Translation of
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.
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Other editions
Becoming Bodhisattvas
Pema Chödrön presents Shantideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra verse-by-verse, offering both illuminating stories and practical exercises to enrich the text.
Book
Teaching based on
Bodhicaryāvatāra
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.
Text
Reviews
No Time to Lose-Review by Jackson
No Time to Lose is based primarily on transcripts of teachings on the Bodhicharyavatara that Pema Chödrön gave at Gampo Abbey in 2001. It is, so far as I know, the first published commentary on the bulk of the Bodhicharyavatara by a Western-born teacher, and so represents a milestone in the course of the text’s transmission to the West. The translation of Shantideva’s verses on which she comments is that of the Padmakara Translation Committee (The Way of the Bodhisattva, Shambhala). Based on the Tibetan version rather than the Sanskrit original, it is, nevertheless, the clearest and most poetic Bodhicharyavatara translation in English. Chödrön comments on nearly every verse in nine of the text’s ten chapters. She has omitted chapter nine, on wisdom, noting that it involves a daunting and complex discussion of Madhyamaka philosophy that would merit a book of its own. (Jackson, para. 10)
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