if the mind has strayed from and forgotten that object. We will not be able to maintain these trainings on the bodhisattva path if we do not protect our minds. Therefore, Śāntideva reminds us, we must continually guard our minds.

Those who wish to keep the trainings Must with perfect self-possession guard their minds. Without this guard upon the mind, The trainings cannot be preserved.

Verse 5.1

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 61
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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༈ བསླབ་པ་བསྲུང་བར་འདོད་པ་ཡིས། །

རབ་ཏུ་བསྒྲིམས་ནས་སེམས་བསྲུང་སྟེ། ། སེམས་འདི་བསྲུང་བར་མ་བྱས་ན། །

བསླབ་པ་བསྲུང་བར་ཡོང་མི་ནུས། །

With these positive mental supports helping us to protect our minds, we can effectively engage in the trainings. Awareness of all that is happening for us mentally allows us to guard our minds in the most effective way.

All Harm and Virtue Arise from the Mind

In the early verses of the chapter, Śāntideva explains to us how all harm arises from the mind and how all virtue, too, arises from the mind, and he therefore points out the fundamental need to gain some control over our minds. As always, he likes to take a practical approach to the development of our spiritual life.

In the explanation of how all virtue arises from the mind, he goes through each of the perfections, explicitly explaining how they arise from the mind, and at the same time implicitly explaining how mindfulness and vigilant introspection are required to help us do this.

In relation to the practice of patience in counteracting our anger, he points out that it is not feasible to believe we can control all the external situations of our lives and the goings-on of the world. There is no possibility for us to find a place away from all adverse circumstances, a place that can be guaranteed to be free from the harm of others. Similarly, we cannot do away with all the objects of our anger and aversion.

In some famous lines from this chapter, Śāntideva draws a striking analogy to this by saying that it is not possible to find enough leather to cover the entire world so that our feet would not be harmed by rocks or thorns. However, he reminds us, if we are able to find enough leather to cover the soles of our feet, which it is possible to do, then exactly the same purpose will be achieved.

To cover all the earth with sheets of leather— Where could such amounts of skin be found? But with the leather soles of just my shoes It is as though I cover all the earth!

Verse 5.13

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 63
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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ས་སྟེང་འདི་དག་ཀོས་གཡོག་ཏུ། །

དེ་སྙེད་ཀོ་བས་ག་ལ་ལང་། ། ལྷམ་མཐིལ་ཙམ་གྱི་ཀོ་བས་ནི། །

ས་སྟེང་ཐམས་ཅད་གཡོགས་དང་འདྲ། །

Similarly, he argues, even though we are not able to avoid every single external source of harm to ourselves, we can restrain the internal enemies of the afflictive emotions, in this case anger.

And thus the outer course of things I myself cannot restrain. But let me just restrain my mind, And what is left to be restrained?

Verse 5.14

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 63
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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དེ་བཞིན་ཕྱི་རོལ་དངོས་པོ་ཡང་། །

བདག་གིས་ཕྱིར་བཟློག་མི་ལང་གི ། བདག་གི་སེམས་འདི་ཕྱིར་བཟློག་བྱའི། །

གཞན་རྣམས་བཟློག་གོ་ཅི་ཞིག་[p.34]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.

དགོས། །

And therefore, he argues, once we are able to conquer these internal foes, there will be no further need to subdue the external enemies. Irritating situations and harmful people will no longer appear to us that way once we are able to subdue these internal demons. This is all achieved with the help of the tools of mindfulness and vigilant introspection.

The Need to Keep Watch over the Mind

In the main body of the chapter, Śāntideva explains to us the need to understand the importance of watching over our minds, which these new mental tools can help us to achieve.

When mindfulness is stationed as a sentinel, A guard upon the threshold of the mind, Introspection will be likewise there, Returning when forgotten or dispersed.

Verse 5.33

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 66
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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གང་ཚེ་དྲན་པ་ཡིད་སྒོ་ནས། །

བསྲུང་བའི་དོན་དུ་གནས་གྱུར་པ། ། དེ་ཚེ་ཤེས་བཞིན་འོང་འགྱུར་ཞིང་། །

སོང་བ་དག་ཀྱང་ཕྱིར་འོང་འགྱུར། །

He urges us to station mindfulness as a guard at the gate of our minds, alert to the arising of any afflictions, and he explains that with that mindfulness, vigilant introspection will also naturally arise. Vigilant introspection is aware of the conduct of our body, speech, and mind, constantly identifying what we are doing by thinking, "My body is acting in this way. I am speaking in this way. I am thinking in this way." It may be that mindfulness and vigilant introspection will get distracted or decline, but with practice we can easily return our minds to a state of awareness.

Śāntideva reminds us that we must constantly examine our motivation in every situation. When we are going to do anything, whether physical, verbal, or mental, we must first contemplate whether we need to do it or not and whether it has a positive purpose. If there is no purpose, or if it may harm others, we must refrain from that action. And once we have started something, from time to time we should stop and reflect, "Should I be doing this? Is my motivation pure or not?"

Summary of the Chapter

In summarizing the chapter, Śāntideva offers us a clear understanding of what it means to maintain a state of vigilant introspection. It is, he explains, the repeated examination of our deeds, words, and thoughts to see whether they are positive or negative, beneficial or harmful.

Examining again and yet again The state and actions of your body and your mind— This alone defines in brief The maintenance of watchful introspection.

Verse 5.108

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 76
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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ལུས་དང་སེམས་ཀྱི་གནས་སྐབས་ལ། །

ཡང་དང་ཡང་དུ་བརྟག་བྱ་བ། ། དེ་ཉིད་ཁོ་ན་མདོར་ན་ནི། །

ཤེས་བཞིན་བསྲུང་བའི་མཚན་ཉིད་དོ། །

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 5

Gaṇḍavyūhasūtra

In this lengthy final chapter of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, while the Buddha Śākyamuni is in meditation in Śrāvastī, Mañjuśrī leaves for South India, where he meets the young layman Sudhana and instructs him to go to a certain kalyāṇamitra or "good friend," who then directs Sudhana to another such friend. In this way, Sudhana successively meets and receives teachings from fifty male and female, child and adult, human and divine, and monastic and lay kalyāṇamitras, including night goddesses surrounding the Buddha and the Buddha’s wife and mother. The final three in the succession of kalyāṇamitras are the three bodhisattvas Maitreya, Mañjuśrī, and Samantabhadra. Samantabhadra’s recitation of the Samantabhadracaryāpraṇidhāna ("The Prayer for Completely Good Conduct") concludes the sūtra. (Source: 84000)

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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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Akṣayamatinirdeśasūtra

The bodhisatva Akṣayamati arrives in our world from the buddha field of the buddha Samantabhadra. In response to Śāriputra's questions, Akṣayamati gives a discourse on the subject of imperishability. In all, Akṣayamati explains that there are eighty different aspects of the Dharma that are imperishable. When he has given this explanation, the Buddha praises it and declares it worthy of being spread by the countless bodhisatvas gathered there to listen. (Source: 84000)

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Saddharmasmṛtyupasthānasūtra

While on the way to Rājagṛha to collect alms, a group of newly ordained monks are approached by some non-Buddhists, who suggest that their doctrine is identical to that of the Buddha, since everyone agrees that misdeeds of body, speech, and mind are to be given up. The monks do not know how to reply, and when they later return to the brahmin town of Nālati, where the Buddha is residing, Śāradvatīputra therefore encourages them to seek clarification from the Blessed One himself. In response to the monks’ request, the Buddha delivers a comprehensive discourse on the effects of virtuous and unvirtuous actions, explaining these matters from the perspective of an adept practitioner of his teachings, who sees and understands all this through a process of personal discovery. As the teaching progresses, the Buddha presents an epic tour of the realm of desire—from the Hell of Ultimate Torment to the Heaven Free from Strife—all the while introducing the specific human actions and attitudes that cause the experience of such worlds and outlining the ways to remedy and transcend them. In the final section of the sūtra, which is presented as an individual scripture on its own, the focus is on mindfulness of the body and the ripening of karmic actions that is experienced among humans in particular. (Source: 84000)

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Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra

Pitāputrasamāgamasūtra. (T. Yab dang sras mjal ba'i mdo; C. Pusa jianshi jing/Fuzi heji jing; J. Bosatsu kenjitsukyō/Fushi gōjūkyō; K. Posal kyǒnsil kyǒng/Puja hapchip kyǒng 菩薩見實會/父子合集經. In Sanskrit, "Sūtra on the Meeting of Father and Son," a Mahāyāna scripture found in the Ratnakūṭasūtra, often cited in Madhyamaka texts, especially for its expositions of emptiness (śūnyatā) and the two truths (satyadvaya). It is quoted in such famous works as Nāgārjuna's Sūtrasamuccaya and Śāntideva's Śikṣāsamuccaya. The Pitāputrasamāgamasūtra was translated into Chinese by Rajendrayaśas in 568 as the Pusa jianshi jing and was included in the massive Dabaoji jing (Ratnakūṭasūtra) compilation. It was subsequently retranslated in the eleventh century by Richeng and others as the Fuzi heji jing. (Source: "Pitāputrasamāgamasūtra." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 646–47. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)

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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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Sāgaramatiparipṛcchāsūtra

This sūtra details the story of the bodhisattva Sāgaramati and his questioning of the Buddha. A couple of the Buddha's responses to the bodhisattva are quoted at length in the Ratnagotravibhāga, which explain how bodhisattvas utilize the afflictions to anchor them to saṃsāra in order to benefit sentient beings. However, since the afflictions are merely adventitious, these bodhisattvas are not affected by them and they are, likewise, able to mature sentient beings who can also be cleansed of these adventitious afflictions to reveal the innate purity of the mind.

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Recommended Books Related to Chapter 5

Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way Of Life: An Oral Explanation of Chapter 5

This book is a moderately edited transcript of oral explanations given by Kyabje Gelek Rimpoche on Chapter Five of Shantideva's Bodhisattvacharyavatara, A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life. Rimpoche gave these teachings on Tuesday nights in Ann Arbor, Michigan, from June 1999 through April 2000. . . .

Throughout this transcript, Rimpoche uses the English translation 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 II.

Rinpoche did not introduce a traditional extensive 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, subheadings, and footnotes in this present volume have been added by the editor for ease of reference, and to help delineate changes of topic. A brief bibliography is included. For a glossary, see the transcript on Chapters One through Three previous in this series.

The transcriptions of these teachings from recordings was done by Hartmut Sagolla. (Anne Warren, acknowledgements, i–ii)

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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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Bibliography: Works on Chapter 5 - Vigilant Introspection

Chapter 5 - Vigilant Introspection

Contents

Concise Summary of Essential Points

Mindfulness

Vigilant Introspection

All Harm and Virtue Arise from the Mind

The Need to Keep Watch over the Mind

Summary of the Chapter

Additional resources

Learn About Śāntideva's Texts

Recommended Texts Related to Chapter 5

Recommended Books Related to Chapter 5

Recommended Articles Related to Chapter 5

Notes

Notes

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Explore All Resources Related to Chapter 5

Key Terms for Chapter 5

Bodhicitta

Abhidharma

Notes

Bibliography: Works on Chapter 5 - Vigilant Introspection