Cultivating Wisdom

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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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In the ninth chapter of the Bodhicaryāvatāra, Śāntideva gives a thorough primer on the view of the Middle Way philosophy and its style of reasoned argumentation against what it deems to be lower or flawed positions. Known simply as the Wisdom Chapter, Prajñāpariccheda (shes rab le'u), this is by far the most famous, yet contentious, chapter of the treatise, and the extensive commentarial literature it spawned became the source of numerous debates in the Tibetan tradition.

When something and its nonexistence Both are absent from before the mind, No other option does the latter have: It comes to perfect rest, from concepts free.

Verse 9.34

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 142
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་དངོས་དང་དངོས་མེད་དག །

བློ་ཡི་མདུན་ན་མི་གནས་པ། ། དེ་ཚེ་རྣམ་པ་གཞན་མེད་པས། །

དམིགས་པ་མེད་པ་རབ་ཏུ་ཞི། །

While Śāntideva's poem about the bodhisattva path is often praised for the accessibility of his writing style, the inspiring beauty of his prose, as well as the practicality of his instructions, the text itself is not always easy to understand. Among the more challenging aspects of the text, the Wisdom Chapter of the Bodhicaryāvatāra stands out for being nearly impenetrable without reliance on one of the many commentaries to the chapter. However, even in these works interpretations can vary widely. As Douglas Duckworth explains,

The ninth chapter of the Way of the Bodhisattva, the Wisdom Chapter, is notoriously difficult, given that it is often cryptic and truncated, and it presumes knowledge of many Buddhist and non-Buddhist systems. It also propounds the view of emptiness and describes emptiness and interdependence as the metaphysical basis of ethics. The ninth chapter is also where we see pronounced differences in the interpretation of the text, as different commentaries on the other chapters for the most part accord with one another.

~ The Profound Reality of Interdependence (7)

Śāntideva spends much of the Wisdom Chapter engaged in a sort of mock debate with the various philosophies of ancient India. In terms of non-Buddhist Indian philosophical systems, the Samkhya is his most frequent target, though he also addresses the views of the Naiyayika, Vaiśeśika, and the Carvaka.

Middle Way school

The Middle Way school is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. A proponent of the Madhyamaka philosophy is known as a Mādhyamika.

term page

As for the four main Buddhist tenet systems, these are divided by vehicle (yāna), thus there are the two Śrāvaka Schools, Vaibhaśika (Particularists) and Sautrāntika (Followers of Sūtra) and the two Mahāyāna Schools Cittamatra (Mind Only) and Madhyamaka (Middle Way), the last of which is of course Śāntideva's own tradition and the perspective from which he sets out to refute all the others.

Furthermore, Śāntideva employs a style of reasoning and argumentation that is typical of the Middle Way school. Often characterized as reductio ad absurdum, this type of analysis aims to deconstruct the positions of opposing schools by demonstrating their untenability when followed to their logical conclusions. The following verses are some prime examples.

These parts themselves will break down into particles, And particles divide according to direction. These fragments, too, lack partless parts; they are like space. Thus even particles have no existence.

Verse 9.86

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 149
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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ཆ་ཡང་རྡུལ་དུ་ཕྱེ་བས་ཏེ། །

རྡུལ་དེའང་ཕྱོགས་ཆའི་དབྱེ་བ་ཡིས། ། ཕྱོགས་དབྱེའང་ཆ་ཤས་དང་བྲལ་ཕྱིར། །

མཁའ་བཞིན་དེས་ན་རྡུལ་ཡང་མེད། །

If between the sense power and a thing There is a space, how will the two terms meet? And if there is no space, they form a unity, And therefore what is it that meets with what?

Verse 9.93

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 150
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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གལ་ཏེ་དབང་དོན་བར་བཅས་ན། །

དེ་དག་གང་དུ་འཕྲད་པར་འགྱུར། ། བར་མེད་ན་ཡང་གཅིག་ཉིད་དེ། །

གང་ཞིག་གང་དང་ཕྲད་པར་འགྱུར། །

Since there is no subject for sensation, And sensation, too, lacks all existence, How is craving not arrested When all this is clearly understood?

Verse 9.98

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 151
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་ཚོར་པོ་འགའ་* ཚོར་བ་འགའ་ in the source text. མེད་ཅིང་། །

ཚོར་བའང་ཡོད་པ་མ་ཡིན་པ། ། དེ་ཚེ་གནས་སྐབས་འདི་མཐོང་ནས། །

སྲེད་པ་ཅི་ཕྱིར་ལྡོག་མི་འགྱུར། །

The mind within the senses does not dwell, It has no place in outer things like form. And in between, the mind does not abide: Not out, not in, not elsewhere, can the mind be found.[p.152]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.

Verse 9.102

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 151
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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ཡིད་ནི་དབང་རྣམས་ལ་མི་གནས། །

གཟུགས་སོགས་ལ་མིན་བར་ནའང་མིན། ། ནང་ནའང་སེམས་མིན་ཕྱི་མིན་ཞིང་། །

གཞན་དུ་ཡང་ནི་རྙེད་མ་ཡིན། །

If phenomena are truly analyzed, No basis for analysis remains. And when the object is removed, the subject too subsides. That indeed is said to be nirvāṇa.

Verse 9.110

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 153
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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དཔྱད་བྱ་རྣམ་པར་དཔྱད་བྱས་ན། །

རྣམ་དཔྱོད་ལ་ནི་རྟེན་ཡོད་མིན། ། རྟེན་མེད་ཕྱིར་ན་མི་སྐྱེ་སྟེ། །

དེ་ཡང་མྱ་ངན་འདས་པར་བརྗོད། །

As for the controversial nature of the Wisdom Chapter and its role in inter-tradition scholastic debates in Tibet, Markus Viehbeck explains,

While the actualities of Tibetan Buddhism show manifold cultural influences, the Indian tradition occupies indeed a particularly significant position – as a source of general cultural knowledge, but also as a very concrete authority in terms of particular Buddhist teachings, often in the form of texts, which were translated into Tibetan. In the increasingly specified and technical debates that emerged in the Tibetan Buddhist scholastic traditions, these texts were of fundamental importance: since they represented the authentic Indian tradition, aligning oneself with a text could provide authority to one’s own scholastic elaborations. At the same time, since any text can be read in different ways and its precise meaning needs to be established, usually with the help of commentaries, such texts provided an inexhaustible source for controversial discussion. It is therefore not surprising that many Tibetan commentaries on essential Indian treatises include polemical features in which the texture of a specific scholastic tradition is made explicit against the contours of other traditions, and that such evoked critical reactions from opposing factions. The resulting discourses not only clarify the doctrinal content of individual traditions, but also address to a large extent matters of textual hermeneutics, in the sense that diverging readings are refuted or argued for by using various means of validation. Studying polemical exchanges can therefore not only inform us about Tibetan Buddhist doctrine, but also about the relations between Indian texts and their Tibetan appropriators and the ways in which the latter negotiated these relations among each other.

~ Polemics in Indo-Tibetan Scholasticism - A Late 19th-Century Debate Between 'Ju Mi pham and Dpa' ris Rab gsal (12)

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Cultivating Wisdom

Contents

Middle Way school

Notes

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Bibliography: Works on Cultivating Wisdom