Meditative Concentration Overview

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Abstract

In chapter 8, Śāntideva then moves on to discuss the real heart of what is required for spiritual transformation—that is, the ability to see and experience the suffering of others as one's own suffering. Such a goal requires the cultivation of meditative concentration and the conditions conducive to achieving such a goal.

Citation

Houlton, Simon. "Meditative Concentration Overview." Śāntideva: A Tsadra Foundation Initiative, September 13, 2024. https://bodhicitta.tsadra.org/index.php/Chapter_Eight_-_Meditative_Concentration_Overview.

Having been galvanized into action with the practice of diligence which takes delight in engaging in virtue, we now need to focus the mind. With our minds becoming clearer, more still, and free from agitation and dullness, we will be able to develop penetrating insight into the nature of reality. The next two chapters of Śāntideva's text deal with these essential aspects of the bodhisattva path.

In his commentary to this eighth chapter, the Nyingma master Khenpo Kunpal sets the scene for the chapter by quoting directly from Śāntideva's other main work, The Compendium of Training (Śikṣāsamuccaya).

Cultivate forbearance, seek the teachings, Then in the forest take up your abode. In meditative equipoise exert yourself, And contemplate repulsiveness and other things.^[1]

Having developed the earlier perfections such as patience, and having sought out and understood the teachings, we are now ready to take to an isolated place, to really put those teachings into practice.

Calm Abiding and Special Insight (Śamatha and Vipaśyanā)

At the beginning of this eighth chapter, Śāntideva stresses a crucial point regarding what the ultimate goal of the path is—the vital importance of being able to see with wisdom the nature of reality of phenomena directly.

Penetrative insight joined with calm abiding Utterly eradicates afflicted states. Knowing this, first search for calm abiding, Found by people who are happy to be free from worldly ties.[p.109]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 8.4

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 109
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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ཞི་གནས་རབ་ཏུ་ལྡན་པའི་ལྷག་མཐོང་གིས། །

ཉོན་མོངས་རྣམ་པར་འཇོམས་པར་ཤེས་བྱས་ནས། ། ཐོག་མར་ཞི་གནས་བཙལ་བྱ་དེ་ཡང་ནི། །

འཇིག་རྟེན་ཆགས་པ་མེད་ལ་མངོན་དགས་འགྲུབ། །

Calm-abiding (śamatha) meditation is the means to achieve mental stability and serves as the base on which penetrating insight (vipaśyanā) can be developed. The ninth-century Indian master Kamalaśīla describes the essential need for this single-pointed mind in giving rise to wisdom through an analogy of a lamp in the middle section of his Stages of Meditation (Bhāvanākrama).

Due to the power of calm abiding meditation, the mind will not be disturbed by the wind of conceptual thoughts, like a butter lamp undisturbed by the breeze.^[2]

Both śamatha and vipaśyanā are required to subdue the mental afflictions, and since there is a cause-effect relationship between these two, the chapter presenting meditative absorption is presented before the chapter on wisdom. With śamatha and vipaśyanā acting as the main causes, we can destroy all the afflictive mental states along with their seeds (bīja) and habitual or latent imprints (vāsanā, བག་ཆགས་).

The results of such practices are not only an undistracted mind and the ability to see into the nature of reality but also, crucially, they lead the practitioner to more compassionate action. This point is mentioned in The Compendium of the Teachings Sūtra (Dharmasaṃgītisūtra) in relation to bodhisattvas who have mastered such practices.

Through their supreme joy they become physically and mentally pliable, and they reach a stage of bliss through that physical and mental pliancy and attain samādhi. Resting in meditative composure they see everything exactly as it is. Bodhisattvas who see everything exactly as it is act with great compassion for beings.^[3]

In his commentary A Lamp for the Middle Way, Pema Karpo gives a detailed explanation of the etymology of the terms śamatha and vipaśyanā. He firstly explains śamatha as follows:

In order to calm the afflictions, the mind is made to abide, therefore it is called "calm abiding." Its nature is a mind of single-pointed concentration. Its definition is that it is a meditative absorption where the mind is directed toward its focal object.^[4]

And in terms of vipaśyanā, he writes:

The nature of superior seeing is the wisdom that apprehends the reality of phenomena. Its etymology is that it is a special realization of the nature of phenomena or insight into their reality. . . . Vipaśyanā arises from its cause, calm abiding, and when it is in union with calm abiding it becomes vipaśyanā that fully possesses calm abiding.^[5]

In the introduction to their translation of the eighth chapter of the Bodhicaryāvatāra, Crosby and Skilton give a more detailed description of what calm-abiding meditation is, emphasizing the techniques and practices employed to achieve this state as well as the effort required.

Śamathā meditation is generally concerned with calming and stabilizing the mind, and cultivating positive emotions such as friendliness and compassion. Characteristic techniques employed to achieve these states are the 'mindfulness while breathing' (ānāpāna-smṛti) and the 'development of friendliness' (maitrī-bhāvanā) respectively. The successful practice of any technique involves a sustained effort to suppress any of the five possible 'hindrances' (nīvaraṇa) which might arise and distract the mind of the meditator, and for which task an array of meditations is available. Progress in calming meditation results in the 'rising' of the mind through successively more refined and purified levels of consciousness, known technically as 'meditative absorptions', dhyāna. The dhyānas are four in number, and are characterized by the successive simplification and purification of the contents of consciousness.^[6]

Thus, we can see from the above explanations that calm-abiding/śamatha and special-insight/vipaśyanā meditation work in tandem. It is calm abiding which is the necessary first step and which, with effort and persistence, gives rise to penetrating insight through a process of mental refinement or purification.

In looking at the structure of chapter 8 on the pāramitā of meditative absorption, Patrul Rinpoche divides it into two main sections: (1) abandoning factors that are not conducive to concentration and (2) working with the objects of śamatha meditation.^[7]

1. Abandoning Factors That Are Not Conducive to Concentration

The first section on counteracting obstacles to concentration is further divided into two: (a) giving up mundane concerns and (b) letting go of discursive thought.^[8]

A. Giving Up Mundane Concerns

The Need To Achieve Calm Abiding

Our first task is to establish some level of calming of the mind. But to do this, at the outset Śāntideva suggests that for us beginners to initially engage in the process of developing concentration, it is best to isolate ourselves as much as possible from those things that immediately give rise to clinging attachment. In relation to this need for isolation, Patrul Rinpoche explains the problems that occur when we are busily involved in the mundane concerns of our worldly lives, including the tendency to fall into our habitual patterns when around objects of attachment.

As regards renouncing mundane concerns, our mind will never settle into a state of one-pointed absorption as long as it is under the sway of attachment to parents, relatives and friends or attendants. So we must give up all our habitual preoccupations and busyness, and remain alone in an isolated place suitable for meditation.

Being attached to rewards and honours, praise or good reputation, or trifling necessities and then pursuing them will only obstruct the authentic path, so we must cut through any expectations and anxieties about such things, and train in being content with whatever comes our way.^[9]

Since an important part of being able to meditate is to be able to concentrate on our object of meditation, we need to get rid of distraction. But how do we do this? In verse 2, Śāntideva provides us with an answer to this question.

In solitude, the mind and body Are not troubled by distraction. Therefore leave this worldly life And totally abandon mental wandering.

Verse 8.2

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 109
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་ནི་དབེན་པ་ཡིས། །

རྣམ་པར་གཡེང་བ་མི་འབྱུང་ངོ་། ། དེ་བས་འཇིག་རྟེན་སྤང་བྱ་ཞིང་། །

རྣམ་པར་རྟོག་པ་ཡོངས་སུ་དོར། །

Since distraction is often hard to control in the worldly hustle and bustle of life, we are encouraged as beginners to seek out places conducive to concentration, such as remote areas and forests.

Khenpo Kunpal asserts that there are two main kinds of distractions, physical and mental, that we must abandon.

If we want to give up the afflictions, we must give up distractions, and in order to do this, we must have recourse to solitude, which means to distance ourselves from two kinds of object. On the physical level, we must relinquish all attachment to the affairs and meaningless doings of the world. On the mental level, we must completely put a stop to the mind's wandering toward the objects of the senses, and we should train ourselves in concentration. And for this, it is necessary to be alone. For the company of even one person will result in obstacles to concentration.^[10]

But why is concentration so important on the spiritual path, and what happens if we are unable to sustain concentration? Khenpo Kunpal vividly explains how a person who is unable to sustain concentration becomes a victim of his or her defilements.

A person whose mind is slack and left to drift to the objects of the six consciousnesses is like a scrap of food caught between the fangs of demons, namely, the defilements of attachment and hatred. It is certain that people who leave their minds to their own devices will lose whatever spiritual qualities they may have.^[11]

Obstacles Caused By Attachment to People

Within the topic of giving up mundane concerns, Śāntideva encourages us to abandon the obstacles caused by attachment to people. The next section of the text attempts to show us the disadvantages of associating too closely with worldly beings and the faults of attachment in relation to others.

In verse 5 Śāntideva points out that one transient being clinging strongly to another transient being means that we will not see our desired objects again for a very long time.

Beings, brief, ephemeral, Who strongly cling to what is also transient, Will catch no glimpse of those they love For many thousands of their future lives.

Verse 8.5

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 110
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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མི་རྟག་སུ་ཞིག་མི་རྟག་ལ། །

ཡང་དག་ཆགས་པར་བྱེད་པ་ཡོད། ། དེས་ནི་ཚེ་རབས་སྟོང་ཕྲག་ཏུ། །

སྡུག་པ་མཐོང་བར་ཡོང་མི་འགྱུར། །

The argument here is that it is not wise for those who are themselves impermanent to get so attached to others who are also impermanent. In his commentary the contemporary Sakya master Khenpo Kunga Wangchuk elaborates on this point as follows:

How can it be appropriate for ourselves, impermanent and subject to death, to have strong attachment to anyone else, such as our relatives, those close to us, and like-minded friends, who are also impermanent and who will die? It is not appropriate. If we are attached and cling, by that very drawback, from our next birth onward we will not see those dear to our heart for many thousands of lives.^[12]

Further clarifying the nature of this attachment, Pema Karpo explains that those who have strong attachments to friends and family, beings that are by nature impermanent, will suffer unfortunate rebirths.

For whoever gets strongly attached, through clinging to the true existence of impermanent friends and relatives, will be born in the unhappy states for thousands of lifetimes and will never see the objects which are dear to their hearts.^[13]

He points out that the worst clinging which causes the gravest of consequences is the clinging to the self and others to be inherently existent, when in reality they lack this inherent nature.

Śāntideva then goes on to explain what will happen even if we are lucky enough to again see those so dear to our hearts.

Not seeing them, their minds will have no joy, They therefore will not rest in equanimity. But even if they see them, they are not content— And as before, the pain of longing stays.

Verse 8.6

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 110
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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མ་མཐོང་ནི་དགར་མི་འགྱུར། །

ཡིད་ཀྱང་མཉམ་འཇོག་མི་འགྱུར་ལ། ། མཐོང་ཡང་ངོམས་པར་མི་འགྱུར་བས། །

སྔར་བཞིན་སྲེད་པས་གདུང་བར་འགྱུར། །

In his commentary Gyaltsap Je explains the first two lines of this verse relating to what happens when we are bereft of the joy of seeing our loved ones.

If one does not see anything beautiful, one will not have joy. Since one's mind will be unhappy, it will be distracted, it will not enter equipoise on concentration and one will not attain happiness.^[14]

Through separation from those close to us, we will lose our sense of joy and brood about the situation. It will become much easier to get distracted, which will make it impossible for concentration and wisdom to arise.

In lines 3 and 4 of verse 6, Śāntideva points out to us that even in the unlikely event of us being able to meet again those who are the object of our desire, we will still never be able to get enough of that, and through further longing and attachment, we will never find satisfaction. In The Play in Full Sūtra (Lalitavistarasūtra), this lack of contentment is explained through the following analogy:

Desired objects never satisfy; They are just like salty water from the ocean.^[15]

Śāntideva then goes on to list a whole other series of dangers that can befall us if we are overly attached to those dear to us. Firstly, we will lose sight of the truth and our sense of discontentment.

If I crave for other beings, A veil is cast upon the perfect truth. Wholesome disillusion94‟Wholesome disillusion” (Tib. skyo ba or skyo shes) indicates a sense of revulsion and weariness with the futile sufferings of saṃsāra. melts away, And finally there comes the sting of pain.

Verse 8.7

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 110
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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སེམས་ཅན་རྣམས་ལ་ཆགས་བྱས་ན། །[p.78]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.

ཡང་དག་ཉིད་ལ་ཀུན་ནས་སྒྲིབ། ། སྐྱོ་བའི་སེམས་ཀྱང་འཇིག་* འཇུག་ in the source text. པར་བྱེད། །

ཐ་མར་* ཐ་མལ་ in the source text. མྱ་ངན་གདུང་བར་འགྱུར། །

With this strong craving, a veil falls over the truth, and we will quickly lose our sense of disillusionment with the sorrowful state of samsara, and liberation will become farther away from us. And when those dear to us eventually leave us or pass away, we will be left with that terrible agony of separation from the objects of our attachment.

Furthermore, he reminds us, with all our thoughts centered on those we love, we will waste away our lives in the byways of attachment and distraction, looking back at our lives with very little accomplished.

My thoughts are all for them, And thus my life is frittered by. My family and friends all change and pass, for whom The changeless Dharma is cast out.

Verse 8.8

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 110
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་ལ་སེམས་པ་འབའ་ཞིག་གིས། །

ཚེ་འདི་དོན་མེད་འདའ་བར་འགྱུར། ། རྟག་པ་མེད་པའི་མཛའ་བཤེས་ཀྱིས། །

གཡུང་དྲུང་ཆོས་ཀྱང་འཇིག་པར་འགྱུར། །

Here, Śāntideva tells us, given our strong emotional attachments, we will not be able to accomplish any virtue, and our lives will be spent in negativity and pain. All our families and friends fade and pass. Nevertheless, the attachment that we feel for them will undermine our ability to practice Dharma. That alone is the means by which we can achieve the unsurpassable state of immutability.

Another point that can be noted here comes in relation to O'Sullivan's translation of the root text, where Śāntideva neatly explains how relations with the worldly can destroy great benefits.

The unchanging dharma Is lost though transient friends. (8.8)^[16]

Śāntideva counsels us that very little good can come from close interactions with the worldly beings.

One moment friends, The next, they’re bitter enemies. Even pleasant things arouse their discontent: Ordinary people—it is hard to please them!

Verse 8.10

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 110
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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སྐད་ཅིག་གཅིག་གིས་འཛར་འགྱུར་ལ། །

ཡུད་ཙམ་གྱིས་ནི་དགྲར་ཡང་འགྱུར། ། དགའ་བའི་གནས་ལའང་ཁྲོ་བྱེད་པས། །

སོ་སོའི་སྐྱེ་བོ་མགུ་བར་དཀའ། །

These kinds of worldly acquaintances are unreliable and inconstant. One minute they are loving friends, and the next minute they turn into our bitter enemies. If we try to encourage them in the direction of virtue, which would actually be a source of their happiness, they easily get irritated and react negatively. No matter what we do, it is extremely hard to please ordinary people.

The King of Samadhis Sūtra states very clearly this particular difficulty of the reaction of many worldly people to words in accord with the Dharma.

They may speak with words about the Dharma But do not believe it, showing their anger and aggression. Such is the Dharma of fools, and knowing this to be so The wise do not rely on it.^[17]

Śāntideva explains that not only will we not benefit from these associations with the worldly but they will actually come to harm us.

Jealous of superiors, they vie with equals, Proud to those below, they strut when praised. Say something untoward, they seethe with rage. What good was ever had from childish folk?

Verse 8.12

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 111
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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མཐོ་ལ་ཕྲག་དོག་མཉམ་དང་འགྲན། །

དམའ་ལ་ང་རྒྱལ་བསྟོད་ན་དྲེགས། ། མི་སྙན་བརྗོད་ན་ཁོང་ཁྲོ་སྐྱེ། །

ནམ་ཞིག་བྱིས་ལས་ཕན་པ་ཐོབ། །

Keep company with them and what will follow? Self-aggrandizement and scorn for others, Talk about the "good things” of saṃsāra— Every kind of vice is sure to come.

Verse 8.13

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 111
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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བྱིས་དང་འགྲོགས་ན་བྱིས་པ་ལ། །

བདག་བསྟོད་གཞན་ལ་སྨོད་པ་དང་། ། འཁོར་བར་དགའ་བའི་གཏམ་ལ་སོགས། །

མི་དགེ་ཅིས་ཀྱང་ངེས་པར་འབྱུང་། །

Gyaltsap Je expands on the problems of these interactions.

Further, the childish are jealous of those higher, compete with those that are equal and if they observe those that are lower, they are proud. When praised they generate conceit, but if one says something unpleasant they become angry.

Hence, when does one receive benefit from involvement with the childish? Not only does one not, but what non-virtue does one not acquire by keeping company with the childish? One will definitely take on praising oneself and criticizing others, or get in the habit of conversation that takes pleasure in cyclic existence, such as stories that deal with the king, the people in the country and so forth. Therefore, one should not associate with the childish.^[18]

Moreover, it is very easy in these interactions to get drawn into all forms of negativity. We end up lured into conversations about the so-called wondrous things of samsaric life and are led far away from renunciation. Even brief meetings with people we have never met, while on a journey for instance, can elicit nonvirtuous behavior.

Throughout this section Śāntideva often uses the term childish (བྱིས་པ་) to refer to worldly or spiritually immature beings. Khenpo Kunpal clarifies what this term refers to as follows:

If we are not Aryas, we are childish (that is, ordinary) beings. And if we consort with other childish beings, every kind of vice is sure to follow. Whether directly or indirectly, there will be self-aggrandizement and contempt for others.^[19]

Śāntideva exhorts us to keep away from the company of those "childish" beings, who will only drag us down. However, he does advise us that we should always maintain cordial relations, without becoming too close or familiar.

Therefore flee the company of childish people. Greet them, when you meet, with smiles That keep on terms of common courtesy, Without inviting intimate relations.

Verse 8.15

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བྱིས་ལས་ཐག་རིང་བྱོལ་བར་བྱ། །

ཕྲད་ན་དགའ་བས་མགུ་བྱས་ཏེ། ། འདྲིས་ཆེན་ཉིད་དུ་མི་འགྱུར་བར། །

ཐ་མལ་པ་ཙམ་ལེགས་པར་བྱ། །

He also gives us some advice as to how to protect our own minds and how to conduct ourselves when we are in contact with the worldly.

Like bees that get their honey from the flowers, Take only what will serve the practice of the Dharma. Treat everyone like new acquaintances And keep yourself from close familiarity.

Verse 8.16

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བུང་བས་མེ་ཏོག་སྦྲང་རྩི་བཞིན། །

ཆོས་ཀྱི་དོན་ཙམ་བླངས་ནས་ནི། ། ཀུན་ལ་སྔོན་ཆད་མ་མཐོང་བཞིན། །

འདྲིས་པ་མེད་པར་གནས་པར་བྱ། །

This analogy of the honey bee, according to Khenpo Kunpal, is mentioned in The Uposatha of Vishvabhukra (Vishvabhukra, or ཐམས་ཅད་སྐྱོབ་, being the third in the sequence of the seven heroic Buddhas), which states:

Like a bee that does not harm The blossom's scent or hue But sips the nectar and departs: That's how the Sage goes into town.^[20]

In relation to this last verse, the great Kadampa master Gyalse Thokme Zangpo advises us on how to deal positively with interactions with the worldly.

If we meet (the worldly), we should please them with positive forms of behavior. However, we should not become overly familiar with them but maintain ordinary relations, such that we follow a path of conduct which is devoid of both attachment and aversion. Just as a honey bee is not attached to the flower but extracts the nectar from it, likewise, we should take up only those (activities) such as giving explanations of the meaning of the Dharma or other forms of Dharma conduct. But we should remain as though we have not seen (them) before, without familiarity.^[21]

Throughout this section of the text on the disadvantages of attachment to people, Śāntideva's tone seems very severe. We may wonder why he seems so negative about associating with other beings in the world. Indeed, this whole section seems to be in direct contradiction to the message earlier in the text about loving all beings and the need to actively engage in helping them in whatever way we can. The contemporary Kagyu master Thrangu Rinpoche raises this question in his commentary and helps to clarify this apparent contradiction.

We may wonder, "Doesn't the Dharma say that as bodhisattvas we should help other sentient beings?" This is not a contradiction because here we are talking about relating to sentient beings with desire and attachment. When we relate to sentient beings because we crave their company, there can be no positive effects out of this. We will not be able to help ourselves, much less other sentient beings. The only way we can help other sentient beings is by practicing true compassion. But when the relationship to others is based on attachment and need, nothing can be accomplished. With an attitude based on desire, we will not be able to practice the Dharma whole-heartedly. Not only that, but by putting so much energy into socializing with others, we will lose the energy and time necessary for benefitting all sentient beings.^[22]

Thus, the difference, Thrangu Rinpoche suggests, lies in our emotional attachment to others. Śāntideva's stern tone with respect to dealing with the worldly can be understood as a means of guarding against such attachment.

Giving Up Attachment to Worldly Gain

Continuing with the topic of giving up mundane concerns, in verses 17 to 24 Śāntideva reminds us of the futile nature of the objects of our attachments.

Since this is so, the wise have no attachments; From such cravings fear and anguish come. And fix this firmly in your understanding: All that may be wished for will by nature fade to nothing.

Verse 8.19

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དེ་བས་མཁས་པས་ཆགས་མི་བྱ། །

ཆགས་པ་ལས་ནི་འཇིགས་པ་སྐྱེ། ། འདི་དག་རང་བཞིན་འདོར་འགྱུར་བས། །

བརྟན་པར་གྱིས་ཏེ་རབ་ཏུ་རྟོགས། །

Even if we are able to gain the worldly things that we crave, there is one underlying truth that we must face: all meetings will end in separation. Everything that is born will die, and everything in time will fade. Śāntideva asks us to think about how valuable these things really are and whether the attachment for them brings us happiness or not. There are people in the past who gained great wealth and renown. But, Śāntideva asks, where is that fame and fortune now?

For people may have gained great wealth of riches, Enjoying reputation, sweet renown. But who can say where they have gone to now, With all the baggage of their gold and fame?

Verse 8.20

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རྙེད་པ་དག་ནི་མང་བྱུང་ཞིང་། །

གྲགས་དང་སྙན་པ་བྱུང་གྱུར་ཀྱང་། ། རྙེད་དང་གྲགས་པའི་ཚོགས་བཅས་ཏེ། །

གང་དུ་འདོང་བའི་གཏོལ་མེད་དོ། །

Patrul Rinpoche singles out our attachment to rewards, gain, and praise and our aversion to loss and blame as being what gets in the way of authentic practice. He advises us to cut through our hopes and fears about such things and to develop a mind of contentment with what we already have.^[23]

The Value of Relying on Solitude

Having understood the faults of attachment, in verses 25 to 38 Śāntideva encourages us further to live away from society, high in the mountains or in remote forests, a place where in the past so many accomplished beings have resided. There, for company, we will have only the birds and wild animals, which he says is the best kind of company to keep. Away from any source of distraction, as well as the complications of maintaining relationships with worldly people, our mind can settle.

In woodlands, haunt of stag and bird, Among the trees where no dissension jars, It’s there I would keep pleasant company! When might I be off to make my dwelling there?[p.113]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 8.25

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ནགས་ན་རི་དྭགས་བྱ་རྣམས་དང་། །

ཤིང་རྣམས་མི་སྙན་བརྗོད་མི་བྱེད། ། འགྲོགས་ན་བདེ་བ་དེ་དག་དང་། །

ནམ་ཞིག་ལྷན་ཅིག་བདག་གནས་འགྱུར། །

Even in our worldly lives, we often say that we come into this world alone and we leave it alone. It is something understood by ordinary people. The root text reflects on this sentiment as follows:

Alone we’re born, alone we come into the world, And when we die, alone we pass away. No one shares our fate, and none our suffering. What need have I of "friends” who hinder me?[p.114]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 8.32

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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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སྐྱེ་ན་གཅིག་པུ་སྐྱེ་འགྱུར་ཞིང་། །

འཆི་ནའང་དེ་ཉིད་གཅིག་འཆི་སྟེ། ། སྡུག་བསྔལ་སྐལ་གཞན་མི་ལེན་ན། །

གེགས་བྱེད་མཛའ་བས་ཅི་ཞིག་བྱ། །

Śāntideva acknowledges that while others may empathize with us, no one can really share our lives. No one, however much they care about us, can really take away our sufferings. Although others may try to help to alleviate the situation, it is we alone who must experience the actual pain.

In his commentary on this verse, Khenpo Kunpal concludes by suggesting that relationships with family and friends can actually be obstacles.

Therefore of what avail are our relatives and friends—who create obstacles to our virtuous practice of ethical discipline, to our learning and study, and to the approach and accomplishment phases of our practice in retreat? Such relationships are by no means indispensable.^[24]

He questions the value of the relationships we form in life. This must be understood in the context of the chapter, where isolation from surroundings which stimulate the proliferation of afflictive emotions is encouraged. There can be a time in our spiritual development when removing ourselves to places of solitude may be the most constructive choice. At this stage, even the best of worldly relationships may hinder our advancement. However, we should always remember the perspective from the mind training tradition, where every inconducive condition can be taken as sustenance on the path.

Śāntideva concludes this section with an expression of the joy to be found in living alone in wild and isolated places.

Therefore in these lovely gleaming woods, With joy that’s marred by few concerns, Where mental wandering will cease, I will remain in blissful solitude.

Verse 8.37

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དེ་བས་ཤིན་ཏུ་མདངས་དགའ་བའི། །

ནགས་ཚལ་ཚེགས་ཆུང་བདེ་སྐྱིད་ཅིང་། ། གཡེང་བ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཞི་བྱེད་པར། །

བདག་ཉིད་གཅིག་པུར་གནས་པར་བྱ། །

Relinquishing all other aspirations, Focusing myself on one intent alone, I’ll strive to still my mind And, calming it, to bring it to subjection.

Verse 8.38

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བསམ་པ་གཞན་ནི་ཀུན་བཏང་སྟེ། །

བདག་ལ་སེམས་པ་གཅིག་པུ་ཡིས། ། སེམས་ནི་མཉམ་པར་བཞག་ཕྱིར་དང་། །

དུལ་བར་བྱ་ཕྱིར་བརྩོན་པར་བྱ། །

Dropping all of his other worldly preoccupations, Śāntideva commits himself to solitude in order to deal with his attachments. In an environment free of distraction, he vows to tame his mind through developing concentration.

B. Letting Go of Discursive Thought

The first part of the outline from Patrul Rinpoche's meditation manual concerning abandoning factors that are not conducive to concentration involves giving up mundane concerns. But this process also involves letting go of discursive thought. From verses 39 to 84, Śāntideva encourages us to find ways to give up our attachment and the wandering thoughts which attachment induces.

All the chapters of the Bodhicaryāvatāra in some way deal with advice on how to reduce our distracted mind. But here the chapter on meditative concentration specifically sets forth the antidote to distraction that is driven by desire and attachment, which is the root of suffering. As Śāntideva states in verse 39:

In this and in the worlds to come, Desire's the parent of all woe: (8.39ab)^[25]

Specifically, however, this next section deals with attachment and sexual desire for a partner or lover. It considers all the struggles that people go through to find the perfect partner and the complications that still arise even if they do manage to find them. The text reminds us that the desire for a lover is fertile ground for sowing the seeds of suffering, not only in this life but in future lives as well. In an attempt to attract a lover, people are prepared to endure tremendous hardships but also to commit grave negative actions driven by their attachment. Reflecting on this situation humans find themselves in, Khenpo Kunpal quotes a proverb which says "Joyful though the act may be, the price is paid in tears."^[26] In chapter 7 Śāntideva uses a similar analogy of honey on a razor's edge. In our desire to enjoy the sweet taste of honey, we may be unaware of the sharp edge of the razor, which can easily cut our tongue. These examples tell us that although we may be overwhelmed by immediate attraction to the objects of our desire and the temporary pleasure that they give us, ultimately these objects will bring us nothing but suffering and ruin. Emphasizing this sentiment, Gyaltsap Je quotes from The Sūtra Requested By The Girl Supreme Moon (Candrottarādārikāvyākaraṇasūtra), where it says:

Due to the cause of desire objects sentient beings fall into the lower realms. Due to attachment they become hungry ghosts and animals.^[27]

In connection with this section of the text, Patrul Rinpoche mentions other kinds of obstruction to our practice—the fact that although we may find ourselves in a conducive environment, in an isolated place, discursive thoughts and craving members of the opposite sex can still overwhelm us.

Even though we may be in an isolated place, not seeking possessions and such like to any great extent, if our mind falls under the power of desire, a genuine state of meditative concentration will not arise in our being, and our mind will be unable to rest in a state of absorption. Therefore thoughts of desire must be given up. To turn our thoughts away from attachment to desirable things is particularly important for gaining the special higher levels of concentration, so we should certainly turn the mind away from craving after members of the opposite sex by reflecting on the cause, the fact that they are not easy to obtain; their nature, which is impure; and the result, which involves a lot of harm, and so on.

Moreover, we must understand that the eight worldly concerns and all thoughts of the present life are our real enemies. We must reflect, therefore, at some length on the problems caused by negative thoughts of desire, and, generating a sense of inner dignity, make heartfelt efforts to abandon them, no matter how many may arise. ^[28]

We seek gain and desperately try to avoid loss. We are naturally drawn toward experiences of pleasure and steer away from pain. We crave fame and praise, and we hate blame and infamy. These ways of engagement in daily life are called the eight worldly dharmas or eight worldly concerns.

The roots of this direct instruction concerning the eight worldly concerns trace back all the way to the suttas of the Pali tradition. In The Failings of the World (Pali. Lokavipatti Sutta), we find the following words of the Buddha:

Monks, these eight worldly conditions spin after the world, and the world spins after these eight worldly conditions. Which eight? Gain, loss, status, disgrace, censure, praise, pleasure, & pain. . . .

The Blessed One said, "Gain arises for an uninstructed run-of-the-mill person. He does not reflect, 'Gain has arisen for me. It is inconstant, stressful, & subject to change.' He does not discern it as it has come to be. . . .

"He welcomes the arisen pleasure and rebels against the arisen pain. As he is thus engaged in welcoming & rebelling, he is not released from birth, aging, or death; from sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, or despairs. He is not released, I tell you, from suffering & stress.

"Now, gain arises for a well-instructed disciple of the noble ones. He reflects, 'Gain has arisen for me. It is inconstant, stressful, & subject to change.' He discerns it as it actually is.^[29]

Although these eight dharmas arise for both worldly beings and the "well-instructed" students of the Dharma, their understanding of those dharmas is very different. To ordinary people, the thought will never come to mind that those dharmas are inconstant, a source of tension, and necessarily impermanent. Consumed with attachment, they welcome things like gain, which they perceive to be positive, and resist those dharmas, such as loss, that they perceive to be harmful to them. The wise will never do this. The wise see things as they are and understand that both the wanted and unwanted are all temporary and not to be clung to. They watch the arising and passing of phenomena without getting consumed by them.

Reflecting on the Unclean Nature of the Human Body

In verses 40 to 70, in an effort to get us to abandon discursive thought and attachment to our bodies and the bodies of the opposite sex, Śāntideva presents the Buddhist perspective on the unclean nature of the body and the complication and suffering that come to us through attachment to our bodies and the bodies of others. He looks at this through craving for lovers and the hardships people are willing to endure in order to pursue their lover.

In the modern era, where the body is almost considered as a temple, some of these contemplations may seem very extreme, but Śāntideva's main aim is to help us to reduce our unrealistic attachment.

This section begins with a general question as to why we feel such strong attachment to those dear to us but who will soon enough pass away and leave us alone in our grief.

Of what in truth is nothing but a heap of bones Devoid of self, without autonomy! Is this the only object of desire and lust? Sooner pass beyond all suffering and grief!

Verse 8.42

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ཀེང་རུས་ཉིད་ཡིན་གཞན་མིན་ན། །

རང་དབང་དང་ནི་བདག་མིན་ལ། ། རབ་ཏུ་འདོད་ཅིང་ཡོངས་ཞེན་ནས། །

ཅི་ཕྱིར་མྱ་ངན་འདས་མི་འགྲོ། །

Śāntideva says that such people have always been just a heap of bones, which in reality lacks any form of autonomous self or any kind of freedom. So, he asks, why would we not put down our attachment and start out on the path to enlightenment?

The next verses are entirely devoted to explaining the extreme dangers of strong desirous attachment, particularly that of a man for a woman. However, firstly, there are arguments related to the attachment to one who has died and is at the cemetery. This part of the text is reminiscent of a genre of guided meditations on the foulness of the body (Pali. asubhabhāvanā) designed to discourage us from the longing for sexual pleasure. The technique, again, dates back to the early Pali Buddhist tradition and is found in the early Vinaya texts.

Śāntideva does not hold back in asking us why we were once so attached when loved ones were alive and yet so repulsed by their body after they have passed away.

That face for which you languished so . . . Well, here it is, now nakedly exposed. The vultures have uncovered it for you to see. What’s this? You run away so soon?

Verse 8.44

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ཁྱོད་[p.83]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. ཉོན་མོངས་པའི་གདོང་དེ་ནི། །

ད་ལྟ་མངོན་སུམ་གྱུར་པ་བཞིན། ། བྱ་རྒོད་ཀྱིས་བསལ་བྱས་མཐོང་ནས། །

ད་ལྟ་ཅི་ཕྱིར་འབྱེར་བར་བྱེད། །

That which once you jealously protected, Shielded from the eyes of other men, Why, miser that you are, don’t you protect it, Now that it’s the food of graveyard birds?

Verse 8.45

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གཞན་རྣམས་མིག་གིས་ལྟ་ན་ཡང་། །

གང་ཞིག་ཡོངས་སུ་བསྲུང་གྱུར་པ། ། ཇི་སྲིད་དེ་ནི་དེས་ཟ་ན། །

སེར་སྣ་ཅན་ཁྱོད་ཅིས་མི་བསྲུང་། །

This advice must be framed in the historical context of ancient India, where the majority of people were cremated in a public place. In a modern context, there would be no exposure to the gruesome sights of the vultures attacking the corpse of a loved one. Yet the question still remains. Why do we feel so attached to them and their body when they are alive but within a day of their death are so repulsed by the sight of them? This questioning requires of us a deeper level of investigation into our strong desires and the presumptions which lie behind them.

Śāntideva continues to probe into the roots of our desire to show how baseless the reasons behind these strong attachments really are. He points out that even while alive and fully clothed we are obsessed over the object of our desire and may have imagined them naked. Yet why do we not feel that same desire now when they lay naked in front of us as a corpse.

You loved it once, when clothed and draped it was. Well, now it’s naked, why do you not want it? Ah, you say, your need is no more there, But why did you embrace it, all bedecked and covered?

Verse 8.48

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 116
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་ལ་གཡོགས་ཀྱང་འདི་ཆགས་པ། །

དེ་མ་གཡོགས་ན་ཅིས་མི་འདོད། ། དེ་ལ་དགོས་པ་མེད་ན་ནི། །

གཡོགས་པ་ལ་ནི་ཅི་ཕྱིར་འཁྱུད། །

A large part of this section of the text relies on the argument that the body is naturally unclean. Especially in the modern world, we may find this argument very difficult to swallow. Through marketing and seductive advertising, every effort is made to shield us from the uglier aspects of reality. In a world where fashion and beauty have overwhelming influence, it is hard for us to contemplate the uncleanliness of the human body.

One of our evasive responses to this insistence in the teachings on the unpleasant nature of the body is to accept that the internal parts of the body, such as the intestines, are indeed filthy, but then to argue that it is the skin and surface features of the body that we are attached to. Śāntideva next refutes this justification in the following verse:

"But it’s the skin and flesh I love To touch and look upon.” Then why do you not wish for flesh alone, Inanimate and in its natural state?

Verse 8.54

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 117
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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བདག་ནི་ཤ་འདི་ལ་དགའ་ཞེས། །

རེག་དང་ལྟ་བར་འདོད་ན་གོ ། སེམས་མེད་པ་ཡི་རང་བཞིན་གྱི། །

ཤ་ནི་ཁྱོད་ཀོ་ཅིས་མི་འདོད། །

Here, Śāntideva asks us, if you accept that the internal flesh and organs are unpleasant, but it is the external skin that you crave, then why do not crave it when the skin is separated from the flesh and organs and lies inanimate on the ground?

We may respond, "It is the mind that I desire, so once the mind has departed there is no desire anymore." But, again, Śāntideva will not let us escape the relentless trap of his logic.

The mind that you perhaps desire, You cannot hold or look upon. Whatever you can hold or see is not the mind— Why copulate with something it is not?

Verse 8.55

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 117
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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འདོད་པའི་སེམས་གང་ཡིན་པ་དེ། །

རེག་དང་བལྟ་བར་མི་ནུས་ལ། ། གང་ཞིག་ནུས་དེ་ཤེས་པ་མིན། །

དོན་མེད་འཁྱུད་དེས་ཅི་ཞིག་བྱ། །

Śāntideva has a logical counterargument for us. He chides us and points out how confused we are. He argues that the mind of one's lover is not something that can be physically touched. It is their body that we can see and touch, but that body has nothing to do with their mind. We claim to be desirous of the mind and not the body, but then why do we spend time copulating with this physical body, which is not the immaterial mind?

According to Śāntideva, to counter this strong and ultimately destructive desire for others' bodies, we should meditate on how the person who we are so attracted to—for whom we have expended so much time, energy, and money—is only a mass of bloody flesh and internal organs and many other unpleasant fluids and substances.

We need to look deeply into what it is that our desire is really fixated on. Is it the mind of the other or their body? On a deeper level, we have to accept that there is never anything we can really point to that is the true source of our attachment.

Reflecting on the Many Harms that Result from Attachment

In verses 72 to 84, Śāntideva points out that making so much effort for worldly concerns is ultimately a waste of time. We see all around us people working day and night with little sleep or rest to attain positions of prominence. The wealth we strive so diligently to obtain often ends up creating unwanted problems. We obtain some portion of it, but we are left unsatisfied and wish only for more, like trying to quench our thirst with saltwater. We fear to lose it, and we even fight over it, which can lead to the break up of friends or family. As with all samsaric pleasures, we suffer when we have too little of them and suffer also when we have too much.

Śāntideva then moves on to explain the pain and suffering that is brought about by our attachment to oneself and others, and also to material possessions. In the following verses, he touches on how exhausting life can be when we are constantly chasing after wealth.

To gather riches young boys are unable, And what can they enjoy when they’re full grown? The whole of life is spent in gaining wealth, But then they’re old—too old to satisfy their lust!

Verse 8.72

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 119
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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བྱིས་པ་ནོར་སྤེལ་མི་ནུས་པས། །

དར་ལ་བབ་ན་འདིས་ཅི་བདེ། ། ནོར་བསོག་པ་ཡིས་ཚེ་གཏུགས་ན། །

རྒས་ནས་འདོད་པས་ཅི་ཞིག་བྱ། །

Some are wretched in their great desire, But worn out by their daylong work, They go home broken by fatigue To sleep the slumbers of a corpse.

Verse 8.73

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 119
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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འདོད་ལྡན་ངན་པ་ཁ་ཅིག་ནི། །

ཉིན་རིངས་* ཉིན་རངས་ in the source text. ལས་ཀྱིས་ཡོངས་དུབ་སྟེ། ། ཁྱིམ་དུ་འོངས་ནས་ཆད་པའི་ལུས། །

རོ་དང་འདྲ་བར་ཉལ་བར་བྱེད། །

Our whole lives are often spent trying to accumulate wealth. But what use is this to us? Śāntideva questions. All it does is wear us out and cause us to age beyond our years. The young work hard to support themselves, to build a family life and support children. But then when they finally get to retire, they are already too old and cannot enjoy what they worked so hard to gain.

Khenpo Kunpal very vividly captures the sufferings that we face when we get caught in the trap of chasing after wealth.

There are some miserable people who have much desire but who spend their entire days working. From the early morning they plough the fields, cut the hay, shear their sheep. It is already night when they go home, worn out by the day's work; and broken with fatigue, they sleep the slumbers of a corpse. Then as soon as they awake, back they go to work. Their lives are a continuous hardship.^[30]

We can all relate to this in our modern lives. People work day and night to earn a good salary and to achieve status and success. And yet, even if successful, they have so little time to enjoy the fruits of their labor. They come home exhausted with only enough energy to fall asleep, and then they are back up again early the next morning. We are unable to break this unhappy cycle, and slowly it ages us and wears us out.

Śāntideva reminds us also of the pain and suffering for those who, in pursuit of wealth and riches, choose to leave their homeland and travel far away.

Some, wearied by their travels far from home, Must suffer separation from their wives And children whom they love and long to see. They do not meet with them for years on end.[p.120]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 8.74

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 119
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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ཁ་ཅིག་བྱེས་བགྲོད་ཉོན་མོངས་དང་། །

རིང་དུ་སོང་བའི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་ཅན། ། བུ་སྨད་འདོད་བཞིན་བུ་སྨད་རྣམས། །

ཁྱུད་འཁོར་ལོས་ཀྱང་མཐོང་མི་འགྱུར། །

Although such people set out with the intention to earn a living so they can support their family, they may end up traveling thousands of miles away to other lands, which results in the separation from their spouses and loved ones for many years to come.

In his commentary, Gyalse Tokme Zangpo provides us with six additional outlines for this section of the text, explaining the further drawbacks of attachment: (1) we will accrue physical suffering, (2) it will prevent any opportunity for liberation,(3) presenting the drawbacks through example, (4) it will waste our freedoms and endowments, (5) we will suffer for no great reason, and (6) the suffering is beyond comparison.^[31]

1. We Will Accrue Physical Suffering
Śāntideva points out how, through attachment and the wish to benefit themselves, some may even sell their services or their bodies to others for the purpose of gain.

Some, ambitious for prosperity, Not knowing how to get it, sell themselves. Happiness eludes their grasp and pointlessly They live and labor for their masters.

Verse 8.75

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 120
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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བདག་ལ་ཕན་འདོད་རྣམ་[p.87]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. རྨོངས་པས། །

གང་དོན་ཉིད་དུ་བཙོངས་པ་ཡང་། ། དེ་མ་ཐོབ་པར་དོན་མེད་པའི། །

གཞན་གྱི་ལས་ཀྱི་རླུང་གིས་བདས། །

Some sell themselves, no longer free, In bondage, slavery to others. (8.76ab)^[32]

Unfortunately, as they are deluded with regard to the methods that will bring about the benefit, some people often end up in bad conditions or with a very bad wage. With their freedom taken away and their fate blown about by the wind of others' whims, they cannot achieve their desired results and instead experience only suffering.

Ensnared by the objects of their desire, some foolish people may even decide to try to make their fortune by going to war, even if they fear for their lives. Hopeful of a great bounty at the end of it, instead of a profitable reward, they often must risk or even lose their own lives.

Fools deceived by craving for a livelihood Decide that they will make their fortune In the wars, though fearful for their lives. And seeking gain, it’s slavery they get.

Verse 8.77

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 120
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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འདོད་པས་བསླུས་པའི་གླེན་པ་དག །

འཚོ་འདོད་འཚོ་བར་བྱའོ་ཞེས། ། སྲོག་སྟོར་དོགས་བཞིན་གཡུལ་དུ་འཇུག །

ཁེ་ཕྱིར་བྲན་དུ་འགྲོ་བར་བྱེད། །

In the last line of this verse, Śāntideva says that there are also some people who, through attachment to desirous things and for assistance in order to get the better of their enemies, will pay protection money to cruel and powerful people. However, they must then submit to them, becoming their slave and living in constant fear.

In summary, Śāntideva reminds us of the immediate problems that arise in this life, when we have too much attachment to possessions and property.

The pain of gaining, keeping, and of losing all! See the endless hardships brought on us by property! (8.79ab)^[33]

He points out how striving for the objects of desire is a constant source of suffering. Initially, we have to make great effort and endure many hardships to attain those things. But even if we are fortunate enough to obtain them, there is then the difficulty of holding on to them and the constant worry that we will lose that which we own or have it stolen away. And at the end, we all have to suffer the loss of leaving all that we gained behind. Gyaltsap Je puts this point very succinctly, stating, "As the accumulation, protecting and lastly losing of wealth is all suffering, one should understand wealth to be the root of infinite destruction and faults."^[34]

2. It Will Prevent Any Opportunity for Liberation
Having covered the hardships that we encounter in this life as a result of our attachment to material things, Śāntideva then moves on to explain that not just in this life, but in the future, these strong attachments will prevent us from attaining even liberation from samsara, let alone the fully enlightened state of a buddha.

For those distracted by their love of wealth There is no chance for freedom from the sorrows of existence. (8.79ab)^[35]

Khenpo Kunga Wangchuk explains the meaninglessness of chasing after all our desires and the long-term consequences of that as follows:

Those whose minds are completely distracted by attachment to all this contaminated wealth that lacks any essence will be separated from the practice of the path of the three higher trainings. They will never have any opportunity to attain nirvana, the liberation from the sufferings of the cycle of existence.^[36]

3. Presenting the Drawbacks through Example
Explaining through example, Śāntideva shows us how attachment reduces us to the level of little more than oxen.

They indeed, possessed of many wants, Will suffer many troubles, all for very little: They’re like the ox that pulls the cart And catches bits of grass along the way.

Verse 8.80

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 120
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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འདོད་ལྡན་རྣམས་ལ་དེ་ལ་སོགས། །

ཉེས་དམིགས་མང་ལ་མནོག་ཆུང་སྟེ། ། ཤིང་རྟ་འདྲེན་པའི་ཕྱུགས་དག་གིས། །

རྩྭ་ནི་ཁམ་འགའ་ཟོས་པ་བཞིན། །

The desirous who crave only the purposes of this life find it hard to experience much happiness from all their hard work to achieve their desired goals. They become like an ox, who must work extremely hard against its wishes to pull the heavy load of the cart. Occasionally, they are able to reach out and grab a small tuft of grass, but that can only sustain them for a short time.

Gyaltsap Je expands on this point of how attachment causes us to become like simple animals.

For example, like an ox that, while pulling the cart, can grab a bit of grass from time to time, to work to achieve happiness and clear away suffering only in this life is something even animals stronger than humans do; it is something the ox also does.^[37]

4. Wasting Our Freedoms and Endowments
Śāntideva returns to the very important topic of our precious human rebirth to encourage us to avoid attachment and make the best use of this precious opportunity.

For sake of such a paltry thing, Which is not rare, which even beasts can find, Tormented by their karma, they destroy This precious human life so hard to find.[p.121]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 8.81

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 120
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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ཕྱུགས་ཀྱིས་བསྒྲུབ་ནའང་མི་དཀོན་པའི། །

མནོག་ཆུང་གང་ཡིན་དེའི་དོན་དུ། ། དལ་འབྱོར་ཕུན་སུམ་རྙེད་དཀའ་འདི། །

ལས་ཀྱིས་མནར་བ་རྣམས་ཀྱིས་བཅོམ། །

We find ourselves tormented by the actions driven by craving objects, which are deceptive. Seeing them to be the source of happiness when in fact they bring suffering, we destroy this perfect opportunity to practice the Dharma, instead wasting our time on trying to obtain just a few insignificant pleasures of this life, such as food and shelter. But these things are not rare—even ordinary animals will spend all their energy on trying to obtain them. Contemplating these faults, we should make great effort to take the essence of this mental and physical support, replete with all the freedoms and endowments.

5. Suffering for No Great Purpose
Śāntideva then pleads with us to understand the foolishness of our behavior. The objects of our attachment are so temporary, and yet on account of them many future pains await us.

All that we desire is sure to perish, On which account we fall to hellish pain. For what amounts to very little We must suffer constant and exhausting weariness.

Verse 8.82

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 121
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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འདོད་པ་ངེས་པར་འཇིག་འགྱུར་[p.88]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. ཞིང་། །

དམྱལ་ལ་སོགས་པར་ལྟུང་བྱེད་པ། ། ཆེན་པོ་མིན་ཕྱིར་དུས་ཀུན་ཏུ། །

དུབ་པའི་ཚེགས་ཆུང་གང་ཡིན་པ། །

All the objects of our desire are impermanent. What has been accumulated will eventually be exhausted, what comes together must eventually separate, and what is born must die. It is the nature of compounded phenomena that in the end they are destroyed.

Thrangu Rinpoche explains how much difficulty we are prepared to endure for small samsaric pleasures, and yet how comparatively little the suffering on the path to enlightenment is.

Whatever is done out of desire or attachment will have unfortunate results. There is a great deal of suffering that comes from attachment. Enlightenment itself is reached by just going through a comparatively small amount of suffering when it is compared to the amount of suffering that we go through as a result of desire. The suffering that we take upon ourselves to reach enlightenment has a great purpose, whereas the suffering that comes from fulfilling our desires is completely wasted and meaningless.^[38]

6. The Suffering Is Beyond Comparison
Here, Gyalse Thokme reflects on the results of our desire.

If we think about the sufferings such as the hell realms, which are the results of desire, the desire cannot compare to the comparisons which are used (for it), such as weapons, poison, fire, a precipice, and an enemy.^[39]

All our efforts invested in these areas of worldly life are never fully satisfying. But Śāntideva reminds us that if we applied such diligence to the spiritual path, it would yield an unimaginably greater harvest, with far less suffering along the way.

With but a millionth part of such vexation Enlightenment itself could be attained! Those who crave are plagued far more than those engaged upon the path, Yet Buddhahood is not what they attain!

Verse 8.83

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དེ་ཡི་བྱེ་བའི་ཆ་ཙམ་གྱི། །

ཚེགས་ཀྱིས་སངས་རྒྱས་ཉིད་འགྲུབ་ན། ། འདོད་ལྡན་བྱང་ཆུབ་སྤྱོད་པ་བས། །

སྡུག་བསྔལ་ཆེ་ལ་བྱང་ཆུབ་མེད། །

Reflection on the Excellent Qualities of Solitude

In verses 85 to 89, Śāntideva again mentions the benefits of solitude. In earlier passages he tries to inspire us to seek out remote places, but here he is trying to encourage us to remain there. Having set up our residence in solitude, it is possible for doubts and longings to again draw us back into the world. He uses enticing images of peaceful forests and the brush of gentle woodland breezes to encourage us to remain there dedicated to our task, and he argues that we must understand the pain of all that goes with our material lives and instead live free of care, roaming the remote places.

So, revolted by our lust and wanting, Let us now rejoice in solitude, In places empty of all conflict and defilement: The peace and stillness of the forest.

Verse 8.85

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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་ལྟར་འདོད་ལ་སྐྱོ་བྱས་ཏེ། །

དབེན་པ་ལ་ནི་དགའ་བ་བསྐྱེད། ། རྩོད་དང་ཉོན་མོངས་ཀྱིས་སྟོང་པ། །

ཞི་བའི་ནགས་ཀྱི་ནང་དག་ཏུ། །

Happy those intent on others’ good, Who roam in pleasant places formed of massive stone, Refreshed by moonlight’s sandal-scented beams, By gentle woodland breezes soothed!

Verse 8.86

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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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སྐལ་ལྡན་ཟླ་འོད་ཙནྡན་གྱིས་བསིལ་བའི། །

ཡངས་པའི་རྡོ་ལེབ་ཁང་བཟང་ཉམས་དགའ་བར། ། སྒྲ་མེད་ཞི་བའི་ནགས་ཀླུང་གཡོབ་པ་ཡིས། །

གཞན་ལ་ཕན་དོན་སེམས་ཤིང་འཆག་པར་བྱེད། །

In caves, beneath the trees, in houses left abandoned, May we linger long as we might wish. Relinquishing the pain of guarding our possessions, Let us live in freedom, unconfined by cares.

Verse 8.87

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ཁང་སྟོང་ཤིང་དྲུང་ཕུག་དག་ཏུ། །

གང་དུ་ཇི་སྲིད་འདོད་གནས་ཤིང་། ། ཡོངས་འཛིན་སྲུང་བའི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་སྤངས། །

ལྟོས་པ་མེད་པར་བག་ཡངས་སྤྱོད། །

In summarizing the excellence of solitude and the tremendous benefits of contentment, Khenpo Kunpal quotes the following verse from Nāgārjuna's Letter to a Friend (Suhṛllekha).

Of every kind of wealth, contentment is supreme: This the Teacher of both gods and humankind has taught. Therefore be content. If so you are, You may have nothing but are rich indeed!^[40]

2. Working With the Objects of Śamatha Meditation

In Patrul Rinpoche's text, the second major outline of the eighth chapter is working with the objects of śamatha (or calm-abiding) meditation. In this chapter Śāntideva almost exclusively discusses using bodhicitta as the object of his śamatha meditation in order to increase the strength of this mind of enlightenment.

In the Mahāyāna tradition, there are two main methods for developing relative bodhicitta, the mind wishing to attain enlightenment to most effectively work for the welfare of all sentient beings. There is the tradition of the seven-point cause and effect, originating with Maitreya and coming through Asaṅga. And the second tradition, dealt with extensively in the second half of this chapter, is the equalization and exchange of self and others. This tradition is said to come from Mañjuśrī and then through Nāgārjuna to Śāntideva.

How to Meditate on Equalizing Self and Others (Verses 91 to 110)

In his commentary, Gyaltsap Je presents the basic method for meditating on this equalizing of self and others, stating,

Just as we act to accomplish our own happiness and prevent our own suffering, others equally act to cast off their suffering and take up happiness. Therefore, we should protect all sentient beings, cherishing them just as we do ourselves.^[41]

Such a statement, while attractive and aspirational, is easier said than done.

In our lives most of us have remained convinced that an "I" truly exists, even though we can never find that "I" under analysis. On the basis of this belief, we consider that we have a right to be happy and have a right to escape unhappiness. But surely all other sentient beings have this same right too. Why should we strive for only our own happiness and not take responsibility for others' happiness? Why should we make an effort to avoid suffering for ourselves and not be responsible for doing the same for others? Śāntideva calls on us to look deeply into the question of why we should be so much more important than all the other living beings.

We may feel it is impossible to accustom ourselves to this way of thinking. But actually, if we train ourselves, we can come to understand how all beings are in the same predicament as ourselves. Eventually, we will be able to develop the wish to protect others from suffering in just the same way as we currently do with ourselves. It is a matter of training and familiarization.

With the basic intent set out, how then do we train our minds so that we can gradually equalize our sense of self and others? Śāntideva eloquently explains this in the root text in verse 91.

The hand and other limbs are many and distinct, But all are one—the body to be kept and guarded. Likewise, different beings, in their joys and sorrows, Are, like me, all one in wanting happiness.

Verse 8.91

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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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ལག་པ་ལ་སོགས་དབྱེ་བ་རྣམ་མང་ཡང་། །

ཡོངས་སུ་བསྲུང་བྱའི་ལུས་སུ་གཅིག་པ་ལྟར། ། དེ་བཞིན་འགྲོ་བ་ཐ་དད་བདེ་སྡུག་དག །

ཐམས་ཅད་བདག་བཞིན་བདེ་བ་འདོད་མཉམ་གཅིག །

On a conventional level, we can look at how we protect ourselves and our body in daily life. In normal situations we can easily differentiate the different parts of our body, such as the arms or the legs. But in a moment of danger, there is an immediate feeling of wishing to protect each part of ourselves as though they were all one thing, all part of "one" body that we innately hold to be "mine."

Likewise, there are many different kinds of sentient life, all living in different realms and with completely different experiences. Yet all are equal in wishing for happiness and not wishing to have suffering. Khenpo Kunpal delves deeper into this feeling of "I" and "mine." He reminds us that there is no real logical basis with which to exclusively connect it to our own mind and body—in reality, it can be extended outward infinitely to encompass all other sentient life.

It is the mind that says "my body," and it is on the basis of this idea of a single entity that it is possible to impute the notions of "I," "mine," and all the rest. To claim, moreover, that it is reasonable to attach the name "I" to this aggregate and not to another is quite unfounded. Consequently, it is taught that the name "I" can be applied to the whole collection of suffering beings. It is possible for the mind to think, "They are myself."^[42]

To strengthen the sense of closeness in our relationships with others, Patrul Rinpoche brings in the notion that all sentient beings have been our dear mother. Illustrating this, he quotes from Nāgārjuna's Letter to a Friend.

If each mother in the lineage of mothers Were considered as a ball the size of a juniper seed, The whole earth could not contain their number. (v.68)^[43]

Patrul Rinpoche encourages us to use scriptural quotations and logical reasonings to cultivate the understanding of this very close connection that we have with others. He then explains how to take that feeling of closeness and connect it to the practice of equalizing of self and others.

Whenever we experience happiness, we can cultivate this thought from the depths of your heart: "May all beings find such happiness and its causes!" And likewise, whenever we experience suffering, we can cultivate the following wish from the very core of our bones: "May I and all beings be free from suffering and its causes!"^[44]

So far these forms of analysis have taken place on a more relative level. But in his commentary to the root text, Khenpo Kunpal takes a deeper look into the status of self and others from the ultimate perspective. At this deepest level of reality, no individual "I" separate from "others" can be found. As he explains:

Although they have no ultimate grounds for doing so, all beings think in terms of "I" and "mine." Because of this, they have a conception of "other," fixated on as something alien—though this too has no basis in reality. Aside from being merely mental imputations, "I" and "other" are totally unreal. They are both illusory. Moreover, when the nonexistence of "I" is realized, the notion of "other" also disappears, for the simple reason that "other" is only posited in relation to the thought of "I." Just as it is impossible to cut the sky in two with a knife, when the space-like quality of egolessness is realized, it is no longer possible to make a separation between "I" and "other," and there arises an attitude of wanting to protect others as oneself and of taking them as one's own. As it is said, "Whoever casts aside the ordinary, trivial view of self, will discover the profound meaning of great 'Selfhood.'"

Thus, for the realization of the equality of "I" and "other," it is essential to grasp that "I" and "other" are merely labels without any basis in reality. This vital point of egolessness is difficult to understand, difficult even for a person of high intelligence. Thus, as the teachings say, it is of great importance that egolessness be clearly demonstrated and assimilated.^[45]

We develop the realization that at an ultimate level it is impossible to make any separation between self and others. These reference points are merely labels for something that has no underlying intrinsic existence of its own. Free from these ingrained reference points, a sense of greater "selfhood" arises, which embraces all, and naturally from that arises the sense of equally wishing to protect all.

This topic is the subject of great debate among the different commentators, with some arguing that without the correct realization of emptiness our practice of developing bodhicitta will never be complete.^[46]

Śāntideva then moves on to the main body of the practice of equalizing self and others. The next verses delve into why we feel it is so important to remove our own suffering and yet seem to disregard the suffering of others.

This pain of mine does not afflict Or cause discomfort to another’s body, And yet this pain is hard for me to bear Because I cling and take it for my own.

Verse 8.92

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གལ་ཏེ་བདག་གི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་གྱིས། །

གཞན་གྱི་ལུས་ལ་མི་གནོད་པ། ། དེ་ལྟའང་དེ་བདག་སྡུག་བསྔལ་དེ། །

བདག་ཏུ་ཞེན་པས་མི་བཟོད་ཉིད། །

And other beings’ pain I do not feel, and yet, Because I take them for myself,98In other words, Shāntideva will help others in just the same way that he attends to the needs of his own body. Their suffering is mine and therefore hard to bear.

Verse 8.93

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དེ་བཞིན་གཞན་གྱི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་དག །

བདག་ལ་འབབ་པར་མི་འགྱུར་ཡང་། ། དེ་ལྟའང་དེ་བདག་སྡུག་བསྔལ་དེ། །

བདག་ཏུ་ཞེན་པས་བཟོད་པར་དཀའ། །

Uninterested in the pain of others, we may defensively reply that others' physical suffering does not in any way harm one's own body, and one's own physical suffering does not harm others' bodies. Therefore, it is incorrect to think that dispelling their suffering is equivalent to dispelling one's own suffering. On this, Gyaltsap Je explains Śāntideva's perspective as a bodhisattva.

Even though one's suffering does not harm the body of others, and the suffering of others does not harm oneself, their suffering is one's own suffering. By grasping at oneself as 'self' one finds one's own suffering unbearable. Similarly, by meditating on holding other sentient beings as self, even though their sufferings do not fall upon oneself to experience, their sufferings become sufferings to be cleared by oneself, because by holding sentient beings as one's own self, if they experience sufferings, they become difficult to bear for oneself.^[47]

It is true that the pains of others do not directly harm us, but if we are a bodhisattva, then we must consider others as ourselves. Therefore, others' pain becomes ours as well, and as our own they are then unbearable to us.

We now come to the core of Śāntideva's argument for the equalization of self and others. He presents it in the form of a logical syllogism. First, he states the thesis of his argument as follows:

And therefore I'll dispel the pain of others, For it is simply pain, just like my own. (8.94ab)^[48]

The syllogism is that I (the subject) will dispel the pain of others (the predicate) because it is pain (the reason, hetu), just as I dispel my own pain (similar example).

Khenpo Kunpal adds to this by saying that the pain is completely useless to others and brings them no ultimate benefit. Just as he dispels the sufferings of thirst and hunger etc., which harm him, so too will he dispel others' pain purely for the reason that it is pain.^[49]

Conversely, Śāntideva promises to provide others with all possible happiness just because they are sentient beings.

And others I will aid and benefit, For they are living beings, like my body. (8.94cd)^[50]

This syllogistic argument is as follows: I (subject) will aid and benefit all other living beings (predicate) because they are living beings (reason), just as I do with my own body (similar example).

These are the two main logical arguments in this section of the equality of self and others. The arguments may seem disarmingly simple, but when we really look into our emotional life and start debating with our selfishness, we will start to see the underlying beauty and profundity of what is being presented here.

Śāntideva then goes on to explain the pervasion of the argument.

Since I and other beings both, In wanting happiness, are equal and alike, What difference is there to distinguish us, That I should strive to have my bliss alone?[p.123]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 8.95

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གང་ཚེ་བདག་དང་གཞན་གཉིས་ཀ །

བདེ་བ་འདོད་དུ་མཚུངས་པ་ལ། ། བདག་དང་ཁྱད་པར་ཅི་ཡོད་ན། །

གང་ཕྱིར་བདག་གཅིག་བདེ་བར་བརྩོན། །

This verse reflects the idea that there is not the slightest difference between ourselves and others in our mutual wish for happiness. Therefore, what possible reason could there be for not working for the happiness of others? It does not make any sense at all to strive only for one's own happiness.

Since I and other beings both, In fleeing suffering, are equal and alike, What difference is there to distinguish us, That I should save myself and not the others?

Verse 8.96

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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་བདག་དང་གཞན་གཉིས་ཀ །[p.90]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.

སྡུག་བསྔལ་མི་འདོད་མཚུངས་པ་ལ། ། བདག་དང་ཁྱད་པར་ཅི་ཡོད་ན། །

གང་ཕྱིར་གཞན་མིན་བདག་བསྲུང་བྱེད། །

Taking a similar argument, we can also see that there is not the slightest difference between ourselves and others in terms of wanting to avoid the experience of suffering. So for what reason do we fail to protect others from suffering? It is illogical to think of protecting only ourselves.

Countering Objections to These Reasons for Equalizing Self and Others

But we may object to this assertion that we should dispel others' pain.

Since the pain of others does no harm to me, I do not shield myself from it. (8.97ab)^[51]

We may argue that there is no need to do anything to protect others from their pain, for the reason that their pain does not harm us at all in the present. Putting aside the argument that it is possible in some mental way for us to also experience suffering when encountering other's pain, then we may argue that their suffering in no way directly brings about our own suffering. Śāntideva's calm response to this is to point out the logical flaw in our argument.

So why to guard against "my" future pain, Which does no harm to this, my present "me"? (8.97cd)^[52]

He questions why we spend so much time trying to protect ourselves from our own future suffering. That future suffering does not currently harm us in any way. In fact, the potential future suffering does not currently exist and may never exist at all. It is a projection of our fears onto the future that may never come to pass. Yet we still expend all our energy planning for this uncertain future and seek ways to prevent future suffering, even though it does not directly harm us. Yet right here, right now, there is another person undergoing immediate suffering, so why do we not help?

Another objection we may raise against this practice might be that really encountering others' pain, and being compassionate in the face of that, will cause us to suffer more. And since the whole import of all these arguments is to remove suffering, what is the point of generating compassion which does not directly help the other and only brings further pain to oneself? Śāntideva directly addresses this argument in verse 104.

"Compassion makes us feel such pain,” you say, "So why should we make efforts to engender it?” But thinking of the sufferings of beings, How can you regard as great the smart of your compassion?

Verse 8.104

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སྙིང་རྗེ་སྡུག་བསྔལ་མང་གྱུར་པས། །

ཅི་ཕྱིར་ནན་གྱིས་བསྐྱེད་ཅེ་ན། ། འགྲོ་བའི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་བསམ་བྱས་ནས། །

ཇི་ལྟར་སྙིང་རྗེ་སྡུག་བསྔལ་མང་། །

In answer to that question, in the last two lines of the verse, Śāntideva responds that it is true that developing compassion does have an aspect of being painful, as we expose ourselves to the pain of the world. But when we compare this pain we feel to all the sufferings of beings wandering aimlessly through the different samsaric realms, this feeling of compassion is only a tiny thing. And since this compassion is a cause for eliminating the greater sufferings of samsara, we should endure this tiny personal pain.

Gyaltsap Je and Khenpo Kunpal approach these verses in different ways. Gyaltsap argues that when bodhisattvas contemplate other sentient beings' suffering, their own suffering does not increase at all. But through their compassion, all their own feelings of suffering are eliminated.^[53] Khenpo Kunpal, on the other hand, admits that there is suffering, even for the bodhisattva. But he points out that for the contemplation of suffering, for instance the suffering of the hell realms, we only need to think of those sufferings, which is nothing compared to the intense agony actually suffered by beings in that realm.^[54] Both of these positions are united though in their interpretation of verse 105.

And if through such a single pain A multitude of sorrows can be cured, Such pain as this all loving people Strive to foster in themselves and others.

Verse 8.105

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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་སྡུག་བསྔལ་གཅིག་གིས་ནི། །

སྡུག་བསྔལ་མང་པོ་མེད་འགྱུར་ན། ། བརྩེ་དང་ལྡན་པས་སྡུག་བསྔལ་དེ། །

རང་དང་གཞན་ལ་བསྐྱེད་བྱ་ཉིད། །

The pain that can arise through strong compassion for others is likened to the incision of a surgeon's knife. There is an immediate pain at the point of incision, but the act is for the long-term purpose of curing the disease. So the verse tells us we should strive to take on this lighter pain because through it a multitude of other beings' sufferings can be cured. In his commentary, Khenpo Kunpal puts this sentiment quite eloquently, stating,

If it is by the single pain of a compassionate person that the many sufferings of other beings are removed, then loving persons must surely foster such pain both in themselves and other practitioners!^[55]

If we have real affection for other living beings, then we should be prepared to undergo the small and insignificant sufferings which may arise as part of our compassion, for through these smaller difficulties the many sufferings of others can be eliminated.

This section concludes with a verse connected with the bodhisattva Supuṣhpachandra, who lived during the time of a past Buddha, and is related in The King of Concentrations Sūtra (Samādhirājasūtra).

Thus Supuṣhpachandra,99The Bodhisattva Supuṣhpachandra was forbidden by the king Shūradatta to teach the Dharma on pain of death. Knowing, however, that many would benefit from his teaching, Supuṣhpachandra disobeyed and went cheerfully to his execution. The story is found in the Samādhirāja-sūtra. Knowing that the king would cause him harm, Did nothing to escape from tribulation, That the pains of many should be ended.

Verse 8.106

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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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དེས་ན་མེ་ཏོག་ཟླ་མཛེས་ཀྱིས། །

རྒྱལ་པོའི་གནོད་པ་ཤེས་ཀྱང་ནི། ། བདག་གི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་མ་བསལ་ཏེ། །

མང་པོའི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་ཟད་འགྱུར་ཕྱིར། །

King Shūradatta had forbidden the bodhisattva Supuṣhpachandra from teaching the Dharma and threatened him with death if he were to do so. However, Supuṣhpachandra decided against selfishly protecting his own life, knowing that his teachings would be of great benefit to others. He disobeyed the king and went ahead and taught the Dharma, going cheerfully to his death as a result. This story gives an idea of the power of training in the practices of bodhicitta and how our limited minds can be so dramatically transformed.

The Benefits of Such a Practice

Having countered all the objections raised in relation to the practice of equalizing self and others, Śāntideva then turns to the great benefits that accrue from developing this kind of mind. Firstly, he mentions the joy that arises for the bodhisattva when they swoop in to help relieve the pain of others.

Those whose minds are practiced in this way, Whose joy it is to soothe another’s ills, Will venture into hell of Unrelenting Pain As swans sweep down upon a lotus lake.

Verse 8.107

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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་ལྟར་རྒྱུད་ནི་གོམས་གྱུར་པ། །

གཞན་གྱི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་ཞི་དགའ་བས། ། པདྨའི་མཚོ་རུ་ངང་པ་ལྟར། །

མནར་མེད་པར་ཡང་འཇུག་པར་འགྱུར། །

Slowly, through practice and familiarization, we can become accustomed to this view. We will be able to feel constant joy in the wish to relieve others of both their temporary and deeper sufferings. It will provide us with the courage to dive even into the deepest of the hell realms in order to help relieve the most acute pains of others, like swans swooping down upon a lake festooned with lotuses.

The Exchange of Self and Others

Having developed the mind equalizing self and others through the contemplations and meditations above, the second phase of this method of cultivating bodhicitta is the exchanging of ourselves with others. Śāntideva reminds us that it will be impossible to find any kind of lasting worldly happiness without the mindset which exchanges self with others, let alone achieving the fully enlightened state. In verse 113 he introduces the basic principle of the exchange of self and others.

Perceiving now the faults possessed by "I,” The ocean of good qualities that are in "other,” I shall lay aside all love of self And gain the habit of adopting other beings.

Verse 8.113

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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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བདག་ཉིད་སྐྱོན་བཅས་གཞན་ལ་ཡང་། །

ཡོན་ཏན་རྒྱ་མཚོར་ཤེས་བྱས་ནས། ། བདག་འཛིན་ཡོངས་སུ་དོར་བ་དང་། །

གཞན་བླང་བ་ནི་བསྒོམ་པར་བྱ། །

We try to look clearly at the reality of things—how we have so many faults and how the qualities of others stretch out like the vast ocean.

We may wonder why this is so. Why do others particularly have so many more qualities than ourselves? Gyaltsap Je expands on this point as follows:

Since cherishing oneself is the source of all shortcomings it is faulty and needs to be abandoned with great purpose, and since cherishing other sentient beings is the source of all that is good, it has an ocean of qualities. Understanding this, one should meditate on completely abandoning cherishing self and accept cherishing others.^[56]

One of the obstacles we face in our thinking is that we find it hard to accept that if sentient beings are limitless, then how could we possibly hold them all as dearly as we hold ourselves. In the next verse, Śāntideva responds to this doubt.

Just as hands and other limbs Are thought of as the members of a body, Can we likewise not consider others As the limbs and members of a living whole?

Verse 8.114

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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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ཇི་ལྟར་ལག་པ་ལ་སོགས་པ། །

ལུས་ཀྱི་ཡན་ལག་ཡིན་འདོད་ལྟར། ། དེ་བཞིན་འགྲོ་བའི་ཡན་ལག་ཏུ། །

ཅི་ཕྱིར་ལུས་ཅན་རྣམས་མི་འདོད། །

He argues that we are able to take distinct entities, such as the hands and feet of our body, and think of them collectively as a single entity. With the strong wish to protect that one entity, which is the collective of all those parts, we also protect each individual part. Why, therefore, can we not take to be ourselves the different entities which are the "other" sentient beings living throughout the six samsaric realms? Why would we not consider them to be just like the limbs of a living whole and feel like they are all one? At the hub of this argument is the idea of how we mentally group together different phenomena into parts of a collective.

Extensive Explanation of How to Exchange Self and Others

The previous verses gave us a quick overview of the importance of the exchange of self and others, but now Śāntideva delves much deeper into the practice. These steps involve, first of all, getting rid of self-cherishing.

To free myself from harm And others from their sufferings, Let me give myself to others, Loving them as I now love myself.

Verse 8.136

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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་ལྟས་བདག་གནོད་ཞི་བ་དང་། །

གཞན་གྱི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་ཞི་བྱའི་ཕྱིར། ། བདག་ཉིད་གཞན་ལ་བཏང་བ་དང་། །

གཞན་རྣམས་བདག་བཞིན་གཟུང་བར་བྱ། །

The direct antidote to self-cherishing is cherishing others by completely giving ourselves over to others and loving them as we love ourselves. It is important to note that this exchange is essentially an exchange of the exaggerated prioritization of our own welfare over that of others. It is not physically possible to be in the shoes of another or to literally perform an exchange where we become them and them us. Here, Khenpo Kunpal brings in a quote to highlight the root of all of our negativity.

Having "I," we know of "other." From "I" and "other," clinging and aversion manifest. And it is from these two, so closely linked, That every evil, every sin appears.^[57]

With a strong egoistic sense of "I," we then divide up the world into "self" and "other." This ties in with our deep-seated attachment to self and aversion to anything which is "other" than self. With this framework we easily engage in selfish actions to protect ourselves and aggressive actions which harm others. This eventually rains down on us a harvest of pain and suffering.

The antidote which reverses this process is to cherish others in just the same way we cherish ourselves, to give ourselves away to others fully. In his commentary, Thubten Chokyi Drakpa explains how this process of reversing the focus of self-cherishing works.

If presenting a summary of this method of exchanging self and others, the meaning of "exchanging self and others" is exchanging the position of our self-cherishing and the neglect of others. We give rise to the mind which cherishes others as we did ourselves and forsakes ourselves just as we did others.^[58]

The purpose of this form of mind training is to take the cherishing which we currently have for ourselves and transpose that onto others. We then take the lack of importance, the almost dismissive way in which we often relate to others, and transpose that attitude onto ourselves. On the basis of this, we cultivate giving away our own happiness to sentient beings and taking their sufferings upon ourselves.

Getting Rid of Self-Cherishing

Śāntideva teaches that one of the principal sources which leads to self-cherishing is attachment to our bodies. We exert ourselves fully in protecting it even from the smallest of dangers, such as bees and flies, and we harm others so that it may be clothed and fed.

Wishing to relieve our bodies’ ills, Our hungry mouths, the dryness of our throats, We steal the lives of fishes, birds, and deer And lie in wait along the road.

Verse 8.122

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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་གང་བཀྲེས་དང་སྐོམ་སོགས་ནད། །

གསོ་བའི་ཆོ་ག་བྱེད་འདོད་པས། ། བྱ་དང་ཉ་དང་རི་དྭགས་དག །

གསོད་པར་བྱེད་ཅིང་ལམ་སྒུགས་བྱེད། །

As embodied beings we naturally suffer hunger, thirst, and the effects of heat and cold. In order to relieve these conditions connected with our bodies, we are prepared to take the lives of other living creatures. We use their flesh for food and their skins to keep us warm. To obtain money to satisfy these physical needs, we may even take to a life of crime. The text also mentions how some of us are even driven to kill their own parents or steal from temples or the Three Jewels in order to satiate our greed. For these negativities, we will suffer unbearable agony in the lower realms.

Therefore, Śāntideva asks us, how can we consider ourselves to be wise if we exhibit such strong self-cherishing for the body?

Where are the wise and prudent then Who cherish, guard, and serve the body? Who would not perceive it as their foe, And as their foe, regard it with contempt?

Verse 8.124

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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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མཁས་པ་སུ་ཞིག་ལུས་དེ་ལ། །

འདོད་ཅིང་བསྲུང་དང་མཆོད་བྱེད་ཀྱི། ། འདི་ལ་སུ་ཞིག་དགྲ་བཞིན་དུ། །

བལྟ་བར་མི་བྱེད་བརྙས་མི་བྱེད། །

If we are skilled in thought, we will realize that this self-cherishing is a real enemy, which brings down great suffering upon our heads. It must be noticed that this teaching is designed to counterbalance the over-gratification of the body and is in no way meant to encourage us into forms of self-harm.

The Faults of Considering Oneself as Most Important and the Qualities of Considering Others as Most Important

In the next set of verses, Śāntideva begins by explaining the topic of generosity as a means to counteract our self-cherishing. He cites the danger of our way of thinking becoming like that of a hungry ghost (preta), whose only thought is what they can keep or obtain. This way of thinking and the actions that spring from it will lead us down to the realm of the hungry ghosts and flesh-eating demons. Instead, we must turn that miserly thinking around and consider that if we hang on to money or possessions for our own sake, then there will be very little left over to offer to others. This, he says, is the way of thinking that leads us to the celestial realm of buddhahood.

"If I give this, what will be left for me?” Thinking of oneself—the way of evil ghosts. "If I keep this, what will be left to give?” Concern for others is the way of heaven.102In other words, the way of Dharma, leading to the realization of Buddhahood—not, of course, the heavens of the worldly gods.

Verse 8.125

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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་བྱིན་ན་ཅི་སྤྱོད་ཅེས། །

བདག་དོན་སེམས་པ་འདྲེ་ཡི་ཚུལ། ། གལ་ཏེ་སྤྱོད་ན་ཅི་སྦྱིན་ཞེས། །

གཞན་དོན་སེམས་པ་ལྷ་ཡི་ཆོས། །

Khenpo Kunpal illustrates this attitude with the following story:

Once upon a time, in the country of King Brahmadana, no rain fell for twelve years. The whole population was fed from the royal treasury. Finally, the king even took the bushel of barley that had been set aside for himself and offered it to a Pratyekabuddha. As a result, the latter miraculously produced rain, so that the famine came to an end.^[59]

One part of the argument being made here rests on the karmic results that we will receive from the actions we perform. According to Śāntideva, through the power of self-cherishing, if we think only of our own selfish needs, the results will be birth in the lower realms. We will lack intelligence, be of unattractive appearance, and have inferior status compared to those around us. This attitude needs to be transformed into one in which we want only the best of everything for others. This will lead us to birth in the human realms, and we will be born in positions of wealth and authority.

Wanting what is best for me— Stupidity, inferiority, and lower realms result! Let this be changed, applied to others— Honors and the realms of bliss will come!

Verse 8.127

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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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བདག་ཉིད་མཐོ་བར་འདོད་པ་དེས། །

ངན་འགྲོ་ངན་དང་གླེན་པར་འགྱུར། ། དེ་ཉིད་གཞན་ལ་སྤོ་བྱས་ན། །

བདེ་འགྲོར་རིམ་གྲོ་འཐོབ་པར་འགྱུར། །

We have promised to give our happiness to others and take on their sufferings. If we fail to do this, not only will there not be any chance to advance on the path toward full enlightenment, but even in the worldly states we will find no joy.

If I do not interchange My happiness for others’ pain, Enlightenment will never be attained, And even in saṃsāra, joy will fly from me.

Verse 8.131

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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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བདག་བདེ་གཞན་གྱི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་དག །

ཡང་དག་བརྗེ་བར་མ་བྱས་ན། ། སངས་རྒྱས་ཉིད་དུ་མི་འགྲུབ་ཅིང་། །

འཁོར་བ་ན་ཡང་བདེ་བ་མེད། །

In verse 134, Śāntideva, again, clearly identifies the root of all of our suffering. All of the pain and suffering in all our lives—the birth, sickness, old age and death—all of this comes from ego-grasping. All the fear and aggression all come from there. The clinging to a solid, independent, inherently existing "I" binds us to the wheel of samsaric life. Like an invasive weed, if this ignorance is not completely pulled out by the root, the fruits of it will spring anew.

All the harm with which this world is rife, All fear and suffering that there is, Clinging to the "I” has caused it! What am I to do with this great demon?

Verse 8.134

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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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འཇིག་རྟེན་དག་ན་འཚེ་བ་གང་ཡོད་དང་། །

འཇིགས་དང་སྡུག་བསྔལ་ཇི་སྙེད་ཡོད་གྱུར་པ། ། དེ་ཀུན་བདག་ཏུ་འཛིན་པ་ལས་བྱུང་ན། །

འདྲེ་ཆེན་དེས་ཀོ་བདག་ལ་ཅི་ཞིག་བྱ། །

Khenpo Kunpal expands upon this particular verse and the evil that is caused by ego-clinging in the following way:

The three so-called rudras—which are the roots of samsaric existence—are the three kinds of ego-clinging, associated with thought, word, and deed. Ego-clinging is the mighty demon of the three worlds; it is the source of all evil spirits and deadly influences.^[60]

Having identified our ego-clinging and self-cherishing as the root of all our suffering, Śāntideva then argues that we must bring ourselves to a life of service to others, wherein all our thoughts and actions are motivated by being of benefit to others. In other words, we must exchange our service to ourselves with service to others.

"For I am now beneath the rule of others,” Of this you must be certain, O my mind. And now no longer shall you have a thought That does not wish the benefit of beings.[p.129]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 8.137

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 128
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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བདག་ནི་གཞན་གྱི་དབང་གྱུར་ཅེས། །

ཡིད་ཁྱོད་ངེས་པར་ཤེས་གྱིས་ལ། ། སེམས་ཅན་ཀུན་དོན་མ་གཏོགས་པར། །

ད་ནི་ཁྱོད་ཀྱིས་གཞན་མི་བསམ། །

In relation to this verse, Khenpo Kunpal explains how we must make the firm resolve that from this time onward we must have concern solely for others.

Once we have made this exchange, it follows that from that moment on, we are "beneath the rule of others." This is what we must tell ourselves; this is how we should inform our minds. We must resolve that from now on, concern for the benefit of all beings will take the place of the self-centered thoughts that we formerly had.^[61]

In the process of exchanging ourselves with others, we offer ourselves completely to them, so from now on we are "beneath the rule of others." Everything we do from now on should be for their sakes and not our own. Moreover, everything beneficial that comes to us must be used exclusively for their purposes.

Thus sentient beings will be my chief concern. And everything I see my body has Will all be seized and offered For the use and service of all other beings.

Verse 8.139

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 129
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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དེས་ན་སེམས་ཅན་གཙོར་བྱས་སྟེ། །

བདག་གི་ལུས་ལ་ཅི་མཐོང་བ། ། དེ་དང་དེ་ནི་ཕྲོགས་ནས་ཀྱང་། །

གཞན་དག་ལ་ནི་ཕན་པར་སྤྱོད། །

If we look inside of ourselves, it may be very hard for us to give up even small possessions or a small amount of money. But we must have the courage to be generous so that eventually we can give everything away without regret. This is the way to crush our attachment to self.

In the main body of the text, there is then a discussion of how to supplement our understanding of the exchange of self and others using a technique to evoke strong emotional responses in us in relation to others. This is done by visualizing a series of other people in different positions of status. One will be higher than us, one of similar capacity to us, and one lower than us. We then exchange ourselves with them by taking their position and then looking back at our former self, who is now in the position of the "other." We allow the natural feelings that occur in us to arise—that is, jealousy for those who are higher, competitiveness for those of similar status, and pride and disdain for those we consider to be inferior.

This process is done in order to show us those reactions that overcome us in our daily lives. This meditation allows us to see the destructive qualities of each of these emotions. Face to face with them, we see clearly how harmful they are, both to the one in whom it arises but also on the one who is subject to those emotions. This process helps to naturally reduce our jealousy, competitiveness, and pride. As they subside, so too does the self-cherishing mind, and then space is given for the mind which truly cherishes others to flourish.

For further details on this topic see the STUDY SECTION

Summary of the Chapter

At the end of the chapter, Śāntideva adopts a pragmatic approach. Though earlier in the chapter he talked extensively of the many faults of this body of ours, in the end he submits that it still can be of some use. It is all we have. If we can free ourselves from the claws of attachment, this vessel of tremendous potential can be employed in the great service of our own and all other beings' happiness. As Śāntideva states,

Therefore, free from all attachment, I will give this body for the benefit of beings. And though it is afflicted by so many faults, I shall adopt it as my necessary tool.

Verse 8.184

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 135
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་བས་བདག་གིས་ཆགས་མེད་པར། །

འགྲོ་ལ་ཕན་ཕྱིར་ལུས་བཏང་བྱ། ། དེས་ན་འདི་ལ་ཉེས་མང་ཡང་། །

ལས་ཀྱི་སྤྱད་བཞིན་གཟུང་བར་བྱ། །

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↑ Helena Blankleder and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans., The Nectar of Manjushri's Speech: A Detailed Commentary on Shantideva's Way of the Bodhisattva, by Kunzang Pelden (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2010), 258. For the verse in the Śikṣāsamuccayakārikā, see Śāntideva, "Bslab pa kun las btus pa'i tshig le'ur byas pa," in Derge Tengyur D3939, dbu ma, khi, vol. 111, 2b4-5, http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW23703_3939.
↑ Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and Jeremy Russell, trans., Stages of Meditation: The Buddhist Classic on Training the Mind, by the Dalai Lama and Kamalashila (Boulder, CO: Shambhala, 2019), 71.
↑ Tibetan Classics Translators Guild of New York, trans., The Dharma Council, Dharmasaṅgīti, Toh 238 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024), https://read.84000.co/translation/UT22084-065-001.html?#UT22084-065-001-532.
↑ Pema Karpo, A Lamp for the Middle Way: A Commentary on the Bodhisattvacharyavatara, Spyod 'jug gi 'bru 'grel dbu ma'i lam gyi sgron ma (Kathmandu: Shree Gautam Buddha Vihara, 2017), 69 (e-book). https://dharmacloud.tsadra.org/library/?post_types=book,book_author&search-terms=A+Lamp+for+the+Middle+Way:+A+Commentary+on+the+Bodhisattvacharyavatara&subjects=any&view=list/
↑ Pema Karpo, Lamp for the Middle Way, 69–70 (e-book). https://dharmacloud.tsadra.org/library/?post_types=book,book_author&search-terms=A+Lamp+for+the+Middle+Way:+A+Commentary+on+the+Bodhisattvacharyavatara&subjects=any&view=list/
↑ Kate Crosby and Andrew Skilton, trans., The Bodhicaryāvatāra: A Guide to the Buddhist Path to Awakening (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), 75.
↑ Adam Pearcey, trans., The Brightly Shining Sun, by Patrul Rinpoche (Lotsawa House, 2019), https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/patrul-rinpoche/bodhicharyavatara-brightly-shining-sun.
↑ Pearcey, Brightly Shining Sun, https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/patrul-rinpoche/bodhicharyavatara-brightly-shining-sun.
↑ Pearcey, Brightly Shining Sun, https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/patrul-rinpoche/bodhicharyavatara-brightly-shining-sun.
↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 259.
↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 259.
↑ Khenpo Kunga Wangchuk, A Commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra, Theg pa chen po'i mdo'i dgongs don gyi bstan bcos byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa zhes bya ba'i 'grel pa (Taiwan: Chos kyi blo gros rtsom sgrig khang, 2016), 508.
↑ Pema Karpo, Lamp for the Middle Way, 71.
↑ Fedor Stracke, trans., The Entrance for the Children of the Conquerors - A Commentary on the Introduction to the Actions of Bodhisattvas, Chapter Eight: The Way of Training in the Mental Stabilizations Contained in the Common and Uncommon Types of Calm Abiding, by Gyaltsab Rinpoche (N.p.: Happy Monks Publication, 2016), 4, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/. Note that the pagination starts over for every chapter in Stracke's translation.
↑ Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans., The Play in Full, Lalitavistara, Toh 95 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024), https://read.84000.co/translation/UT22084-046-001.html?#UT22084-046-001-864.
↑ Adrian O'Sullivan, trans., Bodhicaryāvatāra with Commentary, by Sonam Tsemo (Los Angeles: Dechen Foundation, 2019), 252. The word though here is probably a typo for through.
↑ Peter Alan Roberts and team, trans., The King of Samādhis Sūtra, Samādhirājasūtra, Toh 127 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2023), https://read.84000.co/translation/UT22084-055-001.html?#UT22084-055-001-905.
↑ Stracke, Entrance for the Children: Chapter Eight, 6, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/.
↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 262.
↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 263.
↑ Ngul Chu Thokme Zangpo, An Ocean of Excellent Explanation: A Commentary on Entering into the Conduct of the Bodhisattva, Byang chub sems spa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa'i rtsa ba dang 'grel pa legs par bshad pa'i rya mtsho (Varanasi: Sakya Students Union 2003), 268.
↑ Thrangu Rinpoche, Shantideva's A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life: Commentary by Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, trans. Ken Holmes, Katia Holmes, and Thomas Doctor (Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 2016), 150.
↑ Pearcey, Brightly Shining Sun, https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/patrul-rinpoche/bodhicharyavatara-brightly-shining-sun.
↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 269.
↑ Helena Blankleder and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans., The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra, by Śāntideva (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006), 114.
↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 270.
↑ Stracke, Entrance for the Children: Chapter Eight, 13, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/.
↑ Pearcey, Brightly Shining Sun, https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/patrul-rinpoche/bodhicharyavatara-brightly-shining-sun.
↑ Thānissaro Bhikkhu, The Failings of the World - Lokavipatti Sutta (AN 8:6), Dhammatalks.org, https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN8_6.html.
↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 276.
↑ Ngul Chu Thokme Zangpo, Ocean of Excellent Explanation, 114.
↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Way of the Bodhisattva, 119.
↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Way of the Bodhisattva, 120.
↑ Stracke, Entrance for the Children: Chapter Eight, 23, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/.
↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Way of the Bodhisattva, 120.
↑ Khenpo Kunga Wangchuk, Commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra, 557.
↑ Stracke, Entrance for the Children: Chapter Eight, 23, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/.
↑ Thrangu Rinpoche, Shantideva's A Guide, 162.
↑ Thokme Zangpo, Ocean of Excellent Explanation, 283.
↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 281
↑ NEEDS CITATION
↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 284.
↑ Pearcey, Brightly Shining Sun, https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/patrul-rinpoche/bodhicharyavatara-brightly-shining-sun. See also, Padmakara Translation Group, trans., Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend with Commentary by Kangyur Rinpoche (Boulder: Snow Lion Publications, 2013), 53.
↑ Pearcey, Brightly Shining Sun, https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/patrul-rinpoche/bodhicharyavatara-brightly-shining-sun.
↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 282–83.
↑ For more on this, see the essays concerning the ninth chapter on Wisdom, located in the STUDY SECTION.
↑ Stracke, Entrance for the Children: Chapter Eight, 28, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/.
↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Way of the Bodhisattva, 122.
↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 286.
↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Way of the Bodhisattva, 122.
↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Way of the Bodhisattva, 123.
↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Way of the Bodhisattva, 123.
↑ Stracke, Entrance for the Children: Chapter Eight, 32, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/.
↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 290.
↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 290.
↑ Stracke, Entrance for the Children: Chapter Eight, 35, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/.
↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 297. The source of these lines are not identified by Khenpo Kunpal.
↑ Thubten Chokyi Drakpa (Minyak Kunzang Sonam), Excellent Vase That Spills Forth an Ocean of the Inexhaustible and Precious Qualities of the Victor's Heirs: An Explanation of the "Way of the Bodhisattva," Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa'i 'grel bshad rgyal sras rgya mtsho'i yon tan rin po che mi zad 'jo ba'i bum bzang (Krungo: Tibetan Cultural Printing Press, 1990), 541.
↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 295.
↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 297.
↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 298.

Interconnections

Works related to this item

1 Scholarship on

Śāntideva (ཞི་བ་ལྷ་). Bodhicaryāvatāra [बोधिचर्यावतार]. byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa [བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྤྱོད་པ་ལ་འཇུག་པ།]. [The Way of the Bodhisattva]. Tengyur, RKTST 3216 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=3216&typ=2.

Classical WorksAbout this item

An "Introduction to Bodhisattva Practice," the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra is a poem about the path of a bodhisattva, in ten chapters, written by the Indian Buddhist Śāntideva (fl. c. 685–763). One of the masterpieces of world literature, it is a core text of Mahāyāna Buddhism and continues to be taught, studied, and commented upon in many languages and by many traditions around the world. The main subject of the text is bodhicitta, the altruistic aspiration for enlightenment, and the path and practices of the bodhisattva, the six perfections (pāramitās). The text forms the basis of many contemporary discussions of Buddhist ethics and philosophy.

[1] Helena Blankleder and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans., The Nectar of Manjushri's Speech: A Detailed Commentary on Shantideva's Way of the Bodhisattva, by Kunzang Pelden (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2010), 258. For the verse in the Śikṣāsamuccayakārikā, see Śāntideva, "Bslab pa kun las btus pa'i tshig le'ur byas pa," in Derge Tengyur D3939, dbu ma, khi, vol. 111, 2b4-5, http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW23703_3939.

[2] Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and Jeremy Russell, trans., Stages of Meditation: The Buddhist Classic on Training the Mind, by the Dalai Lama and Kamalashila (Boulder, CO: Shambhala, 2019), 71.

[3] Tibetan Classics Translators Guild of New York, trans., The Dharma Council, Dharmasaṅgīti, Toh 238 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024), https://read.84000.co/translation/UT22084-065-001.html?#UT22084-065-001-532.

[4] Pema Karpo, A Lamp for the Middle Way: A Commentary on the Bodhisattvacharyavatara, Spyod 'jug gi 'bru 'grel dbu ma'i lam gyi sgron ma (Kathmandu: Shree Gautam Buddha Vihara, 2017), 69 (e-book). https://dharmacloud.tsadra.org/library/?post_types=book,book_author&search-terms=A+Lamp+for+the+Middle+Way:+A+Commentary+on+the+Bodhisattvacharyavatara&subjects=any&view=list/

[5] Pema Karpo, Lamp for the Middle Way, 69–70 (e-book). https://dharmacloud.tsadra.org/library/?post_types=book,book_author&search-terms=A+Lamp+for+the+Middle+Way:+A+Commentary+on+the+Bodhisattvacharyavatara&subjects=any&view=list/

[6] Kate Crosby and Andrew Skilton, trans., The Bodhicaryāvatāra: A Guide to the Buddhist Path to Awakening (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), 75.

[7] Adam Pearcey, trans., The Brightly Shining Sun, by Patrul Rinpoche (Lotsawa House, 2019), https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/patrul-rinpoche/bodhicharyavatara-brightly-shining-sun.

[8] Pearcey, Brightly Shining Sun, https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/patrul-rinpoche/bodhicharyavatara-brightly-shining-sun.

[9] Pearcey, Brightly Shining Sun, https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/patrul-rinpoche/bodhicharyavatara-brightly-shining-sun.

[10] Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 259.

[11] Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 259.

[12] Khenpo Kunga Wangchuk, A Commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra, Theg pa chen po'i mdo'i dgongs don gyi bstan bcos byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa zhes bya ba'i 'grel pa (Taiwan: Chos kyi blo gros rtsom sgrig khang, 2016), 508.

[13] Pema Karpo, Lamp for the Middle Way, 71.

[14] Fedor Stracke, trans., The Entrance for the Children of the Conquerors - A Commentary on the Introduction to the Actions of Bodhisattvas, Chapter Eight: The Way of Training in the Mental Stabilizations Contained in the Common and Uncommon Types of Calm Abiding, by Gyaltsab Rinpoche (N.p.: Happy Monks Publication, 2016), 4, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/. Note that the pagination starts over for every chapter in Stracke's translation.

[15] Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans., The Play in Full, Lalitavistara, Toh 95 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024), https://read.84000.co/translation/UT22084-046-001.html?#UT22084-046-001-864.

[16] Adrian O'Sullivan, trans., Bodhicaryāvatāra with Commentary, by Sonam Tsemo (Los Angeles: Dechen Foundation, 2019), 252. The word though here is probably a typo for through.

[17] Peter Alan Roberts and team, trans., The King of Samādhis Sūtra, Samādhirājasūtra, Toh 127 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2023), https://read.84000.co/translation/UT22084-055-001.html?#UT22084-055-001-905.

[18] Stracke, Entrance for the Children: Chapter Eight, 6, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/.

[19] Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 262.

[20] Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 263.

[21] Ngul Chu Thokme Zangpo, An Ocean of Excellent Explanation: A Commentary on Entering into the Conduct of the Bodhisattva, Byang chub sems spa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa'i rtsa ba dang 'grel pa legs par bshad pa'i rya mtsho (Varanasi: Sakya Students Union 2003), 268.

[22] Thrangu Rinpoche, Shantideva's A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life: Commentary by Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, trans. Ken Holmes, Katia Holmes, and Thomas Doctor (Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 2016), 150.

[23] Pearcey, Brightly Shining Sun, https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/patrul-rinpoche/bodhicharyavatara-brightly-shining-sun.

[24] Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 269.

[25] Helena Blankleder and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans., The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra, by Śāntideva (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006), 114.

[26] Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 270.

[27] Stracke, Entrance for the Children: Chapter Eight, 13, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/.

[28] Pearcey, Brightly Shining Sun, https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/patrul-rinpoche/bodhicharyavatara-brightly-shining-sun.

[29] Thānissaro Bhikkhu, The Failings of the World - Lokavipatti Sutta (AN 8:6), Dhammatalks.org, https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN8_6.html.

[30] Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 276.

[31] Ngul Chu Thokme Zangpo, Ocean of Excellent Explanation, 114.

[32] Blankleder and Fletcher, Way of the Bodhisattva, 119.

[33] Blankleder and Fletcher, Way of the Bodhisattva, 120.

[34] Stracke, Entrance for the Children: Chapter Eight, 23, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/.

[35] Blankleder and Fletcher, Way of the Bodhisattva, 120.

[36] Khenpo Kunga Wangchuk, Commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra, 557.

[37] Stracke, Entrance for the Children: Chapter Eight, 23, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/.

[38] Thrangu Rinpoche, Shantideva's A Guide, 162.

[39] Thokme Zangpo, Ocean of Excellent Explanation, 283.

[40] Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 281

[41] NEEDS CITATION

[42] Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 284.

[43] Pearcey, Brightly Shining Sun, https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/patrul-rinpoche/bodhicharyavatara-brightly-shining-sun. See also, Padmakara Translation Group, trans., Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend with Commentary by Kangyur Rinpoche (Boulder: Snow Lion Publications, 2013), 53.

[44] Pearcey, Brightly Shining Sun, https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/patrul-rinpoche/bodhicharyavatara-brightly-shining-sun.

[45] Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 282–83.

[46] For more on this, see the essays concerning the ninth chapter on Wisdom, located in the STUDY SECTION.

[47] Stracke, Entrance for the Children: Chapter Eight, 28, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/.

[48] Blankleder and Fletcher, Way of the Bodhisattva, 122.

[49] Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 286.

[50] Blankleder and Fletcher, Way of the Bodhisattva, 122.

[51] Blankleder and Fletcher, Way of the Bodhisattva, 123.

[52] Blankleder and Fletcher, Way of the Bodhisattva, 123.

[53] Stracke, Entrance for the Children: Chapter Eight, 32, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/.

[54] Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 290.

[55] Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 290.

[56] Stracke, Entrance for the Children: Chapter Eight, 35, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/.

[57] Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 297. The source of these lines are not identified by Khenpo Kunpal.

[58] Thubten Chokyi Drakpa (Minyak Kunzang Sonam), Excellent Vase That Spills Forth an Ocean of the Inexhaustible and Precious Qualities of the Victor's Heirs: An Explanation of the "Way of the Bodhisattva," Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa'i 'grel bshad rgyal sras rgya mtsho'i yon tan rin po che mi zad 'jo ba'i bum bzang (Krungo: Tibetan Cultural Printing Press, 1990), 541.

[59] Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 295.

[60] Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 297.

[61] Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 298.

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Meditative Concentration Overview

Contents

Calm Abiding and Special Insight (Śamatha and Vipaśyanā)

1. Abandoning Factors That Are Not Conducive to Concentration

A. Giving Up Mundane Concerns

B. Letting Go of Discursive Thought

2. Working With the Objects of Śamatha Meditation

How to Meditate on Equalizing Self and Others (Verses 91 to 110)

Countering Objections to These Reasons for Equalizing Self and Others

The Benefits of Such a Practice

The Exchange of Self and Others

Extensive Explanation of How to Exchange Self and Others

Getting Rid of Self-Cherishing

The Faults of Considering Oneself as Most Important and the Qualities of Considering Others as Most Important

Summary of the Chapter

Notes