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In the context of the Bodhicaryāvatāra, the preliminary practices constitute the preparation phase that precedes the formal declaration and acceptance of the bodhisattva vow. These practices lay the groundwork for taking the vow and thus become the foundation upon which bodhicitta is cultivated and nurtured.
The formal bestowal of the bodhisattva vow typically follows a similar procedural framework. As Dorji Wangchuk explains,
Within the narrative of the text, the Bodhicaryāvatāra does not explicitly present itself as a ritual for this bestowal. However, Śāntideva does follow this structure over the course of the second and third chapters. Due to this and the popularity of the Bodhicaryāvatāra, sections of these chapters were later extracted to form the basis for the liturgical arrangement of a ritualized vow ceremony that became widespread in the Tibetan tradition.
The Tibetan term sbyor ba, when used as a verb, is usually translated as to join or connect. However, as a noun, rendered here as preparation, it carries the connotation of actively getting ready to perform a task. Thus, in this context, the preparation involves a series of preliminary practices, or preparatory procedures as Dorji Wangchuk refers to them, that prepares the aspiring bodhisattva and sets the stage for the adoption of the vow. Śāntideva's presentation of these is divided into two parts. The first is geared toward the accumulation of merit and the second toward the cultivation of an altruistic motivation. Both of these are deemed to be necessary prerequisites that prepare those aspiring to fully commit themselves to the bodhisattva path.
Accumulation of Merit
seven branches
As for the first of these preliminary practices, this includes what are known as the seven branches (yan lag bdun), which are a series of religious services or observances performed for the sake of accumulating merit. Though some of them represent physical actions, such as bowing or presenting offerings, these are typically performed in the form of liturgical prayer. Therefore, these seven are often collectively referred to as the seven-branch offering or the seven-branch prayer.
In his Śikṣāsamuccaya, Śāntideva enumerates these seven with the following citation,
In the Bodhicaryāvatāra Śāntideva deviates slightly from the standard presentation of the seven branches. Here, Śāntideva's presentation includes the act of going for refuge, making eight branches total. He also presents them in a different order, beginning with offerings, which is followed by homage and then going for refuge. From there the list follows the standard order and includes confession, rejoicing in virtue, requesting to turn the wheel of Dharma, requesting to not pass into nirvāṇa, and the dedication of merit. Śāntideva's discussion of these branches can be found at the start of the second chapter with a series of more than twenty verses on offerings, starting with,
To the Buddhas, those thus gone, And to the sacred Dharma, spotless and supremely rare, And to the Buddha’s offspring, oceans of good qualities, That I might gain this precious attitude, I make a perfect offering.36The actual confession, from which this chapter takes its name, begins at stanza 27. It is preceded by the traditional formulas of homage and offering. See note 48
Page(s) 37
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.
༈ རིན་ཆེན་སེམས་དེ་གཟུང་བར་བྱ་བའི་ཕྱིར། །
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་རྣམས་དང་དམ་པའི་ཆོས། ། དཀོན་མཆོག་དྲི་མ་མེད་དང་སངས་རྒྱས་སྲས། །
ཡོན་ཏན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་རྣམས་ལ་ལེགས་པར་མཆོད། །!_rin chen sems de gzung bar bya ba'i phyir/_/
de bzhin gshegs pa rnams dang dam pa'i chos/_/ dkon mchog dri ma med dang sangs rgyas sras/_/
yon tan rgya mtsho rnams la legs par mchod/_/Up until the dedication of merit for the welfare of all sentient beings, presented in the following verse from the third chapter,
Through these actions now performed48The reference here is to the seven traditional actions of accumulating merit, often expressed in a verse formula known as the ‟seven-branch prayer.” These actions are homage, offering, confession, rejoicing in all good actions, the request for teaching, the request that the teachers remain in the world and not pass into nirvāṇa, and dedication. The first three actions formed the content of the previous chapter; the remaining four are expressed here in the opening stanzas of chap. 3. See Crosby and Skilton, pp. 9–13, for a description of the ‟sevenfold supreme worship.” And all the virtues I have gained, May all the pain of every living being Be wholly scattered and destroyed!
Page(s) 48
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.
Mind Training
The second part of the preliminary practices is concerned with the cultivation of an altruistic motivation and is presented as a form of mind training (blo sbyong). This term is typically associated in the Tibetan tradition with a genre of teachings introduced by Atiśa that became one of the core practices in the Kadam school founded by his disciples. However, in the context of this particular section of the Bodhicaryāvatāra, mind training is directly related to the cultivation of generosity. Therefore, here it involves actively developing the intention to give away the three foundations of ego-clinging, which are one's body, possessions, and the merit accrued in both past and future.
My body, thus, and all my goods besides, And all my merits gained and to be gained, I give them all and do not count the cost, To bring about the benefit of beings.
Page(s) 48
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.
ལུས་དང་དེ་བཞིན་ལོངས་སྤྱོད་དང་། །
དུས་གསུམ་དགེ་བ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱང་། ། སེམས་ཅན་ཀུན་གྱི་དོན་སྒྲུབ་ཕྱིར། །
ཕངས་* ཕོངས in the source text. པ་མེད་པར་བཏང་བར་བྱ། །lus dang de bzhin longs spyod dang /_/
dus gsum dge ba thams cad kyang /_/ sems can kun gyi don bsgrub phyir/_/
phangs * phongs[ in the source text.] pa med par btang bar bya/_/