Patience Overview
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The practice of the perfection of patience is addressed in the sixth chapter of Śāntideva’s The Way of the Bodhisattva. This middle section of the text is concerned with making sure that the bodhicitta that has arisen in a practitioner is protected. In this chapter Śāntideva’s main purpose is to show us how anger undermines bodhicitta and compassion and to guide us in the practice of patience as an antidote to anger.
Developing the Motivation to Practice Patience by Recalling the Faults of Anger
In the first six verses of the chapter, Śāntideva stresses the importance of developing the motivation to engage in the practice of patience. To do that he begins by laying out the terrible consequences of anger, explaining that there is no mental state worse than anger and that there is no greater positive practice than that of developing patience in the face of challenging circumstances.
In the first two verses, in an effort to steer us toward patience, he reminds us of the invisible dangers that even a flash of anger can bring:
All the good works gathered in a thousand ages, Such as deeds of generosity, And offerings to the Blissful Ones— A single flash of anger shatters them.
Page(s) 77
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.
༈ བསྐལ་པ་སྟོང་དུ་བསགས་པ་ཡི། །
སྦྱིན་དང་བདེ་གཤེགས་མཆོད་ལ་སོགས། ། ལེགས་སྤྱད་གང་ཡིན་དེ་ཀུན་ཀྱང་། །
ཁོང་ཁྲོ་གཅིག་གིས་འཇོམས་པར་བྱེད། །bskal pa stong du bsags pa yi/_/
sbyin dang bde gshegs mchod la sogs/_/ legs spyad gang yin de kun kyang /_/
khong khro gcig gis 'joms par byed/_/With this very dramatic statement from the very first verse, Śāntideva is clearly conveying to us the destructive nature of anger and imploring us to avoid it at all costs.
In verse 2 Śāntideva further encourages us to understand the fact that there is no greater negativity than anger, and there is no greater practice than that of patience:
No evil is there similar to anger, No austerity to be compared with patience. Steep yourself, therefore, in patience, In various ways, insistently.
Page(s) 77
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.
ཞེ་སྡང་ལྟ་བུའི་སྡིག་པ་མེད། །
བཟོད་པ་ལྟ་བུའི་དཀའ་ཐུབ་མེད། ། དེ་བས་བཟོད་ལ་ནན་ཏན་དུ། །
སྣ་ཚོགས་ཚུལ་གྱིས་བསྒོམ་པར་བྱ། །zhe sdang lta bu'i sdig pa med/_/
bzod pa lta bu'i dka' thub med/_/ de bas bzod la nan tan du/_/
sna tshogs tshul gyis bsgom par bya/_/We cannot compare any other negative action to that of anger. Anger will destroy virtue and will cause birth in the hell realms. Conversely, no other virtue can be compared to patience, which is the direct opposite of anger. Therefore, Śāntideva tells us, we must earnestly strive to prevent ourselves from falling prey to anger, and we must strive to always cultivate patience.
The idea mentioned in the very first verse, that even a moment of anger can destroy all of our merit, may sound very scary to us, as we are so often beset by moments of frustration and hostility. However, the commentaries go on to clarify the exact meaning of this statement. They present a whole range of subtle arguments regarding the nature of the merit that is destroyed. Within those arguments there are no commentators who imagine that this refers to destroying every single merit we have ever created. The different positions stem from ideas about who is getting angry with whom, and also what specific kind of merit will be destroyed.
Sonam Tsemo, for example, points out that the words good works in the first line refers to meritorious actions that were not dedicated to liberation.[1] This refers to the merits that are not qualified by the three supreme methods (dam pa gsum). These three supreme methods are mentioned in a footnote to Khenpo Kunpal's commentary, where it says:
The three supreme methods for any practice or action are first, to prepare the ground by cultivating bodhichitta; second, to perform the practice in a concentrated manner unimpaired by grasping at the object, subject, and action as really existing entities; and third, to conclude the practice by dedicating the resulting merit to enlightenment for the sake of others.[2]
Thus, according to this view, if the merit we have accumulated is influenced by the motivation of bodhicitta, held within the wisdom of emptiness, and then purely dedicated, moments of anger will never be able to destroy it. However, all those actions that are not qualified by these three supreme methods will be destroyed. Yet, importantly, all the commentaries agree that the virtue not qualified by the three supreme methods is not completely destroyed forever. Rather, what is meant here is that its potential to give rise to a positive result is temporarily suppressed.
Sonam Tsemo provides a very interesting reason for why the seeds of the virtue qualified by the three supreme methods cannot be permanently destroyed—it is only ārya beings on the path of seeing and above who are able to destroy the seeds of karmic actions:
Since the possibility of their coming to fruition is postponed, their potential is suppressed but the seeds themselves are not permanently destroyed because there is no possibility to destroy seeds apart from the transcendental path.[3]
In verses 3 to 5, Śāntideva points out the obvious and easily visible disadvantages of anger:
Those tormented by the pain of anger, Never know tranquillity of mind— Strangers they will be to every pleasure; They will neither sleep nor feel secure.
Page(s) 77
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.
ཞེ་སྡང་ཟུག་རྔུའི་སེམས་འཆང་ན། །
ཡིད་ནི་ཞི་བ་ཉམས་མི་མྱོང་། ། དགའ་དང་བདེ་བའང་མི་འཐོབ་ལ། །
གཉིད་མི་འོང་ཞིང་བརྟན་མེད་འགྱུར། །zhe sdang zug rngu'i sems 'chang na/_/
yid ni zhi ba nyams mi myong /_/ dga' dang bde ba'ang mi 'thob la/_/
gnyid mi 'ong zhing brtan med 'gyur/_/Verse 3 explains the mental harm that anger causes. Śāntideva tells us that if our minds are constantly tormented by irritation toward people and situations we dislike, and by the pain of harboring anger toward our enemies, we will never find any peace of mind. We will never be able to develop stable, concentrated states of mind and will not be able to rest deeply. We will always feel a sense of unease.
All of these ills are brought about by anger. But all of these unwanted results can be guarded against by counteracting our anger. Doing this, Śāntideva tells us, we will find joy and peace.
All these ills are brought about by wrath, Our sorrow-bearing enemy. But those who seize and crush their anger down Will find their joy in this and future lives.
Page(s) 78
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.
ཁྲོ་བའི་དགྲ་ཡིས་དེ་ལ་སོགས། །
སྡུག་བསྔལ་དག་ནི་བྱེད་པར་འགྱུར། ། གང་ཞིག་བསྒྲིམས་ཏེ་ཁྲོ་འཇོམས་པ། །
དེ་ནི་འདི་དང་གཞན་དུ་བདེ། །khro ba'i dgra yis de la sogs/_/
sdug bsngal dag ni byed par 'gyur/_/ gang zhig bsgrims te khro 'joms pa/_/
de ni 'di dang gzhan du bde/_/Preventing Anger from Arising
In his commentary, Thrangu Rinpoche describes how even if we are able to identify anger as a destructive mental factor, it is not possible to eradicate it by simply wishing it away:
We might decide anger is a destructive emotion and decide not to become angry ever again. Even though we may be determined in this decision, it is not possible to simply will anger away because we do not have this kind of control over the course of events. So it isn’t really possible to prevent being angry by simply suppressing it.[4]
He goes on to describe how in the Eastern psychological method of relating to negative states of mind such as anger, it is very important to first understand the negative side of these destructive types of mind:
Eastern psychology suggests that to reduce our anger, we must first develop an understanding of the negative effects of anger. After understanding this, we will naturally develop a dislike for anger and to be able to work on it.[5]
What is required, according to Thrangu Rinpoche, is a clear identification of the way that anger arises in us. We must see the causes of it and the negative effects that anger creates, as well as the disadvantages that it brings to our lives and the lives of others.
In verse 7, Śāntideva explains the causes out of which anger arises:
Getting what I do not want, And all that hinders my desire— In discontent my anger finds its fuel. From this it grows and beats me down.
Page(s) 78
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.
མི་འདོད་བྱས་དང་འདོད་པ་ཡི། །
གེགས་བྱས་པ་ལས་བྱུང་གྱུར་པ། །
ཡིད་མི་བདེ་བའི་ཟས་རྙེད་ནས། །[p.48]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. 
mi 'dod byas dang 'dod pa yi/_/
gegs byas pa las byung gyur pa/_/
yid mi bde ba'i zas rnyed nas/_/[p.48]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.
When we are hindered in getting what we want, our anger is immediately sparked. This is a clear indication of the connection between anger and attachment. When we are prevented from getting the objects of our attachment, we normally become very frustrated, and from there anger is not far away. This anger extends to those who get in our way of obtaining what we want, who don’t do what we want, or who don't do things in the way we want.
Verse 8 encourages us to abandon this unrealistic mindset and to identify how anger is our real enemy, a mental state that only brings destruction to ourselves and others.
Therefore I will utterly destroy The sustenance of this my enemy, My foe who has no other purpose But to hurt and injure me.
Page(s) 78
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.
དེ་ལྟས་བདག་གིས་དགྲ་བོ་དེའི། །
ཟས་ནི་རྣམ་པར་གཞོམ་པར་བྱ། ། འདི་ལྟར་བདག་ལ་གནོད་པ་ལས། །
དགྲ་འདི་ལ་ནི་ལས་གཞན་མེད། །de ltas bdag gis dgra bo de'i/_/
zas ni rnam par gzhom par bya/_/ 'di ltar bdag la gnod pa las/_/
dgra 'di la ni las gzhan med/_/In verse 10, a particularly famous verse, Śāntideva offers us practical advice for whenever we encounter a problem.
If there’s a remedy when trouble strikes, What reason is there for dejection? And if there is no help for it, What use is there in being glum?
Page(s) 78
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.
གལ་ཏེ་བཅོས་སུ་ཡོད་ན་ནི། །
དེ་ལ་མི་དགར་ཅི་ཞིག་ཡོད། ། གལ་ཏེ་བཅོས་སུ་མེད་ན་ནི། །
དེ་ལ་མི་དགའ་བྱས་ཅི་ཕན། །gal te bcos su yod na ni/_/
de la mi dgar ci zhig yod/_/ gal te bcos su med na ni/_/
de la mi dga' byas ci phan/_/"Why," he asks us, "worry whenever problems come? If there is something that you are able to do about the situation, then, he suggests, just do it, and don't spend any time fretting. On the other hand, if there really is nothing that can be done about the situation, then there is no point in worrying."
This is a very helpful verse that cuts through our overthinking in difficult situations. It encourages us to examine the reality of situations, to be realistic about what is possible, and to do the best we can. If something can be done, act. If there is nothing to do, don't spend too much energy obsessing over it.
Identifying the Objects of Patience
Having looked at some of the primary causes of anger, Śāntideva then turns to a discussion of the kinds of objects that provoke anger. The next section of the text begins an examination of the objects that require our patience.
In verse 11, Śāntideva offers a dense teaching with profound meaning. Here, he shows how having patience is not just about wanting to avoid pain and humiliation for ourselves. He identifies a series of subtle modes through which anger can easily arise and in response to which we must develop patience.
Pain, humiliation, insults, or rebukes—
We do not want them
Either for ourselves or those we love.
For those we do not like, it’s the reverse![p.79]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.
Page(s) 78
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.
བདག་གམ་བདག་གི་བཤེས་རྣམས་ལ། །
སྡུག་བསྔལ་བརྙས་དང་ཚིག་རྩུབ་དང་། ། མི་སྙན་ཞེས་བྱ་མི་འདོད་དེ། །
དགྲ་ལ་དེ་ལས་བཟློག་པས་སོ། །bdag gam bdag gi bshes rnams la/_/
sdug bsngal brnyas dang tshig rtsub dang /_/ mi snyan zhes bya mi 'dod de/_/
dgra la de las bzlog pas so/_/Gyaltsap Je relates the meaning of this verse to the need for patience in relation to the eight worldly dharmas (aṣṭalokadharma). Commenting on the first line of this verse, he says that these four experiences, which he describes as suffering, criticism, harsh words spoken to one's face, and the spreading of unpleasant derogatory rumors, are unwanted, and we naturally wish to avoid them and experience their opposites. But in relation to our enemies, this is the other way around. We typically wish our enemies ill and enjoy seeing them suffer. These are directly related to the eight worldly dharmas: attachment to pleasure, gain, praise, and fame, and aversion to pain, loss, blame, and disrepute.[6]
Commenting on the first two lines of this verse (11ab), Khenpo Kunpal provides us with a much more expansive explanation. He says that the first two lines describe the four unwanted factors that cause anger to arise and that therefore require us to practice patience. He identifies these four unwanted factors as follows:
These are (1) suffering, (2) the disadvantages that come from such things as contemptuous discrimination, (3) direct verbal aggression such as being called a thief, and (4) the destruction of good reputation through the spreading of malicious rumors.[7]
Khenpo Kunpal then comments that the second two lines of the verse (11cd) explain how these four unwanted factors need to be considered in relation to three different spheres—ourselves, those close to us, and those we do not like. We do not want these four to befall either ourselves or those close to us, thus making eight unwanted factors. And in relation to those we dislike, we do not want them to have the opposite of these four factors. We don’t want them to be happy or to be praised or to have material success. So that is another four unwanted things, which is a total of twelve things to practice patience toward.[8]
The second series of twelve factors involves situations where we get angry when we are prevented from getting what we desire. We desire happiness, respect, praise, and a good reputation. We need to have patience in relation to whatever gets in our way of these factors we desire, both for ourselves and for those we love (totalling 8 situations for patience). We also do not want our enemies to have these four desirable things and feel anger arise when they attain them. This adds four more situations for patience, totaling twelve.
These twelve, combined with the previous twelve, make twenty-four objects toward which we must exercise patience. The commentaries also mention the context of past, present, and future in relation to these twenty-four unwanted factors. As such, there are seventy-two unwanted factors toward which we can practice patience.
Three Main Focal Points of Patience
In verses 12 to 51, Śāntideva guides us through three main kinds of patience, each corresponding to a different object:
- 1. Patience in the face of our own suffering (verses 12 to 21)
- 2. Patience in regard to developing certainty in the teachings (verses 22 to 33)
- 3. Patience in the face of harm from others (verses 34 to 51)
1. Patience in the Face of Our Own Suffering
Examining the Nature of Our Own Suffering
In verses 12 to 21, Śāntideva asks us to confront the bare truth about our own suffering. Samsara is said to be qualified by certain characteristics. In particular, the causes of happiness are few and arise rarely, and the causes of suffering are many and arise often.
The cause of happiness is rare, And many are the seeds of suffering! But if I have no pain, I’ll never long for freedom; Therefore, O my mind, be steadfast!
Page(s) 79
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.
བདེ་བའི་རྒྱུ་ནི་རེས་འགའ་འབྱུང་། །
སྡུག་བསྔལ་རྒྱུ་ནི་ཤིན་ཏུ་མང་། ། སྡུག་བསྔལ་མེད་པར་ངེས་འབྱུང་མེད། །
དེ་བས་སེམས་ཁྱོད་བརྟན་པར་མནོས། །bde ba'i rgyu ni res 'ga' 'byung /_/
sdug bsngal rgyu ni shin tu mang /_/ sdug bsngal med par nges 'byung med/_/
de bas sems khyod brtan par mnos/_/Since the former are occasional or adventitious, while the latter are ubiquitous, it makes no sense to be angry with this situation when it is just how things are. This would be like being angry with a fire for being hot.
Despite this situation, Śāntideva exhorts himself to hold his mind firm in patience. Although this is the state of samsara—where pain is inevitable—at least this pain can remind us to develop disenchantment with the samsaric life and develop renunciation that will drive us to seek liberation.
Achieving Patience through Familiarization
Śāntideva reminds us in verse 14 about the power of familiarity; that is, there is nothing that does not get easier with repetition. Eventually we can become accustomed to even very difficult things.
There’s nothing that does not grow light Through habit and familiarity. Putting up with little cares I’ll train myself to bear with great adversity!
Page(s) 79
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.
གོམས་ན་སླ་བར་མི་འགྱུར་བའི། །
དངོས་དེ་གང་ཡང་ཡོད་མ་ཡིན། ། དེ་བས་གནོད་པ་ཆུང་གོམས་པས། །
གནོད་པ་ཆེན་པོའང་བཟོད་པར་བྱོས། །goms na sla bar mi 'gyur ba'i/_/
dngos de gang yang yod ma yin/_/ de bas gnod pa chung goms pas/_/
gnod pa chen po'ang bzod par byos/_/In our modern world we tend to get stuck or frozen when complicated situations arise. We may think we cannot feel a sense of forbearance in relation to our experience of suffering that brings us so many problems and complications. Here, Śāntideva reminds us that by accepting minor discomforts now, gradually we will be able to bear much greater hardships in the future.
The text goes on to explain the kind of attitude we must have toward the fight against our mental afflictions:
There are some whose bravery increases, At the sight of their own blood, While some lose all their strength and faint When it’s another’s blood they see!
Page(s) 79
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.
ལ་ལ་བདག་གི་ཁྲག་མཐོང་ན། །
དཔའ་བརྟན་ལྷག་པར་སྐྱེ་འགྱུར་ཡོད། ། ལ་ལ་གཞན་གྱི་ཁྲག་མཐོང་ན། །
བོག་ཅིང་བརྒྱལ་བར་འགྱུར་བ་ཡོད། །la la bdag gi khrag mthong na/_/
dpa' brtan lhag par skye 'gyur yod/_/ la la gzhan gyi khrag mthong na/_/
bog cing brgyal bar 'gyur ba yod/_/This results from how the mind is set,
In steadfastness or cowardice.
And so I’ll scorn all injury,
And hardships I will disregard![p.80]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.
Page(s) 79
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.
དེ་ནི་སེམས་ཀྱི་ངང་བརྟན་དང་། །
སྡར་མའི་ཚུལ་ལས་གྱུར་པ་ཡིན། ། དེ་བས་གནོད་པ་ཁྱད་བསད་ཅིང་། །
སྡུག་བསྔལ་རྣམས་ཀྱིས་མི་ཚུགས་བྱོས། །de ni sems kyi ngang brtan dang /_/
sdar ma'i tshul las gyur pa yin/_/ de bas gnod pa khyad bsad cing /_/
sdug bsngal rnams kyis mi tshugs byos/_/Patience and the strength to bear all adversity must be developed through familiarity, since everything can become easier with habit. Śāntideva uses the example of how some, in the midst of battle, may develop greater courage when they are wounded in battle and see their own blood flow. Others may faint even upon just seeing the blood of others. But this all relies on how our minds are oriented. In a common fight, would we rally our courage, or are we weak and timid for the fight? When we are striving for the incredible goal of the fully enlightened state, how much more should we avoid allowing ourselves to become overwhelmed by small sufferings and injuries.
There are many hardships in ordinary battles against a physical enemy. The same is true here in our battle with the mental afflictions and especially the poison of anger.
When sorrows fall upon the wise, Their minds should be serene and undisturbed. For in their war against defiled emotion, Many are the hardships, as in every battle.
Page(s) 80
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.
མཁས་པས་སྡུག་བསྔལ་བྱུང་ཡང་ནི། །
སེམས་ཀྱི་རབ་དང་རྙོག་མི་བྱ། ། ཉོན་མོངས་རྣམས་དང་གཡུལ་འགྱེད་ལ། །
གཡུལ་འགྱེད་ཚེ་ན་གནོད་པ་མང་། །mkhas pas sdug bsngal byung yang ni/_/
sems kyi rab dwang rnyog mi bya/_/ nyon mongs rnams dang g.yul 'gyed la/_/
g.yul 'gyed tshe na gnod pa mang /_/Normally, when difficult circumstances befall us, we react with despondency and down-heartedness. However, the wise do not react in this way when trouble strikes. If we are wise, when circumstances cause us suffering or when others injure us, we can keep our minds serene and joyful. We will be able to use our understanding of the Dharma as a remedy for the afflictions and keep our minds unperturbed.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in his commentary to this chapter, explains how we should develop forbearance and tolerance toward suffering—that we should be able to withstand difficulty when it comes our way. Although it is hard to transform these unpleasant circumstances and view them in a positive light, we should not allow them to disturb our minds:
To be forbearing means that even when confronted with great suffering or harm we do not let it disturb our minds. Of course, it is difficult to regard sufferings as desirable and to transform them into favorable conditions. We have to be patient as we wage a determined war on negative emotions such as hatred, the worst of enemies.[9]
We need patience if we are fighting with an ordinary enemy. But when faced with the deep-seated enemy of the afflictions, it is even more important. His Holiness explains this in his commentary in this way:
It is natural to expect injuries when doing battle with an ordinary enemy, so fighting the essential enemy, hatred, will not be without difficulty. But if we ignore all such ordeals and conquer negative emotions, then we can truly be called heros. On the other hand, succumbing to anger and killing an ordinary enemy is no braver than stabbing someone who is dead already. There is nothing extraordinary about that.[10]
Giving in to anger and slaying an ordinary enemy means nothing. That does not make someone a hero. The real hero is the one who is able to persevere against all the obstacles and slay the enemy of the afflictions.
The Benefits of Suffering
In the last verse of this section, Śāntideva qualifies his strong critique of suffering by explaining that suffering has a few redeeming features. We tend to think of suffering as all bad. But, Śāntideva argues, there is a positive side to it:
Suffering also has its worth. Through sorrow, pride is driven out And pity felt for those who wander in saṃsāra; Evil is avoided; goodness seems delightful.
Page(s) 80
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.
གཞན་ཡང་སྡུག་བསྔལ་ཡོན་ཏན་ནི། །
སྐྱོ་བས་དྲེགས་པ་སེལ་བར་བྱེད། ། འཁོར་བ་པ་ལ་སྙིང་རེ་རྗེ། །
སྡིག་ལ་འཛེམ་ཞིང་དགེ་ལ་དགའ། །gzhan yang sdug bsngal yon tan ni/_/
skyo bas dregs pa sel bar byed/_/ 'khor ba pa la snying rje skye/_/
sdig la 'dzem zhing dge la dga'/_/This verse mentions four positive qualities of suffering:
1. The first two lines (6.21ab) explain how suffering helps reduce our pride.
On this point, in his text A Commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra, the contemporary Sakya master Khenpo Kunga Wangchuk explains that weariness with the suffering of samsara can serve to reduce pride.
At the time when we are practicing in accord with the sublime Dharma, if there arises even the slightest suffering from within, such as sickness and thirst, or from without from others beating or humiliating us, it should cause a feeling of weariness because these situations are part of samsara and have the characteristics of samsara. If this feeling of weariness arises, then it will clear away and eliminate any of our haughtiness and pride. This is because if there is pride, it prevents [positive] qualities from arising in our mindstreams, and so this [weariness] helps us to abandon pride.[11]
2. In the third line (6.21c), it explains how suffering promotes the feeling of compassion for other beings.
Commenting on this second positive quality of suffering, Khenpo Kunga Wangchuk writes:
. . . if even a little suffering occurs to ourselves, we will know what kind of suffering others will also have. The mind of compassion will arise in us that wishes those other samsaric beings, possessed of suffering, to be free from those sufferings.[12]
3. We will reject and shun the negativity by which suffering is caused (6.21d).
Again, Khenpo Kunga Wangchuk comments further on this, stating:
Having identified that suffering is the result of previously accumulated negative actions, from then on we will shy away from all negative and nonvirtuous actions, such as killing, and encourage others to abandon them also.[13]
4. We will be enthusiastic in the pursuit of goodness, the cause of happiness, thus becoming meticulous with regard to the karmic principle of cause and effect (6.21d).
Khenpo Kunga Wangchuk comments on how suffering brings delight in virtue:
Likewise, having identified virtue as the antidote that eliminates the negative actions, we will be extremely happy and delighted to engage in the paths of practicing virtue, such as hearing, contemplating, and meditating or the six perfections.[14]
Thus, Śāntideva reminds us that although suffering has many negative aspects, it does possess these four qualities that help us to transform ourselves from wretched sniveling curmudgeons to (potentially) compassionate beings intent on enlightenment for the sake of others.
In his text on how to meditate on The Way of the Bodhisattva titled The Brightly Shining Sun, Patrul Rinpoche summarizes this whole section on patience in relation to suffering by giving us three main reasons for accepting suffering:
1. Suffering can exhaust our negative actions, so we should accept it with the understanding that it is like a broom for sweeping away our misdeeds.
2. Through suffering we develop renunciation for saṃsāra, compassion for other sentient beings, and a wish to adopt wholesome actions and avoid unwholesome ones. So we should accept it in the knowledge that it spurs us on to virtue.
3. Suffering subdues our pride, takes away the sting of envy, overcomes the strength of desire and attachment, and leads us on towards accomplishment. So we should accept it with the view that it is an embellishment of the mind.[15]
Thus, Patrul Rinpoche shows us that suffering, when properly understood, becomes a powerful catalyst for our spiritual transformation—purifying our past negativity, inspiring us toward virtue, and refining our mind.
2. Patience in regard to Developing Certainty in the Teachings
In verses 22 to 33 of the root text, Śāntideva explains how we practice in relation to gaining certainty about the way things exist. Here, this is particularly related to the way those sources of anger for us are seen to not exist in the way we think they do.
In The Brightly Shining Sun, Patrul Rinpoche frames this section of the text in terms of using the deepest understanding of the nature of reality to support our practice of patience:
Patience can be cultivated by contemplating with certainty the profound teachings in the following three ways:
1. Considering the ultimate truth of emptiness, beyond any conceptual elaboration, we can cultivate patience by reflecting on how the harm that is done to us and the one who is doing the harm are both lacking in any true reality.
2. Considering the relative truth of magical dependent origination, we can cultivate patience by realizing how neither the harm-doer nor the suffering itself is independent.
3. Considering the inseparable unity of the nature of mind, we can cultivate patience by recognizing our anger to be pure and lacking any basis or origin.[16]
Through developing wisdom that has insight into the way things really exist, we can understand how the way we view situations and the experiences we feel in relation to them are grounded in a mistaken view of reality. Here, Patrul Rinpoche exhorts us to develop our understanding both of the ultimate truth of emptiness beyond all mental fabrications as well as the relative truth that things exist conventionally in dependence on each other. All things lack any kind of true reality, but they still have a level of functionality such that that causes produce their concordant results.
If we can view experiences that provoke negative responses as having no intrinsic reality, it will help us prevent our habitual reactions of anger.
We Don't Set Out to Get Angry
In verse 24, Śāntideva makes a very important point about how anger arises in us that we can easily relate to our own experience. It is not that any of us consciously bring up the strong wish to get ourselves all worked up and angry.
Never thinking, "Now I will be angry,” People are impulsively caught up in anger. Irritation, likewise, comes Though never plans to be experienced!
Page(s) 80
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.
ཁྲོ་བར་བྱ་ཞེས་མ་བསམས་ཀྱང་། །
སྐྱེ་བོ་རྣམས་ནི་གྱི་ནར་ཁྲོ། ། བསྐྱེད་པར་བྱ་ཞེས་མ་བསམས་ཀྱང་། །
ཁྲོ་བ་དེ་བཞིན་སྐྱེ་བར་འགྱུར། །khro bar bya zhes ma bsams kyang /_/
skye bo rnams ni gyi nar khro/_/ bskyed par bya zhes ma bsams kyang /_/
khro ba de bzhin skye bar 'gyur/_/We never set out to be angry. It is something that seems to happen to us out of the blue. From just a few small causes, anger can quickly ignite inside of us. For this very reason, Śāntideva points out that all of our negative mental states, as well as the actions driven by those afflictions, arise in this way—through a combination of different conditions and circumstances:
All defilements of whatever kind,
The whole variety of evil deeds
Are brought about by circumstances:
None is independent, none autonomous.[p.81]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.
Page(s) 80
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.
ཉེས་པ་ཇི་སྙེད་ཐམས་ཅད་དང་། །
སྡིག་པ་རྣམ་པ་སྣ་ཚོགས་པ། ། དེ་ཀུན་རྐྱེན་གྱི་སྟོབས་ལས་བྱུང་། །
རང་དབང་ཡོད་པ་མ་ཡིན་ནོ། །nyes pa ji snyed thams cad dang /_/
sdig pa rnam pa sna tshogs pa/_/ de kun rkyen gyi stobs las byung /_/
rang dbang yod pa ma yin no/_/He goes on to make a deeper point here: if all these afflictions arise through the force of causes and conditions, then they cannot have any independent existence.
In his commentary, Gyaltsap Je explains that getting upset with what we perceive as difficult circumstances is similar to getting angry with water that is flowing downhill. It is the just nature of these things to be the way they are, so why get upset about them.
Refutation of the Sāṃkhya Self
At this point in the text, Śāntideva refutes the positions of some of the non-Buddhist traditions of ancient India. Here, he particularly refutes the existence of any kind of self or primal substance that has independence as advocated by the Sāṃkhya school.
This argument may seem out of place in a discussion on practicing patience. But the purpose of bringing such a refutation into the discussion is to counter the idea that things exist independently. Things arise strictly in relation to particular causes and are not independently powered. This is true both for conscious and unconscious entities. A person does not intentionally get angry and then cause others harm by simply thinking "I will become angry." For instance, if a person is causing us harm, that harm and their intention to harm us all arise from the appropriate causes and conditions. They do not come from a solid or independent entity. Here, Śāntideva is reminding us that when we are in situations that provoke anger, we must remember that the harm has causes and is not occurring from an autonomous source.
The primal substance, as they say, And that which has been called the self, Do not arise designedly, And do not think, "I will become.”
Page(s) 81
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.
གཙོ་བོ་ཞེས་བྱར་གང་འདོད་དང་། །
བདག་ཅེས་བཏགས་པ་གང་ཡིན་པ། ། དེ་ཉིད་བདག་ནི་འབྱུང་བྱ་ཞེས། །
ཆེད་དུ་བསམས་ཤིང་འབྱུང་བ་མེད། །gtso bo zhes byar gang 'dod dang /_/
bdag ces btags pa gang yin pa/_/ de nyid bdag ni 'byung bya zhes/_/
ched du bsams shing 'byung ba med/_/For that which is not born does not exist, So what could want to come to be? And permanently drawn toward its object, It can never cease from being so.77Lines 3 and 4 of stanza 28 are a brief reference to the Sāmkhya theory of puruṣha and prākṛiti. If the self is permanent and immutable, it follows that its apprehension of an object must be permanent also. A succession of different perceptions is impossible. Thus the self of another being cannot become hostile. If it is hostile now, it must always have been so and will remain so permanently—which is absurd. According to Buddhist teaching, when a thing is said to be permanent, this means not only that it is exempt from gross impermanence and is eternal (for it cannot be broken or destroyed), but also that, throughout its existence, it escapes the effects of subtle impermanence and remains completely immutable. From the Buddhist point of view, no such phenomenon exists.
Page(s) 81
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.
མ་སྐྱེས་པར་ནི་དེ་མེད་ན། །
དེ་ཚེ་སྐྱེ་བར་འདོད་པ་གང་། ། ཡུལ་ལ་རྟག་ཏུ་གཡེང་འགྱུར་བས། །
འགག་པར་འགྱུར་བའང་མ་ཡིན་ནོ། །ma skyes par ni de med na/_/
de tshe skye bar 'dod pa gang /_/ yul la rtag tu g.yeng 'gyur bas/_/
'gag par 'gyur ba'ang ma yin no/_/The Sāṃkhya school, often called the "Enumerators," asserts that there is a primal substance (prakṛti)—a fundamental nature or principle that is completely autonomous—that is independent of any other causes or factors and that at the same time is the creator of everything. They assert that this prakṛti, when it comes into contact with an independent self or person (puruṣa), together with concordant conditions, can result in a situation where someone else causes harm to us.
But Śāntideva argues that the prakṛti and the puruṣa do not arise out of some preexistent state with the intention to do harm or help others. They cannot arise with such a premeditated intention because they have no causes or conditions and are therefore unborn. If these permanent and independent entities were to "come into being," they would in fact be impermanent and dependent on other external causes and conditions. And if they are unborn, they would have no existence at all, and therefore nothing at all could come into existence, and there would be nothing that could wish to come into existence in order to harm or help others.[17] For more detailed information about the Sāṃkhya school, read this section of the chapter 9 overview.
In verse 29, Śāntideva critiques the Nyāya school, the school of the logicians, who assert that there are certain phenomena, such as the self and space, that have independent existence. Particularly, they believe in a self that is permanent and unconscious:
Indeed! This self, if permanent, Is certainly inert like space itself. And should it meet with other factors, How could they affect it, since it is unchanging?
Page(s) 81
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.
ཅི་སྟེ་བདག་དེ་རྟག་ན་ནི། །
མཁའ་བཞིན་བྱེད་པ་མེད་པར་མངོན། ། རྐྱེན་རྣམས་གཞན་དང་ཕྲད་ན་ཡང་། །
འགྱུར་བ་མེད་ལ་ཅི་བྱར་ཡོད། །ci ste bdag de rtag na ni/_/
mkha' bzhin byed pa med par mngon/_/ rkyen rnams gzhan dang phrad na yang /_/
'gyur ba med la ci byar yod/_/Śāntideva argues that such a self cannot act in a malevolent way. Since it is permanent, it cannot have any causal efficacy. It is unable to act and cause results. The Naiyāyika's counterargument is that although the self is permanent, when it meets with impermanent circumstantial conditions such as mind (manas), it becomes able to act as a cause. But from the Buddhist perspective, this is untenable. Even if it encounters other impermanent factors such as the mind, because the self is by nature permanent, it must remain immutable and unchanging. Therefore, Śāntideva asks a rhetorical question: "How could the self be affected or changed by external factors if its very nature is to be unchanging?" For further details of the Nyāya school, click here.
Śāntideva concludes this section of the text by presenting the truth that all things depend on other things for their existence and that there is nothing that is completely independent:
All things, then, depend on other things, And these likewise depend; they are not independent. Knowing this, we will not be annoyed At things that are like magical appearances.
Page(s) 81
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.
དེ་ལྟར་ཐམས་ཅད་གཞན་གྱི་དབང་། །
དེ་ཡི་དབང་གིས་དེ་དབང་མེད། ། དེ་ལྟར་ཤེས་ནས་སྤྲུལ་ལྟ་བུའི། །
དངོས་པོ་ཀུན་ལ་ཁྲོ་མི་འགྱུར། །de ltar thams cad gzhan gyi dbang /_/
de yi dbang gis de dbang med/_/ de ltar shes nas sprul lta bu'i/_/
dngos po kun la khro mi 'gyur/_/Nothing is independent. The process of causes leading to the arising of their results is due to the coming together of conditions. Understanding this, we can start to realize that things are insubstantial and have no real solidity nor independence to them. Applying this to our happiness and suffering, we start to see them in their illusion-like nature and begin to realize that there is no point in getting angry with anyone, for there is no solid person out there to get angry with.
Following this line of thought, the doubt may arise that if all is an illusion, how could we get rid of our illusory afflictions and suffering using illusory antidotes. In A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of Night, His Holiness the Dalai Lama succinctly explains this difficult philosophical point. He explains that although everything is like an illusion, using the illusion-like path we can attain the illusion-like state of enlightenment.
Some people might ask, If everything is an illusion, what is the use of getting rid of illusory suffering with an antidote that is itself illusory? The answer is that illusory suffering is the result of causes and conditions that are also illusory. Even though pain is illusory, we still suffer from it, and we certainly do not want it. The same is true of happiness. It is an illusion, but it is still something we want. Thus, illusory antidotes are used to get rid of illusory sufferings, just like a magician uses one magical illusion to counteract another. This is, in fact, an important point, which is explained in greater detail in the ninth chapter of the Bodhicharyāvatara.[18]
The ninth chapter provides much more information about these deeper topics regarding the ultimate nature of self and phenomena. For an introduction to the ninth chapter, visit the chapter 9 summary page on Explore. For a more in-depth explanation of the ninth chapter, click here.
3. Patience in the Face of Harm from Others (verses 34 to 51)
The next section of the text, from verses 34 to 51, illuminates the role of patience in relation to harm that is caused to us by others. Śāntideva invites us to cultivate more positive habits and ways of dealing with these circumstances.
In the first verse of this section, Śāntideva points out that none of us want suffering of any kind. This relates to one of the primary principles of Buddhism that is particularly important in helping us develop compassion toward others—that is, no being wants to experience suffering, and all wish to have happiness.
If things could be according to their wish, No suffering would ever come To anyone of all embodied beings, For none of them wants pain of any kind.
Page(s) 82
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.
གལ་ཏེ་རང་དགས་འགྲུབ་འགྱུར་ན། །
འགའ་ཡང་སྡུག་བསྔལ་མི་འདོད་པས། ། ལུས་ཅན་དག་ནི་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱང་། །
སུ་ལའང་སྡུག་བསྔལ་འབྱུང་མི་འགྱུར། །gal te rang dgas 'grub 'gyur na/_/
'ga' yang sdug bsngal mi 'dod pas/_/ lus can dag ni thams cad kyang /_/
su la'ang sdug bsngal 'byung mi 'gyur/_/If we could get life to go the way we wanted it to go, we would always have happiness and would never have any form of suffering. But as we all know, this is not how we experience the world.
Contemporary master Thrangu Rinpoche, in his commentary on the root text, explains our complete lack of control over events in the cycle of samsara:
As already mentioned everyone lacks freedoms and control over the events of samsara. We should develop patience by concentrating on this fact again and again. There is no being that desires suffering, so if beings had freedom to choose whether they will suffer or not, there wouldn’t be any suffering. We know that all beings do suffer, so we must conclude that there is no choice of whether we suffer or not. In the context of anger which is a specific emotion not wanted by anyone, but it does arise in the minds of beings because they have no control or freedom. Understanding this is the first reason to have patience for those that harm us.[19]
Since we all wish to be free from suffering yet cannot seem to escape it, it must be that we have no choice in this matter. Yet here, Thrangu Rinpoche makes a further point—anger arises in those who have no control over their minds, and through that lack of control they lash out at us and cause us harm. We should therefore have patience for them for this very reason. Such people are out of control and are completely under the sway of their mental afflictions.
Śāntideva reminds us that if we are not careful, we will spend our lives striving for short-term happiness, expending all our energy that, at the end of the day, will provide us with only a small amount of temporary happiness:
Yet carelessly, all unaware, They tear themselves on thorns; And ardent in pursuit of wives and goods, They starve themselves of nourishment.
Page(s) 82
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.
བག་མེད་པས་ནི་བདག་ལའང་བདག །
ཚེར་མ་ལ་སོགས་གནོད་པ་བྱེད། ། བུད་མེད་ལ་སོགས་འཐོབ་བྱའི་ཕྱིར། །
རྔམ་ཞིང་ཟས་གཅོད་ལ་སོགས་བྱེད། །bag med pas ni bdag la'ang bdag_/
tsher ma la sogs gnod pa byed/_/ bud med la sogs 'thob bya'i phyir/_/
rngam zhing zas gcod la sogs byed/_/Some hang themselves or leap into the void, Take poison or consume unhealthy food, Or by their evil conduct Bring destruction on themselves.
Page(s) 82
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.
ཁ་ཅིག་འགག་ཅིང་གཡང་སར་མཆོང་། །
དུག་དང་མི་འཕྲོད་ཟ་བ་དང་། ། བསོད་ནམས་མ་ཡིན་སྤྱོད་པ་ཡིས། །
རང་ལ་གནོད་པ་བྱེད་པ་ཡོད། །kha cig 'gag cing g.yang sar mchong /_/
dug dang mi 'phrod za ba dang /_/ bsod nams ma yin spyod pa yis/_/
rang la gnod pa byed pa yod/_/Those that harm others also cause harm to themselves. There are those that in striving to attain liberation will roll on beds of thorns. Others become completely obsessed with attaining wealth and possessions or, infatuated with a romantic interest, are willing to inflict on themselves great suffering. Others, overcome by the afflictions, engage in terrible nonvirtuous actions such as killing and stealing, bringing ruin upon themselves both in this and future lives. In extreme circumstances, and in an attempt to eliminate their problems, some may even resort to suicide. They may starve themselves of food and drink or ingest poisonous substances and end up killing the very self they cherish so much.
Given that some individuals are willing to harm themselves, it is no wonder that they also end up wishing to harm others. On this, Śāntideva asks himself, "How can it be appropriate to get angry when I am harmed by others?"
Although we almost never feel compassion For those who, through defilement, Bring about their own perdition, What purpose does our anger serve?
Page(s) 82
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.
ཉོན་མོངས་སྐྱེས་པས་དེ་ལྟ་[p.52]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.
བདག་གསོད་ལ་སོགས་ཞུགས་པ་ལ། ། སྙིང་རྗེ་བརྒྱ་ལ་མ་སྐྱེས་ན། །
ཁྲོ་བར་འགྱུར་བ་ཅིའི་ཐ་ཚིག །nyon mongs skyes pas de lta [p.52]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.
bdag gsod la sogs zhugs pa la/_/ snying rje brgya la ma skyes na/_/
khro bar 'gyur ba ci'i tha tshig_/Here, Śāntideva asserts that there is no purpose in anger. The best response to people who may cause us harm is to develop compassion for these people who, overwhelmed by anger and negativity, harm others and may even resort to killing themselves. Even if we are not able to feel compassion for them, it is completely unsuitable to retaliate with anger. What possible purpose can anger serve?
When situations occur in which someone causes harm, we should carefully examine whether it is that person’s fundamental nature to be harmful or whether is it just something temporary:
And if their faults are fleeting and contingent, If living beings are by nature mild, It’s likewise senseless to resent them— As well be angry at the sky when it is full of smoke!
Page(s) 83
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.
འོན་ཏེ་སྐྱོན་འདི་གློ་བུར་ལ། །
སེམས་ཅན་རང་བཞིན་དེས་པ་* ངེས་པ་ in the source text. ནའང་། ། འོ་ནའང་ཁྲོ་བར་མི་རིགས་ཏེ། །
མཁའ་ལ་དུད་འཐུལ་བཀོན་པ་བཞིན། །on te skyon 'di glo bur la/_/
sems can rang bzhin des pa * nges pa [ in the source text.] na'ang /_/ 'o na'ang khro bar mi rigs te/_/
mkha' la dud 'thul bkon pa bzhin/_/Thus we must ask ourselves: Have they been carried away in the grip of their negative emotions, or is it something innate to them? If it is in their very nature, then there is nothing to be done to change their ways. We can certainly avoid them as much as possible, but there is no use reacting negatively to the harm they do. And if it is only a state which is occurring because they are influenced by temporary conditions, then we can understand that it is not in their nature to be angry. When the conditions pass, so will the anger and harm they cause. Thus, Śāntideva concludes with the question: What is the use of getting angry? We might just as well get angry with fire for being hot or the sky for being blue.
Thrangu Rinpoche traces this whole process back to the root of ignorance in beings:
When harmed by an individual, there is no real reason for being angry with that person. For example, the nature of fire is that it burns, and if we stick our hand into the fire, we will be burned. But we shouldn’t become angry at the fire, because heat is just a characteristic of fire. Similarly, ordinary individuals naturally act out of ignorance, so there is no reason to become angry with them because that is their nature. If we are harmed by somebody, we should just withdraw and relax, and not respond to their aggression. In this way, the harm will be pacified and there's no reason for becoming angry with the person. It is that person’s anger that pushed him or her to act in this way, so we should not become angry with another person’s anger.[20]
We may need to withdraw to a safe distance when threatened with anger or violence, but we should never think of retaliating. Understanding that ignorance of the way things actually exist is the principal cause of all our mental afflictions, we can see how ignorance always underlies the anger that overwhelms beings.
What Should the Object of Our Anger Be?
Verse 41 takes a deeper look at the direct and indirect causes of harm that eventually provoke us into anger:
Although it is their sticks that hurt me, I am angry at the ones who wield them, striking me. But they in turn are driven by their hatred; Therefore with their hatred I should take offence.
Page(s) 83
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.
དབྱུག་པ་ལ་སོགས་དངོས་བཀོལ་ཏེ། །
གལ་ཏེ་འཕེན་པ་ལ་ཁྲོ་ན། ། དེ་ཡང་ཞེ་སྡང་གིས་རྦད་པས། །
ཉིས་ན་ཞེ་སྡང་ལ་ཁྲོ་རིགས། །dbyug pa la sogs dngos bkol te/_/
gal te 'phen pa la khro na/_/ de yang zhe sdang gis rbad pas/_/
nyis na zhe sdang la khro rigs/_/Śāntideva argues here that when we are attacked by someone wielding a stick, then we always get angry at the person who is the indirect cause of the harm and the one in control, but we don’t get angry with the stick that is the direct cause of the harm. He reflects that since the attacker is actually under the sway of the anger, and anger is what is controlling the person, then, following the same logic, we should not get angry with the person but should get angry with the anger of the person attacking us.[21]
The next verse deals with a complex understanding of the law of karmic cause and effect. In a world where revenge is often held up to be a good thing, Śāntideva encourages us to look beyond this life and to consider a wider perspective where the karmic seeds of actions performed in past lives are now ripening in this life:
In just the same way in the past I it was who injured living beings. Therefore it is right that injury Should come to me their torturer.
Page(s) 83
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.
བདག་གིས་སྔོན་ཆད་སེམས་ཅན་ལ། །
འདི་འདྲ་བ་ཡི་གནོད་པ་བྱས། ། དེ་བས་སེམས་ཅན་འཚེ་བྱེད་པ། །
བདག་ལ་གནོད་པ་འདི་འབྱུང་རིགས། །bdag gis sngon chad sems can la/_/
'di 'dra ba yi gnod pa byas/_/ de bas sems can 'tshe byed pa/_/
bdag la gnod pa 'di 'byung rigs/_/Elaborating on the meaning of this verse in his commentary, Khenpo Kunpal explains that the negative things that happen to us are the result of our own actions:
In the end, all the blame comes back to ourselves. For in our past lives, we were the ones who injured others in the same way that they are injuring us now. It is only proper that as retribution we should now suffer the harms inflicted by others in return for the violence that we did to them in the past.[22]
This in no way should be understood to condone violence toward anyone. The purpose is to understand how the actions we perform have consequences. If we do not desire the unwanted results, we must ensure that we do not engage in the negative actions that cause them.
Śāntideva continues his unique analysis of situations of aggression by explaining that there are many more conditions that bring about harm than we imagine:
Their weapons and my body— Both are causes of my torment! They their weapons, I my body brandished; Who then is more worthy of my rage?
Page(s) 83
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.
དེ་ཡི་མཚོན་དང་བདག་གི་ལུས། །
གཉིས་ཀ་སྡུག་བསྔལ་རྒྱུ་ཡིན་ཏེ། ། དེས་མཚོན་བདག་གིས་ལུས་ཕྱུང་ན། །
གང་ཞིག་ལ་ནི་ཁྲོ་བར་བྱ། །de yi mtshon dang bdag gi lus/_/
gnyis ka sdug bsngal rgyu yin te/_/ des mtshon bdag gis lus phyung na/_/
gang zhig la ni khro bar bya/_/The contemporary Sakya master Khenpo Kunga Wangchuk explains this verse in his commentary, noting that suffering arises out of a confluence of causes and conditions:
Suffering arises with the coming together of the conditions of the weapons, sticks, or stones that the other harmful person such as the enemy holds in their hands, and my own body as the receptacle. Because of this, the two of the weapons of the enemy and my own body are both causes for the arisal of my sufferings, such as pain. This is because if the situation of the very enemy holding the weapons etc, and my body as the target both come about, both are exactly the same in being a cause for suffering. If we get angry at the enemy then I myself am also worthy of anger. If I don’t get angry with myself then whatever kind of enemy could I get angry with. It is completely unsuitable to get angry.[23]
Here, since both oneself and whatever weapons used by an enemy, such as a stick, are both responsible for causing the pain of an attack, they are both contributory conditions. If one feels it is righteous to get angry with the enemy, then one should also get angry with one's own body for being a cause. And if one doesn't get angry with one's own body, why would one get angry with the enemy? As everything is due to multiple causes, becoming angry with only one of those causes does not make sense.[24]
Attachment to the Body Is a Cause for Suffering
Continuing to look deeply into the nature of how physical pain arises, Śāntideva explains how our attachment to our own bodies is also a contributing factor to our suffering:
This body—running sore in human form— Merely touched, it cannot stand the pain! I’m the one who grasped it in my blind attachment, Whom should I resent when pain occurs?
Page(s) 83
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.
ཤུ་བ་མི་ཡི་གཟུགས་འདྲ་བ། །
རེག་ཏུ་མི་བཟོད་སྡུག་བསྔལ་ཅན། ། སྲེད་ལྡོངས་བདག་གིས་བཟུང་གྱུར་ན། །
དེ་ལ་གནོད་པ་སུ་ལ་ཁྲོ། །shu ba mi yi gzugs 'dra ba/_/
reg tu mi bzod sdug bsngal can/_/ sred ldongs bdag gis bzung gyur na/_/
de la gnod pa su la khro/_/Our bodies are fragile, hard to sustain, and easily destroyed. They are sensitive and unable to bear even small fluctuations in temperature and comfort. If someone merely brushes up against us, we feel pain. Yet this pain, Śāntideva tells us, is caused in part by our strong attachment to our body. Thus, instead of feeling anger toward the one who brushed up against us and seemingly caused our pain, Śāntideva advises us to instead take responsibility for the truth that our strong attachment to ourselves plays a large role in causing this suffering.
The Fault of Having Craved the Cause of Suffering in Previous Lives
In verse 45, Śāntideva explains how we act like children in relation to happiness and suffering and particularly to the causes of that suffering:
We who are like children Shrink from pain, but love its causes. We hurt ourselves through our misdeeds! So why should others be the object of our rage?
Page(s) 83
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.
བྱིས་པ་སྡུག་བསྔལ་མི་འདོད་ཅིང་། །
སྡུག་བསྔལ་རྒྱུ་ལ་བརྐམ་པས་ན། ། རང་གི་ཉེས་པས་གནོད་གྱུར་པ། །
གཞན་ལ་བཀོན་ཏུ་ཅི་ཞིག་ཡོད། །byis pa sdug bsngal mi 'dod cing /_/
sdug bsngal rgyu la brkam pas na/_/ rang gi nyes pas gnod gyur pa/_/
gzhan la bkon tu ci zhig yod/_/We want happiness, and yet we love the causes of suffering so much—we are so attached to negative actions such as lying, stealing, and gossiping that we find it hard to avoid them. But these negative actions will bear fruit in the future. And when those results ripen, we hate the unwanted sufferings those actions bring. But it is really our own misdeeds that hurt us. We are like silly children who hate the result of something but can’t stop acting out the causes of that unwanted result.
"So," Śāntideva asks us, "why do we take exception to others and put all the blame for our suffering on them? Why do we not look deeper into the situation and realize our own part in creating our own suffering? We are actually experiencing the results of our own actions, so why would we get angry with others?"
Taking this context into account, we must be strong enough to cultivate patience in regard to these situations and instead strive to abandon the causes of suffering.
Avoiding Anger toward Others by Connecting One's Karma to the Cause of Their Suffering
The previous verses encourage us to develop patience by asking us to take responsibility for creating our own suffering when our adversaries harm us. Verse 47 extends this argument to ask whether we also have a part to play in causing harm to our enemies.
In general, our previous negative actions result in unwanted suffering. But when that unwanted suffering comes at the hands of others—for instance, when they directly cause us harm—are we not also, through our own previous karmic actions, responsible for that? If so, it would mean that we are actually hurting those who seek to harm us. On this point, Śāntideva explains:
Those who harm me rise against me— It’s my karma that has summoned them. And if through this these beings go to hell, Is it not I who bring their ruin?
Page(s) 84
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.
བདག་གི་ལས་ཀྱིས་བསྐུལ་བྱས་ནས། །
བདག་ལ་གནོད་བྱེད་རྣམས་འབྱུང་སྟེ། ། དེས་ནི་སེམས་ཅན་དམྱལ་འདོང་ན། །
བདག་གིས་དེ་དག་མ་བརླག་གམ། །bdag gi las kyis bskul byas nas/_/
bdag la gnod byed rnams 'byung ste/_/ des ni sems can dmyal 'dong na/_/
bdag gis de dag ma brlag gam/_/His Holiness the Dalai Lama explains this complex point in A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of Night, stating rather directly that not only are we responsible for the harm others cause us but it is we who are responsible for their suffering:
The wrongs other people do to us are the direct result of our past actions. These actions have in fact caused our adversaries to harm us. From this point of view, it is we who are harming our opponents, for in the future they will suffer because of the harmful act we ourselves have instigated.[25]
There is a way out of this negative cycle for us if we are able to restrain ourselves from retaliation and practice patience. In holding back from angry responses, we can purify all the negativity we have done and can prevent ourselves from perpetuating the cycle of harm. But for our adversaries the situation is very different, especially when they show no signs of remorse for what they have done. The harm they cause us will result in their future unwanted suffering:
Because of them, and through my patience, All my many sins are cleansed and purified. But they will be the ones who, thanks to me, Will have the long-drawn agonies of hell.
Page(s) 84
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.
འདི་དག་ལ་ནི་རྟེན་བཅས་ནས། །
བཟོད་པས་བདག་སྡིག་མང་དུ་འབྱང་* འབྱུང་ in the source text. ། ། བདག་ལ་བརྟེན་ནས་དེ་དག་ནི། །
ཡུན་རིང་སྡུག་བསྔལ་དམྱལ་བར་འདོང་། །di dag la ni rten bcas nas/_/
bzod pas bdag sdig mang du 'byang * 'byung [ in the source text.] /_/ bdag la brten nas de dag ni/_/
yun ring sdug bsngal dmyal bar 'dong /_/His Holiness goes on to explain this verse and how the one who harms us is actually in a much worse situation going forward:
When others harm us, it gives us the chance to practice patience and thus to purify numerous negative actions and to accumulate much merit. Since it is our enemies who give us this great opportunity, in reality they are helping us. But because they are committing negative actions and we are the cause of these, we are actually harming them. So if there is anyone to get angry with, it should be ourselves. We should never be angry with our enemies, regardless of their attitude, since they are indeed useful to us.[26]
Thus, Śāntideva tells us, the harm and wrongs done to us that come from other people are the direct result of our past actions. These actions have a role to play in our adversaries' negative actions toward us. When we look at the situation from this long-term point of view, it is we who are harming them, for in the future they will suffer from the harm they did to us.
At the same time, Śāntideva suggests, our adversaries are actually giving us an opportunity to practice patience and therefore to purify numerous negative actions as well as to accumulate a great store of merit. Since it is our enemies who provide us with this incredible opportunity, in reality they are helping us. How could we respond with anger to those who are actually helping us to engage in practices that lead us along the path to enlightenment?
Refuting Objections
The logical perspective contained in the previous verses relies on an understanding of the complexity of karmic cause and effect. In turning around the lines of reason presented there, a series of doubts may arise.
Firstly, if we are causing our adversaries to accumulate negative actions, do we then also become karmically responsible for that, and are we therefore accumulating negative actions? And if our enemies are helping us to practice patience, do they not accumulate positive merit by providing us with the opportunity to practice and therefore to not have to face the lower realms? In answer to the first question, Śāntideva says that we will not suffer the same fate as those who harm us, as long as we practice patience.
If a patient quality of mind is mine, I shall avoid the pains of hell. But though indeed I save myself, What of my foes, what fate’s in store for them?
Page(s) 84
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.
གལ་ཏེ་བདག་ལ་བསམ་པ་ཡི། །
ཡོན་ཏན་ཡོད་ན་དམྱལ་མི་འགྲོ། ། གལ་ཏེ་བདག་གིས་བདག་བསྲུངས་ན། །
དེ་དག་ལ་འདིར་ཅི་ཞིག་བྱུང་། །gal te bdag la bsam pa yi/_/
yon tan yod na dmyal mi 'gro/_/ gal te bdag gis bdag bsrungs na/_/
de dag la 'dir ci zhig byung /_/It is the quality of developing patience in our minds, despite the suffering inflicted on us by others, that saves us from a terrible fate. As for the second question, the fate of others who do us harm yet provide us with the opportunity to practice patience, His Holiness the Dalai Lama suggests that just as we are responsible for practicing patience, so too is it the responsibility of our adversaries.
Although we have been the cause for their negative actions, by our practicing patience, we actually accumulate merit and will not take rebirth in the lower realms. It is we who have been patient, and that does not help our enemies.[27]
The key point here is that the practice of patience saves the person from a terrible destiny. But since our foes are angered and unable to practice patience in the moment, there is only one fate that awaits them.
If we practice patience, we will avoid future suffering. But this also implies that if we are not careful to practice patience, we will face a terrible fate in the future. Patience helps us to respond positively in harmful situations and is an essential factor in preventing future suffering.
There is a further objection: If an attacker is actually our benefactor because they help exhaust our negative karma, then should we not fight back against our attacker, because in doing so we would also exhaust their negativity?
If I repay them harm for harm, Indeed they’ll not be saved thereby. My conduct will in turn be marred, Austerity of patience brought to nothing.
Page(s) 84
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.
འོན་ཏེ་ལན་དུ་གནོད་བྱས་ན། །
དེ་དག་བསྲུངས་པར་མ་གྱུར་ལ། ། བདག་གི་སྤྱོད་པའང་ཉམས་པར་འགྱུར། །
དེས་ན་དཀའ་ཐུབ་ཞིག་པར་འགྱུར། །on te lan du gnod byas na/_/
de dag bsrungs par ma gyur la/_/ bdag gi spyod pa'ang nyams par 'gyur/_/
des na dka' thub zhig par 'gyur/_/In answer to this objection, Śāntideva points out that if we are sincere in wishing to protect our enemies, retaliation is not the way. Fighting harm with harm will only exacerbate the situation, causing their minds to get even angrier, and this will lead to the ruin of all.
In his commentary, Khenpo Kunpal warns that if we choose to fight fire with fire
[W]e in turn will ruin our four virtuous disciplines (never to repay abuse with abuse, never to be angry in return for anger, never to strike back when struck, and never to expose the faults of others when they reveal our own). And thus even patience, the best of Bodhisattva austerities, is utterly destroyed.[28]
These lines provide us with four practical guidelines to bring to mind whenever we encounter situations of harm: (1) never retaliate against harm with harm ourselves, (2) never respond to anger with anger, (3) never respond to blows with blows, and (4) never speak bad of others or reveal their faults, even when they do so to us.
A Summary of How to Respond to Harm
Patrul Rinpoche, in his commentary The Brightly Shining Sun, summarizes this section on dealing with harm by presenting three main reasons that a practitioner should practice patience:
The patience of disregarding the harm done to us by others can be cultivated for the following three reasons:
- 1. By seeing those who harm us as objects for compassion: If we think how deluded sentient beings will inflict harm even on themselves through the influence of their disturbing emotions, is it any wonder that they do so to others?
- 2. By putting all the blame on ourselves: Consider how all the harm that is done to us now must come from our own past karma and how we are conducting ourselves in the immediate situation.
- 3. By thinking that it is only with the help of our enemies that we can gain the merit of practising patience, which in turn becomes a support for bodhisattva activity. In this way, we can consider enemies as friends who actually bring us benefit.[29]
Here, Patrul Rinpoche provides us with three very powerful reasons why we must practice patience and restrain our anger when harmed. First, our adversaries are completely deluded, and it is the anger in their minds that has thrown them into a rage. Therefore, they should be objects of compassion and not retaliation. Second, difficult situations that fall on us now are not random events. They are connected to and are the results of past negative actions. Thus, we must take some responsibility for this instead of putting all the blame on others. Lastly, instead of viewing those that harm us as our enemies, we should understand that they are helping us practice patience and therefore are actually supporting our practice of the Mahāyāna path. We should consider them as friends.
In connection with this point, His Holiness the Dalai Lama often remarks on how we should not understand those that harm us or create difficulties for us as our enemies but as our spiritual teachers. He uses the phrase, "In the practice of tolerance, one's enemy is the best teacher." In his book How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving Relationships, His Holiness explains this phrase more fully:
The worst consequence of not being mindful of the unintended kindness of others comes into view when we consider our enemies. Without enemies you could not fully engage in the practice of patience—tolerance and forbearance. We need enemies, and should be grateful to them. From the viewpoint of training in altruism, an enemy is really your guru, your teacher; only an enemy can teach you tolerance. An enemy is the greatest teacher of altruism, and for that reason, instead of hating, we must respect him.[30]
Patience with Those Who Slander Us
The next section of the text, from verse 52 to verse 63, gives us advice on how to restrain our anger and practice patience in situations where others criticize us or treat us with contempt.
The first two verses of this section investigate further events where anger can arise, particularly in relation to situations where someone disparages our name or uses harsh words toward us. The verses explain how to transform our thinking during these times in order to reduce our anger and cultivate patience.
When people slander us or use harsh words toward us, we take it all very personally and believe that it hurts both our bodies and our minds. From that we respond with anger. And yet, as Śāntideva points out in these verses, this is entirely unnecessary. He argues that there is no reason to let the words that people say affect us, especially physically.
Because the mind is bodiless It cannot be destroyed by anyone. Because of mind’s attachment to the body, This body is oppressed by pain.
Page(s) 84
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.
ཡིད་ནི་ལུས་ཅན་མ་ཡིན་པས། །
སུས་ཀྱང་གང་དུའང་གཞོམ་མི་ནུས། ། ལུས་ལ་མངོན་པར་ཞེན་པས་ན། །
ལུས་ནི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་དག་གིས་གནོད། །yid ni lus can ma yin pas/_/
sus kyang gang du'ang gzhom mi nus/_/ lus la mngon par zhen pas na/_/
lus ni sdug bsngal dag gis gnod/_/Scorn and hostile words,
And comments that I do not like to hear—
My body is not harmed by them.
What reason do you have, O mind, for your resentment?[p.85]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.
Page(s) 84
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.
བརྙས་དང་ཚིག་རྩུབ་སྨྲ་བ་དང་། །
མི་སྙན་པ་ཡི་ཚིག་དེ་ཡིས། །
ལུས་ལ་[p.54]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.
brnyas dang tshig rtsub smra ba dang /_/
mi snyan pa yi tshig de yis/_/
lus la [p.54]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.
Whatever harsh words people use to criticize and slander us, those words cannot hurt our bodies, nor must they hurt our minds. As the old adage goes, "Sticks and stones may hurt my bones, but calling me names won't harm me."
The mind is not a physical thing. It is not embodied and therefore cannot be physically hurt by weapons, not by even the harshest of words spoken by others. The problem is that the mind cherishes and grasps on strongly to the body that is its physical support. We therefore become overly attached to our bodies and hold them strongly to be our own. This is why we suffer when our bodies are physically attacked and beaten. If there were no clinging attachment to our bodies, then we would not feel the pain of those injuries. Thus, Śāntideva asks us, "Why does our mind feel resentment at slander and blame? Why would we respond with anger?" There is no reason at all for anger in these circumstances, and so we should practice patience in the face of slanderous words.
It Makes No Sense to Get Angry with Obstacles to Acquisition
Within the section of the text relating to having patience with slander, verses 55 to 61 present reasons why it is unsuitable to be angry at things that get in the way of obtaining what we want. We encounter many of these situations in our lives, and here Śāntideva counsels us in how to prevent our anger from boiling up.
We may argue that if someone speaks badly of us, then others are much less likely to believe and trust us, and this will impact our ability to acquire the things we desire. Since we generally perceive this as an obstacle to our well-being, we may feel justified in our anger at the situation:
Perhaps I turn from it because It hinders me from having what I want. But all my property I’ll leave behind, While sins will keep me steady company.
Page(s) 85
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.
རྙེད་པའི་བར་ཆད་བྱེད་པའི་ཕྱིར། །
གལ་ཏེ་བདག་འདི་མི་འདོད་ན། ། བདག་གིས་རྙེད་པ་འདིར་འདོར་གྱི། །
སྡིག་པ་དག་ནི་བརྟན་པར་གནས། །rnyed pa'i bar chad byed pa'i phyir/_/
gal te 'di bdag mi 'dod na/_/ bdag gis rnyed pa 'dir 'dor gyi/_/
sdig pa dag ni brtan par gnas/_/But Śāntideva reminds us that all those material possessions and the wealth we have accumulated must be left behind at the time of death. In fact, it is only the karmic imprints of our anger and the deeds that anger and the other afflictions drive us to perform that go with us after we die. Death will not cleanse those negativities. So, we should be careful to control our anger by developing patience when people and things get in the way of what we want.
In response to this argument, we may try to justify getting angry by saying it is acceptable in the face of these kinds of obstacles, because if we don’t acquire the things we want, our resources could dwindle, and eventually we could die from lack of food and shelter. But as Śāntideva counsels us in verse 56, the suffering of death cannot be avoided, however long we are able to sustain our lives.
Better far for me to die today, Than live a long and evil life. However long the days of those like me, The pain of dying will be all the same.
Page(s) 85
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.
བདག་ནི་དེང་ཉིད་ཤི་ཡང་བླའི། །
ལོག་འཚོས་ཡུན་རིང་གསོན་མི་རུང་། ། བདག་ལྟ་ཡུན་རིང་གནས་གྱུར་ཀྱང་། །
འཆི་བའི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་དེ་ཉིད་ཡིན། །bdag ni deng nyid shi yang bla'i/_/
log 'tshos yun ring gson mi rung /_/ bdag lta yun ring gnas gyur kyang /_/
'chi ba'i sdug bsngal de nyid yin/_/Here he instructs us that, in reality, it is better to die here and now than to live a long life sustained by wrong livelihood. For it is taught that if there is a choice between a long but evil life or death this very day, then dying today is the better option. A wicked person may live a long life, but the pain will be far greater for them as the time of death approaches.
The implication of this verse is the importance of right livelihood, regarding which Khenpo Kunpal refers to The Precious Garland (Ratnāvali) by Nāgārjuna. He relates how in that text Nāgārjuna mentions how the sūtras define wrong livelihood in terms of various kinds of clinging to the objects of the six senses.
The Ratnavali stipulates that wrong livelihood is to be summarized under five headings. It is an attempt to secure a living by flattery, hypocrisy (i.e., pretending to be a good practitioner), self-interested generosity, putting forward one's status or position [as being a person worthy of support], and indirect theft (e.g., pretending that one has nothing).[31]
It is important for us to examine our daily lives and avoid any of these ways of obtaining a living. It is also important to connect this to the central point being made here—that is, patience is essential in order to have forbearance toward slander and the disparaging of our name and reputation, particularly when it might prevent us from obtaining what we want.
Śāntideva continues with the theme of death, reminding us that whether life is long or short, it must always come to an end. At that time, the happiness one had when alive will be just a memory. To illustrate this point, he uses an example of two people, both of whom dream and both of whom experience dreams filled with happiness. The difference between them is that one dreams for one hundred years, and the other only enjoys a moment's dreaming:
One man dreams he lives a hundred years Of happiness, but then he wakes. Another dreams an instant’s joy, But then he likewise wakes.
Page(s) 85
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.
རྨི་ལམ་ལོ་བརྒྱར་བདེ་མྱོང་ནས། །
སད་པར་གྱུར་པ་གང་ཡིན་དང་། ། གཞན་ཞིག་ཡུད་ཙམ་བདེ་མྱོང་ནས། །
སད་པར་གྱུར་པ་གང་ཡིན་པ། །rmi lam lo brgyar bde myong nas/_/
sad par gyur pa gang yin dang /_/ gzhan zhig yud tsam bde myong nas/_/
sad par gyur pa gang yin pa/_/And when they wake, the happiness of both Is finished, never to return. Likewise, when the hour of death comes round, Our lives are over, whether brief or long.
Page(s) 85
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.
སད་པ་དེ་དག་གཉིས་ཀ་ལའང་། །
བདེ་བ་དེ་ནི་ཕྱིར་འོང་མེད། ། ཚེ་རིང་ཚེ་ཐུང་གཉིས་ཀ་ཡང་། །
འཆི་བའི་དུས་ན་དེ་འདྲར་ཟད། །sad pa de dag gnyis ka la'ang /_/
bde ba de ni phyir 'ong med/_/ tshe ring tshe thung gnyis ka yang /_/
'chi ba'i dus na de 'drar zad/_/As illustrated by these verses, when both individuals awaken, all of that happiness in each of their respective dreams is gone. In that, they are completely equal. Similarly, Śāntideva says, whether one has had a long and happy life or a short yet happy life, at the time of death all of that happiness becomes a mere memory. Therefore, it is unsuitable to crave for possessions and advantage. Reducing this craving will help reduce our anger, and practicing patience in relation to obstacles that prevent us from getting those things will also bring us more long-term peace.
The Reason Why Craving for Gain Is Unsuitable
In the next verse, Śāntideva reminds us that we cannot take anything with us when we die. We must go, as we came into the world, naked and stripped of all possessions:
Though we be rich in worldly goods, Delighting in our wealth for many years, Despoiled and stripped as though by thieves, We must go naked and with empty hands.
Page(s) 85
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.
རྙེད་པ་མང་པོ་ཐོབ་གྱུར་ཏེ། །
ཡུན་རིང་དུས་སུ་བདེ་སྤྱད་ཀྱང་། ། ཆོམ་པོས་ཕྲོགས་པ་ཇི་བཞིན་དུ། །
སྒྲེན་མོ་ལག་པ་སྟོང་པར་འགྲོ། །rnyed pa mang po thob gyur te/_/
yun ring dus su bde spyad kyang /_/ chom pos phrogs pa ji bzhin du/_/
sgren mo lag pa stong par 'gro/_/Here, Śāntideva uses the analogy of a band of robbers capturing us on a highway, taking all our possessions, and leaving us empty-handed. Such is death. Death will strip us of everything we own. Not only will we have to leave all our wealth and prized possessions behind, but our very physical body must be abandoned as we move on to another. Only our minds and the karmic imprints from the deeds we have done will go with us.
The next two verses are a response to the idea that it is good to acquire wealth and possessions because those things will help us to practice virtue and give up on nonvirtue.
Perhaps we’ll claim that by our wealth we live,
And living, gather merit, dissipating evil.
But if we are aggressive for the sake of profit,
Won’t our gains be evil, all our merits lost?[p.86]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.
Page(s) 85
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.
གལ་ཏེ་རྙེད་པས་གསོན་གྱུར་ན། །
སྡིག་ཟད་བསོད་ནམས་བྱ་ཞེ་ན། ། རྙེད་པའི་དོན་དུ་ཁྲོས་གྱུར་ན། །
བསོད་ནམས་ཟད་སྡིག་མི་འགྱུར་རམ། །gal te rnyed pas gson gyur na/_/
sdig zad bsod nams bya zhe na/_/ rnyed pa'i don du khros gyur na/_/
bsod nams zad sdig mi 'gyur ram/_/The main focus of our lives should be to practice virtue. We may agree on that, but then argue that having wealth and comfort is the best way to be able to practice virtue. And in the blind rush to attain that wealth, if our aggression toward others increases, we will actually destroy the very purpose that we had set out to achieve.
In his commentary, the contemporary master Khenpo Kunga Wangchuk relates this topic back to that crucial first verse of chapter 6, where Śāntideva reminds us of the terrible dangers of anger:
At the beginning we try to obtain things for ourselves. At that time our minds will be angered, either through getting angry with those who act as obstacles or prevent us from our purpose of obtaining those valued possessions, or we will be jealous of those who have already amassed great fortune
- All the good works gathered in a thousand ages,
Such as deeds of generosity,
And offerings to the Blissful Ones—
A single flash of anger shatters them. (6.1)
This anger will exhaust all of our vast merit, and will not the negativity that exhausts the [merit] be an incredible nonvirtue? It will indeed, and therefore there is no purpose in any of this.[32]
In the project of attaining wealth for what we believe is the purpose of doing virtue, we end up working completely against that goal. We end up constantly angry at those who stand in the way of us getting more wealth and grow jealous of those who are already wealthy themselves. This anger causes us to destroy all the virtues that we initially set out to develop.
In the next verse, Śāntideva counsels us that there is no purpose to following this path. The very purpose we set out to achieve will be undone, and we will end up accumulating only nonvirtue:
And if the aim for which we live Is thereby wasted and undone, What use is there in living thus, When evil is the only consequence?
Page(s) 86
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.
གང་གི་དོན་དུ་བདག་གསོན་པ། །
དེ་ཉིད་གལ་ཏེ་ཉམས་[p.55]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.
gang gi don du bdag gson pa/_/
de nyid gal te nyams [p.55]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.
The contemporary master Geshe Yeshe Tobden adds an interesting note in his commentary to this verse, stating,
Bodhisattvas pray that those who commit much negative karma will not live long, and so will not have the opportunity to go on creating many causes for their own suffering.[33]
This statement should not be misunderstood to mean that bodhisattvas pray for the death of anyone, especially the wicked. It is an expression of their compassion for those harming both themselves and others with their way of living. This prayer connects to the verses above, where it is said that if we are going to live a wicked life, then it is better to live only for a short time, because in the course of that lifetime we will commit less evil.
In one of the last verses in this section, Śāntideva reveals our hypocrisy about slander, verbal abuse, and humiliation. We always take offense when the slander is about us, but when it is focused on someone we don't know, and especially someone we dislike, we ignore it or even support it.
And if, when people slander us, We claim our anger is because they injure others, How is it we do not resent Their slander when it’s aimed at someone else?
Page(s) 86
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.
གལ་ཏེ་སེམས་ཅན་ཉམས་བྱེད་པས། །
མི་སྙན་སྨྲ་ལ་ཁྲོ་ཞེ་ན། ། གཞན་ལ་མི་སྙན་བརྗོད་ལའང་ཁྱོད། །
དེ་བཞིན་ཅི་སྟེ་ཁྲོ་མི་བྱེད། །gal te sems can nyams byed pas/_/
mi snyan smra la khro zhe na/_/ gzhan la mi snyan brjod la'ang khyod/_/
de bzhin ci ste khro mi byed/_/This is not about slander itself being a bad thing. If anger toward slander is justified, it should be justified in every instance of slander. But this is not how we act. Instead, we only get angry with others when they put us down, but we will happily encourage that abuse as soon as it is focused on someone we dislike.
Patience with Those Who Insult the Dharma and Our Spiritual Teachers
Verses 64 to 75 focus on the reasons to develop patience toward those who criticize or harm the Dharma or the spiritual teachers.
Considering the previous verses, we may accept that it is unsuitable to be angry when we ourselves are harmed, but we may think that we are justified in our anger when the Three Jewels are harmed or our teachers are insulted. Yet this, Śāntideva tells us, is a mistaken view.
Even those who vilify and undermine The Sacred Doctrine, images, and stūpas Are not proper objects of our anger. Buddhas are themselves untouched thereby.
Page(s) 86
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.
སྐུ་གཟུགས་མཆོད་རྟེན་དམ་ཆོས་ལ། །
འཁྱལ་ཞིང་འཇིག་པར་བྱེད་པ་ལའང་། ། བདག་གིས་ཞེ་སྡང་མི་རིགས་ཏེ། །
སངས་རྒྱས་སོགས་ལ་གནོད་མི་མངའ། །sku gzugs mchod rten dam chos la/_/
'khyal zhing 'jig par byed pa la'ang /_/ bdag gis zhe sdang mi rigs te/_/
sangs rgyas sogs la gnod mi mnga'/_/And even if our teachers, relatives, and friends Are now the object of aggression, All derives from factors, as we have explained. This we should perceive and curb our wrath.
Page(s) 86
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.
བླ་མ་གཉེན་ལ་སོགས་པ་དང་། །
བཤེས་ལ་གནོད་པ་བྱེད་རྣམས་ལའང་། ། སྔ་མའི་ཚུལ་གྱི་རྐྱེན་དག་ལས། །
འགྱུར་བར་མཐོང་ནས་ཁྲོ་བ་བཟློག །bla ma gnyen la sogs pa dang /_/
bshes la gnod pa byed rnams la'ang /_/ snga ma'i tshul gyi rkyen dag las/_/
'gyur bar mthong nas khro ba bzlog_/The buddhas and the Dharma cannot be harmed. And since the attacker, who is engaging in terrible acts, will actually hurt themselves in the long run, they are an object of our compassion. We certainly should not engage them with anger but should develop an affectionate and caring mind toward them.[34]
In his commentary to this section, Thrangu Rinpoche encourages us to cultivate patience and restrain our anger toward those who destroy images of the Buddhas or enlightened beings:
When people destroy stupas and try to destroy the Dharma, it’s not necessary to become angry with them because these images and teachings are simply symbolic objects of having confidence in Buddhism. Those who destroy stupas and the sacred Dharma teachings will not actually harm or affect the enlightened beings, nor will they harm the Dharma itself. So it is not proper to be angry at these persons.[35]
He makes an important point that objects such as stūpas or statues are merely representations of the buddhas and other facets of the teachings. The deeper meaning of them is what is important, and our understanding of that deeper meaning does not need to be affected by outer harm to these objects.
Likewise, Nāgārjuna, in his Letter to a Friend (Suhṛllekha), counsels us never to retaliate or engage in wrongdoing even for the sake of those things that we hold very dear to us, such as the teachers and masters, the gods, or even our own family or those around us. He warns us of the terrible consequences we would have to face if we did respond with anger:
Perform no evil, even for the sake Of brahmins, bhikshus, gods, or honored guests, Your father, mother, queen, or for your court. The ripened fruit in hell's for you alone. (Verse 30)[36]
Thrangu Rinpoche goes on to connect these verses with his personal experience of escaping the Chinese invasion of Tibet:
Several years ago someone asked me, "Didn't you develop any anger or hatred toward the Communists who invaded your country, destroyed your monastery, and drove you out of your native land?" With a lack of alertness, mindfulness, or stability of mind at the time I could have become angry and would say, "Yes, I am angry." But by realizing the teaching of the Dharma, I realized that there is no solid, firm person known as a "Communist." But there were some units of the Chinese army who chased me and shot at me. I did not become angry at them because I did not know them and they did not know me. They shot at me because it was their job to do so and it was my job to try to escape; so there was no hatred between us.[37]
Here we have a very practical example of what it means to restrain our anger and practice the Dharma teachings when our teachers and our whole way of life are under threat.
The Ignorance of Anger
The next verse deals with the way in which everyone has their own kind of ignorance, whether those directly committing negative acts or those who have no patience with them:
Some do evil things because of ignorance,
Some respond with anger, being ignorant.
Which of them is faultless in such acts?
To whom shall error be ascribed?[p.87]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.
Page(s) 86
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.
ལ་ལ་རྨོངས་པས་ཉེས་པ་བྱེད། །
ལ་ལ་རྨོངས་ཏེ་ཁྲོས་གྱུར་ན། ། དེ་ལ་སྐྱོན་མེད་གང་གིས་བྱ། །
སྐྱོན་དང་བཅས་དེ་གང་ཞིག་ཡིན། །la la rmongs pas nyes pa byed/_/
la la rmongs te khros gyur na/_/ de la skyon med gang gis bya/_/
skyon dang bcas de gang zhig yin/_/There are people who, out of their ignorance, commit negative acts such as stealing, lying, and cheating, and in some cases even killing. This is a normal situation for worldly people, and we come across many of these kinds of people in our lives. But then there are also those who, out of their own ignorance, fail to have any patience or compassion when they encounter these kinds of destructive people, and they can be moved to anger and acts of retaliation. But who is guilty here? Who is at fault? Both are moved by ignorance and both accumulate great negativity. So how can we say one is better than the other?
In verse 68, Śāntideva impresses upon us the larger perspective of the relationship between karmic causes and their results. In this verse he draws a particular connection to our teachers and those close to us and explains that there is another reason not to react to the harm that falls on them.
Instead, why did they act in times gone by That they are now so harmed at others’ hands? Since everything depends on karma, Why should I be angry at such things?
Page(s) 87
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.
གང་གིས་གཞན་དག་གནོད་བྱེད་པའི། །
ལས་དེ་སྔོན་ཆད་ཅི་ཕྱིར་བྱས། ། ཐམས་ཅད་ལས་ལ་རག་ལས་ན། །
བདག་གིས་འདི་ལ་ཅི་སྟེ་བཀོན། །gang gis gzhan dag gnod byed pa'i/_/
las de sngon chad ci phyir byas/_/ thams cad las la rag las na/_/
bdag gis 'di la ci ste bkon/_/When bad things happen to those we dislike, we may be quite comfortable saying, "Oh, that is their fault. They deserve that for all the wicked things they did in the past." But here Śāntideva is telling us that karma takes no sides and is equal to all. We also have to accept that when others cause harm to our beloved masters and teachers, that is the unwanted result of their previous negative karmic acts. It doesn't just arise from nowhere, and they bear responsibility for it. Even though they are beloved by us, we should not feel resentment toward those causing them harm. Instead, we must practice patience even with those who harm our teachers.
Purifying Greater Future Sufferings by Tolerating Smaller Hardships Now
In verse 72, Śāntideva gives further encouragement to tolerate and have patience with the harms and scorn directed at ourselves and those close to us.
Is it not a happy chance if when, condemned to death, A man is freed, his hand cut off in ransom for his life? And is it not a happy chance if now, to escape hell, I suffer only the misfortunes of the human state?
Page(s) 87
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.
གསད་བྱའི་མི་ཞིག་ལག་བཅད་དེ། །
གལ་ཏེ་ཐར་ན་ཅིས་མ་ལེགས། ། གལ་ཏེ་མི་ཡི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་གྱིས། །
དམྱལ་བ་བྲལ་ན་ཅིས་མ་ལེགས། །gsad bya'i mi zhig lag bcad de/_/
gal te thar na cis ma legs/_/ gal te mi yi sdug bsngal gyis/_/
dmyal ba bral na cis ma legs/_/Here Śāntideva plays down these injuries of scorn that we perceive to be so unbearable, though we think of them as such a big deal. He uses the analogy of an extremely guilty person who is led away to execution, only to be partially reprieved at the last minute and set free after having only his hand amputated. Relatively speaking, this is a huge escape for one facing execution. In the same way, it is surely better to endure smaller human injuries such as scorn than to have to suffer the pains of the lower realms later because we reacted with anger.
In verse 74, Śāntideva explains that the many sufferings of the human state that arise as a result of always seeking to get what we desire, especially those sufferings that are inflicted upon us by our enemies, are unwanted and therefore intolerable. But these sufferings are nothing compared to the tremendous pain that we have tolerated in the lower realms in previous lives.
For sake of gaining all that I desired,
A thousand times I underwent
The tortures of the realms of hell—
Achieving nothing for myself and others.[p.88]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.
Page(s) 87
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.
འདོད་པའི་དོན་དུ་བསྲེག་ལ་སོགས* སྲོག་ in the source text. ། །
དམྱལ་བ་སྟོང་ཕྲག་མྱོང་གྱུར་ཀྱང་། ། བདག་གིས་རང་གི་དོན་དང་ནི། །
གཞན་གྱི་དོན་ཡང་མ་བྱས་སོ། །'dod pa'i don du bsreg la sogs* srog [ in the source text. ] /_/
dmyal ba stong phrag myong gyur kyang /_/ bdag gis rang gi don dang ni/_/
gzhan gyi don yang ma byas so/_/Right up until this present time, we have experienced tremendous pain and suffering, especially in the fiery pits of hell of the lower realms. All of those experiences came from our attachment to the objects of our desire. In all of this time, nothing has been achieved for either ourselves or others. This suffering has been almost pointless.
Furthermore, Śāntideva tells us, we must understand that the present pains that we must undergo and the hardships we must endure in practicing patience will bring much greater benefits in the long run:
The present aches are nothing to compare with those, And yet great benefits will come from them. These troubles that dispel the pain of wanderers— It’s only right that I rejoice in them.
Page(s) 88
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.
འདི་ནི་དེ་ཙམ་གནོད་མིན་ལ། །
དོན་ཆེན་དག་ཀྱང་འགྲུབ་འགྱུར་བས། ། འགྲོ་བའི་གནོད་སེལ་སྡུག་བསྔལ་ལ། །
དགའ་བ་འབའ་ཞིག་འདིར་བྱ་རིགས། །di ni de tsam gnod min la/_/
don chen dag kyang 'grub 'gyur bas/_/ 'gro ba'i gnod sel sdug bsngal la/_/
dga' ba 'ba' zhig 'dir bya rigs/_/Śāntideva continues the theme of being able to absorb the difficulties inflicted upon us by an aggressor by making light of them and by encouraging us to deal with them using patience as our own weapon. These hardships faced through practicing patience will be a harvest of happiness. As Khenpo Kunpal says:
The harm inflicted on beings in the lower realms is dispelled thereby; and suffering, once accepted, is like a broom that sweeps away our negativities and is a stimulus to goodness. Thus we should not shy away from it but instead should embrace it joyfully.[38]
Great purpose is to be had in applying forbearance to difficult situations and embracing them with joy. In the moment they may hurt us a little. There will be some temporary suffering. But when we think of it from a wider perspective and look to the future, we will see that the result of practicing patience now will in the future yield the great purpose of attaining enlightenment for the benefit of ourselves and others.
Cultivating Patience When People Do Good to Our Enemies
From verses 76 to 89, Śāntideva advises us on how to cultivate patience when our enemies—or others we deem unworthy—receive praise.
In his commentary, Pema Karpo relates this point to the importance of cultivating joy in others' good qualities. He shows that the antidote to our impatience when our enemies receive praise is to understand and recognize their actual qualities.[39]
Śāntideva first questions why we find it so difficult to hear praise for those who have talents.
When others take delight In giving praise to those endowed with talents, Why, O mind, do you not find A joy likewise in praising them?
Page(s) 88
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.
གཞན་གྱིས་ཡོན་ཏན་ལྡན་བསྟོད་ནས། །
གལ་ཏེ་དགའ་བའི་བདེ་ཐོབ་ན། །
ཡིད་ཁྱོད་ཀྱང་ནི་དེ་བསྟོད་ནས། །[p.57]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.
gzhan gyis yon tan ldan bstod nas/_/
gal te dga' ba'i bde thob na/_/
yid khyod kyang ni de bstod nas/_/[p.57]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.
Others may take great personal delight in praising someone for qualities that they have. Yet, if the recipient of that honor is someone we dislike, we often cannot bear to hear that praise. The argument here is that since they have qualities worthy of praise, why do we not also take delight in praising them? The implication is that this is not about whether the other person has qualities but is purely about our feelings in relation to them.
Śāntideva extends this argument in verse 79 to point out how the jealousy that arises in us when others are praised is completely unwarranted:
When praise is heaped upon your qualities, You’re keen that others should be pleased thereby. But when the compliment is paid to others, You feel no inclination to rejoice as well.
Page(s) 88
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.
རང་གི་ཡོན་ཏན་བརྗོད་པའི་ཚེ། །
གཞན་ལ་བདེ་བའང་འདོད་པར་བྱེད། ། གཞན་གྱི་ཡོན་ཏན་བརྗོད་པའི་ཚེ། །
རང་ལའང་བདེ་བ་མི་འདོད་བྱེད། །rang gi yon tan brjod pa'i tshe/_/
gzhan la bde ba'ang 'dod par byed/_/ gzhan gyi yon tan brjod pa'i tshe/_/
rang la'ang bde ba mi 'dod byed/_/In his commentary to this verse, His Holiness the Dalai Lama explains that participating in the praise of others, including our enemies, is actually a source of happiness.
When people we do not like are praised, we normally become jealous. This is a mistake. When good things are said of others, we should try to join in. Then we too may get a little happiness. So why not rejoice? If we can rejoice and feel a sense of satisfaction when those we dislike are praised, the happiness we have is truly positive and approved by the Buddhas. When we practice like this, even our enemies come to appreciate us. This is one of the best ways of gaining others' respect.[40]
According to the Dalai Lama, not only should we not feel jealous toward our adversaries because they have been praised, but we should actually join in with that praise. Such an act is truly Buddhist, one that delights the buddhas, and one that serves to earn the respect of others.
The next verse questions why we feel so irritated when other beings find some temporary happiness. This could be the simple happiness that comes from receiving clothing or sustenance. We may not be involved in the situation at all or need to make any effort for that to occur, yet we feel resentment.
You who want the happiness of beings Have wished to be enlightened for their sake. So why should others irk you when They find some pleasure for themselves?
Page(s) 88
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.
སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་བདེ་འདོད་པས། །
བྱང་ཆུབ་ཏུ་ནི་སེམས་བསྐྱེད་ནས། ། སེམས་ཅན་རང་གིས་བདེ་རྙེད་ན། །
དེས་ཀོ་ཅི་སྟེ་ཁྲོ་བར་བྱེད། །sems can thams cad bde 'dod pas/_/
byang chub tu ni sems bskyed nas/_/ sems can rang gis bde rnyed na/_/
des ko ci ste khro bar byed/_/Here, Śāntideva reminds us that although we may claim to be cultivating the awakening mind that seeks to help all beings attain the state of perfect bliss, it is in complete contradiction to this goal to be displeased or annoyed when others find temporary pleasure.
In some of the commentaries, the phrase "find some pleasure for themselves" is related not to the pleasure of our enemies but to the pleasure of the person who praises them. We are also mistaken in our practice if we get irritated with the pleasure that a person takes in offering praise to another.
In verse 81, and closely related to this line of questioning, Śāntideva asks why we would not feel a great sense of happiness if anyone receives a little praise, something that we all crave.
And if you claim to wish that beings
Be enlightened, honored by the triple world,
When petty marks of favor come their way,
Why are you so discomforted?[p.89]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.
Page(s) 88
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.
འཇིག་རྟེན་གསུམ་མཆོད་འཚང་རྒྱ་བར། །
སེམས་ཅན་རྣམས་ནི་འདོད་ཅེ་ན། ། བསྙེན་བཀུར་ངན་ངོན་ཙམ་མཐོང་ནས། །
ཅི་ཕྱིར་དེ་ལ་གདུང་བར་བྱེད། །jig rten gsum mchod 'tshang rgya bar/_/
sems can rnams ni 'dod ce na/_/ bsnyen bkur ngan ngon tsam mthong nas/_/
ci phyir de la gdung bar byed/_/At the time of arousing bodhicitta, we commit to wishing that every single being attain perfect enlightenment and thereby become objects of veneration for the three worlds—the desire, form, and formless realms. So why would we find ourselves tormented by resentment when small marks of favor (to say nothing of veneration) come their way? How is it that we are unable to accept this? Such a situation, according to Śāntideva, is wholly out of place.[41]
Furthermore, if we arrive at the point of not wanting even the slightest joy for others, then it is nonsensical to be talking about wishing for them the highest form of happiness, the fully enlightened state. This is hypocritical! On this, Śāntideva explains,
If even this you do not want for beings, How could you want Buddhahood for them? And how can anyone have bodhichitta Who is angry when another prospers?
Page(s) 89
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.
དེ་ཅི་འགྲོ་ལ་མི་འདོད་ན། །
དེ་ལ་བྱང་ཆུབ་འདོད་གང་ཡིན། ། གང་ཞིག་གཞན་འབྱོར་ཁྲོ་དེ་ལ། །
བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་ནི་ག་ལ་ཡོད། །de ci 'gro la mi 'dod na/_/
de la byang chub 'dod gang yin/_/ gang zhig gzhan 'byor khro de la/_/
byang chub sems ni ga la yod/_/In verse 85, Śāntideva tells us that it is the qualities themselves that the practitioner generates that bring riches, both material and spiritual—that is, devotion to the Dharma, making offerings and giving alms, practicing discipline and being mindful of our actions, and faith in our gurus and the teachings.
All your merit and the faith of others, All your sterling qualities—why throw them all away? Not holding onto what might bring you riches, Tell me, why are you not angry at yourself?
Page(s) 89
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.
བསོད་ནམས་དང་ནི་དད་པའམ། །
རང་གི་ཡོན་ཏན་ཅིའི་ཕྱིར་འདོར། ། རྙེད་པར་གྱུར་པ་མི་འཛིན་པ། །
གང་གིས་ཁྲོ་བར་མི་བྱེད་སྨྲོས། །bsod nams dang ni dad pa'am/_/
rang gi yon tan ci'i phyir 'dor/_/ rnyed par gyur pa mi 'dzin pa/_/
gang gis khro bar mi byed smros/_/Not cultivating these qualities ourselves, we instead become jealous of others who have attained some wealth or respect by engaging in the causes of these qualities.
Śāntideva asks himself and all of us the following question: Why do we curse others for creating the causes of their own success, while we feel no frustration with ourselves for squandering our own opportunities to practice—opportunities that would lead to spiritual and material riches? We should blame our own jealousy for this situation.
Cultivating Patience toward Obstacles to Getting What We Desire
The next long section of chapter 6, verses 87 to 126, covers a range of advice on how to deal with anger that arises when we face obstacles to our desires—whether obstacles to our wish for harm to befall those we dislike or for good fortune to come to ourselves and those we like.
This section of the text is covered in two main outlines:
- 1. Abandoning Impatience with Those Who Obstruct Unpleasant Things Happening to Our Enemies
- 2. Abandoning Impatience with Those Who Obstruct Pleasant Things Happening to Oneself and Our Friends
In verses 87 to 89, Śāntideva explores how we are easily angered when others get in the way of negative circumstances befalling our enemies and those we dislike.
If unhappiness befalls your enemies, Why should this be cause for your rejoicing? The wishes of your mind alone, Will not in fact contrive their injury.
Page(s) 89
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.
བམ་པོ་གཉིས་པའོ། གལ་ཏེ་དགྲ་ཞིག་མི་དགའ་ནའང་། །
དེ་ལ་ཁྱོད་དགར་ཅི་ཞིག་ཡོད། ། ཁྱོད་ཀྱི་ཡིད་སྨོན་ཙམ་གྱིས་ནི། །
དེ་ལ་གནོད་པའི་རྒྱུར་མི་འགྱུར། །bam po gnyis pa'o/_gal te dgra zhig mi dga' na'ang /_/
de la khyod dgar ci zhig yod/_/ khyod kyi yid smon tsam gyis ni/_/
de la gnod pa'i rgyur mi 'gyur/_/And if your hostile wishes were to bring them harm,
Again, what cause of joy is that to you?
"Why, then I would be satisfied!”—are these your thoughts?
Is anything more ruinous than that?[p.90]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.
Page(s) 89
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.
ཁྱོད་ཀྱི་འདོད་པས་སྡུག་བསྔལ་དེ། །
གྲུབ་ནའང་ཁྱོད་དགར་ཅི་ཞིག་ཡོད། ། གལ་ཏེ་འཚེངས་པར་འགྱུར་ཞེ་ན། །
དེ་ལས་ཕུང་བ་གཞན་ཅི་ཡོད། །khyod kyi 'dod pas sdug bsngal de/_/
grub na'ang khyod dgar ci zhig yod/_/ gal te 'tshengs par 'gyur zhe na/_/
de las phung ba gzhan ci yod/_/We feel sad when people or circumstances prevent suffering or scorn from falling on our enemies. And we rejoice when our adversaries are unhappy or when difficult circumstances arise for them.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama offers us some very practical words to extricate ourselves from these self-destructive mindsets we find ourselves in:
When things are not going well for someone we dislike, what is the point in rejoicing? It does not make his present suffering any worse, and even if it did, how sad it would be that we should wish such a thing.[42]
Thus, according to the Dalai Lama, our rejoicing when things go badly for others is ridiculous. It doesn’t actually cause their suffering in the first place, nor does it make it worse. And how shameful it would be if we wish that others suffer even more than they currently are.
Khenpo Kunpal expands on this point by saying that our evil intentions toward others will act as a magnet drawing heavy suffering to us in the future:
Not only will our malevolence do nothing to ruin our enemies, but the weapon of our evil wish will turn against us, attracting every kind of misfortune like a magnet drawing iron to itself. Since such an attitude constitutes the downfall of abandoning beings, it follows that in our next life we will fall into the hells and will have to endure great suffering.[43]
The next section of the text, from verse 90 to verse 111, explores how to train in patience when others get in the way of what we ourselves and those close to us desire.
Praise and Reputation Do Not Bring Benefit or Happiness
Fame and reputation are something we all crave. We love to be praised and hate to be disparaged or put down by others. Yet, Śāntideva reminds us, these are of very little substantial help to us in this life or in future lives:
Veneration, praise, and fame Serve not to increase merit or my span of life, Bestowing neither health nor strength And nothing for the body’s ease.
Page(s) 90
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.
བསྟོད་དང་གྲགས་པའི་རིམ་གྲོ་ནི། །
བསོད་ནམས་མི་འགྱུར་ཚེར་མི་འགྱུར། ། བདག་སྟོབས་མི་འགྱུར་ནད་མེད་མིན། །
ལུས་བདེ་བར་ཡང་མི་འགྱུར་རོ། །bstod dang grags pa'i rim gro ni/_/
bsod nams mi 'gyur tsher mi 'gyur/_/ bdag stobs mi 'gyur nad med min/_/
lus bde bar yang mi 'gyur ro/_/Praise does not increase one's good fortune, nor does it make us live any longer. Yet, so many people will spend incredible sums of money or even deceive their closest friends to protect or enhance their status. Therefore, we should not fall prey to the roller coaster of feeling happy when we are praised and depressed when others critique us. This will never lead us to any sustained happiness.
We may use our lives for the purpose of seeking out wealth and fame. In our search for renown, people may even go to war and be willing to die for the sake of a good reputation.
I lose my life, my wealth I squander, All for reputation’s sake. What use are words, and whom will they delight When I am dead and in my grave?
Page(s) 90
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.
གྲགས་པའི་དོན་དུ་ནོར་གཏོང་ཞིང་། །
བདག་ཉིད་ཀྱང་ནི་གསོད་བྱེད་ན། ། ཚིག་འབྲུ་རྣམས་ཀྱིས་ཅི་ཞིག་བྱ། །
ཤི་ན་དེས་ཀོ་སུ་ལ་བདེ། །grags pa'i don du nor gtong zhing /_/
bdag nyid kyang ni gsod byed na/_/ tshig 'bru rnams kyis ci zhig bya/_/
shi na des ko su la bde/_/Here Śāntideva asks us, what is the use to someone who is dead of such pleasant-sounding words as "They fought bravely. They triumphed and are now a hero!”? They will not be there to take pleasure in them.
In the next verse, Śāntideva compares us to children who happily build castles made of sand and yet burst into tears when the castles inevitably collapse or are destroyed by the tide:
Children can’t help crying when Their sand castles come crumbling down. My mind is so like them When praise and reputation start to fail.
Page(s) 90
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.
བྱེ་མའི་ཁང་བུ་རྡིབ་གྱུར་ན། །
བྱིས་པ་རྣམས་ནི་ག་ཆད་ངུ། ། དེ་བཞིན་བསྟོད་དང་གྲགས་ཉམས་ན། །
རང་གི་སེམས་ནི་བྱིས་པ་བཞིན། །bye ma'i khang bu rdib gyur na/_/
byis pa rnams ni ga chad ngu/_/ de bzhin bstod dang grags nyams na/_/
rang gi sems ni byis pa bzhin/_/Śāntideva says that it is just the same for us. When our fame or good circumstances start to fail, we become distraught and suffer greatly.
Viewing Obstacles to Worldly Dharmas as Beneficial
Beings generally regard anyone or anything that gets in the way of achieving their goals with irritation and anger. However, when it is something worldly that we are desirously seeking out, such as a good reputation, then in fact those getting in our way are helping us to avoid future suffering. Such obstacles are said to (1) prevent rebirth in the lower realms, and (2) accomplish liberation.[44]
Preventing Rebirth in the Lower Realms
In verses 98 and 99 Śāntideva examines from an uncommon perspective the relative values of praise and blame.
Ordinarily, we think that praise is a good thing, something that brings happiness into our lives. But Śāntideva looks at the effects of praise with a more critical eye and sees the corrosive effect it has on us:
Praise and compliments distract me, Sapping my revulsion with saṃsāra. I start to envy others their good qualities And thus all excellence is ruined.
Page(s) 91
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.
བསྟོད་སོགས་བདག་ནི་གཡེང་བར་བྱེད། །
དེས་ནི་སྐྱོ་བའང་འཇིག་པར་བྱེད། ། ཡོན་ཏན་ལྡན་ལ་ཕྲག་དོག་དང་། །
ཕུན་སུམ་ཚོགས་[p.60]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.
bstod sogs bdag ni g.yeng bar byed/_/
des ni skyo ba'ang 'jig par byed/_/ yon tan ldan la phrag dog dang /_/
phun sum tshogs [p.60]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.
If praise comes our way, or if we encounter respect or become famous and wealthy, our minds tend to quickly become excited and arrogant. We get attached to this feeling and become further involved in distracting activities, eventually becoming completely carried away by the eight worldly concerns. All these factors lead us to become more and more enchanted with samsaric worldly life. They divert us from seeing the faults of samsara, and thus our yearning for liberation weakens.
Khenpo Kunpal reminds us of how veneration for our few good qualities can quickly lead to jealousy of others:
If we do possess a few qualities worthy of appreciation, our envy of those who are praised for their excellence increases and we are irritated and distressed by the worthiness of others. This is how the excellence of this and future lives is utterly destroyed. Of all defilements, jealousy is the worst.[45]
We may indeed have some qualities that are worthy of respect. But when others with greater qualities than ourselves are praised, we are very quickly filled with the poisons of jealousy and anger. We cannot appreciate that person's qualities at all, even though they are much greater than our own and are worthy of appreciation. This leads us on a path that destroys all the happiness of both this life and future lives.
In his teaching on this verse, His Holiness the Dalai Lama quotes from the Kadamapa masters, who advise us on the relative values of praise and criticism:
Be happy on hearing your criticism not your praise, because praise breeds ego and jealousy and one’s own faults are eliminated with criticism.[46]
In the next verse, Śāntideva reminds us that those who denigrate us and besmirch our good name should not be the objects of our anger but are actually the very opposite—they are helping us and doing us a great favor:
Those who stay close by me, then, To damage my good name and cut me down to size— Are surely there protecting me From falling into realms of grief.
Page(s) 91
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.
དེ་ཕྱིར་བདག་གི་བསྟོད་སོགས་ནི། །
གཞིག་ཕྱིར་གང་དག་ཉེར་གནས་པ། ། དེ་དག་བདག་ནི་ངན་སོང་དུ། །
ལྟུང་བ་བསྲུང་ཕྱིར་ཞུགས་མིན་ནམ། །de phyir bdag gi bstod sogs ni/_/
gzhig phyir gang dag nyer gnas pa/_/ de dag bdag ni ngan song du/_/
ltung ba bsrung phyir zhugs min nam/_/All those unpleasant people who we find irritating and who seem to get in the way of our lives, who seem to stand between us and success, are, in reality, a great support to us, helping to weaken our attachment to reputation and prosperity. This guards us from actions inspired by greed and self-centredness, which will only lead us to future suffering in lower realms of existence. So we should be grateful to these people and situations for their kindness in helping us avoid future painful states of existence.
Understanding That Obstacles Help Us Attain Liberation
We regard people who get in our way, or other kinds of obstacles that prevent us getting what we want, as something very unpleasant. When these situations occur in our life, we immediately develop aversion to them. But in the next two verses Śāntideva reminds us that these people and situations are actually aiding us to be free from the prison of our delusions and thus helping us to proceed on the path to liberation:
For I am one who strives for freedom. I must not be caught by wealth and honors. How could I be angry with the ones Who work to free me from my fetters?
Page(s) 91
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.
བདག་ནི་གྲོལ་བ་དོན་གཉེར་ལ། །
རྙེད་དང་བཀུར་སྟིས་འཆིང་མི་དགོས། ། གང་དག་བདག་བཅིངས་གྲོལ་བྱེད་པ། །
དེ་ལ་བདག་ནི་ཇི་ལྟར་ཁྲོ། །bdag ni grol ba don gnyer la/_/
rnyed dang bkur stis 'ching mi dgos/_/ gang dag bdag bcings grol byed pa/_/
de la bdag ni ji ltar khro/_/They, like Buddha’s very blessing, Bar my way, determined as I am To plunge myself headlong in sorrow: How can I be angry with them?
Page(s) 91
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.
བདག་ནི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་འཇུག་འདོད་ལ། །
སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱིས་ནི་བྱིན་བརླབས་བཞིན། ། མི་གཏོང་སྒོ་འཕར་ཉིད་གྱུར་པ། །
དེ་ལ་བདག་ནི་ཇི་ལྟར་ཁྲོ། །bdag ni sdug bsngal 'jug 'dod la/_/
sangs rgyas kyis ni byin brlabs bzhin/_/ mi gtong sgo 'phar nyid gyur pa/_/
de la bdag ni ji ltar khro/_/As Dharma practitioners, we should be striving to gain liberation from the prison of samsara. What binds us in samsara are the afflictive emotions, and these are only strengthened when we receive praise and honor and when our situation becomes too comfortable. How can we be resentful toward those who release us from these fetters of respect and wealth? We should view those who get in our way as ones who release us from our shackles and set us free.
In verse 103 Śāntideva points out who is responsible for the lost opportunity to practice. It is not the other perceived troublemakers who are to blame—it is our very selves that prevent merit from arising, hamstrung by our own inability to see what a great chance to practice we have found:
And if I fail to practice patience, Hindered by my own shortcomings, I myself create impediments To merit’s causes, yet so close at hand.
Page(s) 92
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.
གལ་ཏེ་བདག་ནི་རང་སྐྱོན་གྱིས། །
འདི་ལ་བཟོད་པར་མི་བྱེད་ན། ། བསོད་ནམས་རྒྱུ་ནི་ཉེར་གནས་པ། །
འདི་ལ་བདག་གེགས་བྱེད་པར་ཟད། །gal te bdag ni rang skyon gyis/_/
'di la bzod par mi byed na/_/ bsod nams rgyu ni nyer gnas pa/_/
'di la bdag gegs byed par zad/_/When a so-called enemy is around, what actually blocks our patience from arising is our mistaken view of that person as an impediment. In fact, they are the exact opposite—they are a support and primary cause for the arising of patience.
In connection with this verse, Minyak Kunzang Sönam quotes Atiśa, who advises us against retaliation toward those who do harm:
Do not get angry with harm-doers; if you get angry at harm-doers, how much patience will you cultivate?[47]
It is ridiculous to think of getting angry with our foes, for if we do, how can we possibly cultivate patience, the very opposite state of mind?
Verse 104 goes into a detailed analysis of the relationship between cause and effect in order to show how those who harm us do not obstruct merit but in fact do the very opposite—they help us to create merit:
If something does not come to be when something else is absent, And does arise, that factor being present, That factor is indeed its cause. How can it, then, be said to hinder it?
Page(s) 92
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.
གང་ཞིག་གང་མེད་མི་འབྱུང་ལ། །
གང་ཞིག་ཡོད་ན་ཡོད་འགྱུར་བ། ། དེ་ཉིད་དེ་ཡི་རྒྱུ་ཡིན་ན། །
ཇི་ལྟར་དེ་ལ་གེགས་ཞེས་བྱ། །gang zhig gang med mi 'byung la/_/
gang zhig yod na yod 'gyur ba/_/ de nyid de yi rgyu yin na/_/
ji ltar de la gegs zhes bya/_/Functioning phenomena (དངོས་པོ་) that are impermanent have a distinct relationship with their causes and conditions. If the causes and conditions come together, then the resulting effect can arise. If those causes and conditions are not present, then the resultant effect of those causes and conditions can never come into being.
In The Great Hūṃ, a commentary on Śāntideva's Way of the Bodhisattva, Minyak Kunzang Sönam describes this relationship between cause and effect in the following way:
In general, for any given phenomena that is an effect, when there is no phenomenon that is its cause, it does not arise. When the phenomenon that is its cause is present, then the phenomenon that is the effect can arise. . . . This can be understood in the same respect with regards to all causal processes–there is a determinate causal reality–as in the case of a seed and a sprout and with fire and smoke.[48]
For instance, a seedling cannot come into being if its preceding primary cause, the seed, or its cooperative conditions—such as good soil, moisture, and light—are incomplete. Likewise, smoke cannot arise without the preceding cause of fire.
Kunzang Sönam is making the point that there is a deterministic relationship between the two—without the correct causes and conditions, there is no possibility that the effect can arise. Similarly, if the causes and conducive conditions are all present and there is no further obstruction, the effect will definitely arise.
We then apply this understanding to the relationship between people who do us harm and the merit that arises from practicing patience. Looking carefully, we can see that when there is no condition or person causing harm, then the merit of patience cannot arise. And when a harmful condition or person is present, there is the possibility of the merit of applying patience.[49]
In A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of Night, the Dalai Lama sets the scene for verses 106 and 107:
There are many reasons for charity; the world is full of people in need. On the other hand, those who make us angry and test our patience are relatively few, especially if we avoid harming others. So when we encounter these rare enemies we should appreciate them.[50]
Finding a suitable field in which to cultivate patience is much rarer than finding a field to cultivate generosity. In this world there are almost endless opportunities and people with whom to practice generosity. There are so many people who are in need and who live in poverty. But if we generally don’t cause harm to others, then it is much less likely that we will encounter harmful circumstances, and therefore opportunities that allow us to practice patience will be harder to encounter.
The beggars in this world are numerous; Assailants are comparatively few. For if I do no harm to others, Others do no injury to me.
Page(s) 92
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.
འཇིག་རྟེན་ན་ནི་སློང་བ་མང་* མོད་ in the source text. ། །
གནོད་པར་བྱེད་པ་དཀོན་པ་སྟེ། །
འདི་[p.61]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.
'jig rten na ni slong ba mang * mod [ in the source text.] /_/
gnod par byed pa dkon pa ste/_/
'di [p.61]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.
If we can transform our way of thinking, we can cultivate joy in the understanding that we have been blessed with perfect conditions to increase our merit by practicing patience in the face of harm—an opportunity we have found without any effort from our own side.
So, like a treasure found at home, That I have gained without fatigue, My enemies are helpers in my Bodhisattva work And therefore they should be a joy to me.
Page(s) 92
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.
དེ་བས་ངལ་བས་མ་བསྒྲུབས་པའི། །
ཁྱིམ་དུ་གཏེར་ནི་བྱུང་བ་ལྟར། ། བྱང་ཆུབ་སྤྱོད་པའི་གྲོགས་གྱུར་པས། །
བདག་གིས་དགྲ་ལ་དགའ་བར་བྱ། །de bas ngal bas ma bsgrubs pa'i/_/
khyim du gter ni byung ba ltar/_/ byang chub spyod pa'i grogs gyur pas/_/
bdag gis dgra la dga' bar bya/_/Thus, Śāntideva tells us, we should understand these harm-doers to be like treasure. The Nyingma master Khenpo Kunpal gives a very vivid example of how to feel when we truly cultivate this sense of joy:
Therefore, just like a man who, being destitute, is overcome with joy on discovering easily and without travail an inexhaustible treasure of food and clothing in his own house, in the same way, when we come upon that extreme rarity, an enemy or obstacle-maker—a support for patience, the best of Bodhisattva practices—joy must be the only result. We ought to be like the great lama Serkhangpa, who said that his teacher was Nyathubten—a bandit who had robbed him of everything that he had. From that moment on, Serkhangpa abandoned his ecclesiastical rank and became a yogi free from all mundane activity.[51]
Lama Serkhangpa was able to transform his way of thinking and developed great reverence for the one who robbed him because that person helped him let go of his clinging to mundane things.
These lines are reminiscent of verse 6 from the twelfth-century Kadampa master Geshe Langri Thangpa's Eight Verses of Training the Mind:
Even if one whom I have helped Or in whom I have placed great hope Gravely mistreats me in hurtful ways, I will train myself to view him as my sublime teacher.[52]
If we reply that we should not honor our enemies for being aids to our Dharma practice because they have no intention to help us, as Śāntideva points out, we should also not respect the sacred Dharma.
And if I say my foes should not be honored
Since they did not mean to stimulate my patience,
Why do I revere the Sacred Dharma,
Cause indeed of my attainment?[p.93]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.
Page(s) 92
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.
གལ་ཏེ་བཟོད་བསྒྲུབ་བསམ་མེད་པས། །
དགྲ་འདི་མཆོད་བྱ་མིན་ཞེ་ན། ། འགྲུབས་པ་ཡི་ནི་རྒྱུར་རུང་བ། །
དམ་པའི་ཆོས་ཀྱང་ཅི་སྟེ་མཆོད། །gal te bzod bsgrub bsam med pas/_/
dgra 'di mchod bya min zhe na/_/ 'grub pa yi ni rgyur rung ba/_/
dam pa'i chos kyang ci ste mchod/_/The Dharma is indeed something that acts as a cause for our enlightenment, but it also has no intention to benefit us. Thus, having no intention to help is not a valid reason to withhold our respect.
"These enemies conspired to harm me,” I protest, "And therefore should receive no honors.” But had they worked to help me like a doctor, How could I have brought forth patience?
Page(s) 93
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.
གལ་ཏེ་དགྲ་འདི་གནོད་བྱ་བའི། །
བསམ་ཡོད་མཆོད་བྱ་མིན་ཞེ་ན། ། སྨན་པ་བཞིན་དུ་ཕན་བརྩོན་ན། །
བདག་གིས་བཟོད་པ་ཇི་ལྟར་འགྲུབ། །gal te dgra 'di gnod bya ba'i/_/
bsam yod mchod bya min zhe na/_/ sman pa bzhin du phan brtson na/_/
bdag gis bzod pa ji ltar 'grub/_/Thanks to those whose minds are full of malice I engender patience in myself. They therefore are the causes of my patience, Fit for veneration, like the Dharma.
Page(s) 93
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.
དེ་བས་རབ་ཏུ་སྡང་སེམས་ལ། །
བརྟེན་ནས་བཟོད་པ་སྐྱེ་བས་ན། ། དེ་ཉིད་བཟོད་པའི་རྒྱུ་ཡིན་པས། །
དམ་པའི་ཆོས་བཞིན་མཆོད་པར་འོས། །de bas rab tu sdang sems la/_/
brten nas bzod pa skye bas na/_/ de nyid bzod pa'i rgyu yin pas/_/
dam pa'i chos bzhin mchod par 'os/_/In conclusion to this section of the text, Thrangu Rinpoche puts all of these different aspects of practicing patience into context:
As practitioners our goal is to achieve realization through the practice of the Dharma. The main key to achieving Dharma practice is developing patience. To develop patience, we need to have someone upon whom we can practice patience. If we do not have anyone we dislike, on whom are we going to practice patience? Since patience is the main key to success in the Dharma practice, we need to practice on people whom we dislike or feel have hurt us. Having understood that, we try to relate to our enemy more as being a spiritual friend and we try to be very grateful towards those denigrating or obstructing us because they are the ones who give us the opportunity to practice patience.[53]
Thrangu Rinpoche encourages us to turn our perspective around. We normally regard those who get in the way of what we desire or cause us harm, whether directly or indirectly, with frustration. That frustration can easily build into anger. But as Dharma practitioners we need to look more deeply into these situations and see how we view them in a mistaken way.
What we see as negative conditions are actually great opportunities for practice. The person we see as an enemy can also be seen as a true spiritual friend. Instead of seeing them as a hindrance, we can come to understand that they are helping us to practice patience. They offer us a golden opportunity to deepen our Dharma practice.
In the Mind Training tradition, there is great emphasis placed on making this mental transformation. And His Holiness the Dalai Lama often encourages us to see how our perceived enemies are actually our teachers, as it is only they who can offer us the opportunity for practice.
Considering Ordinary Beings to Be a Field of Merit
A very common habit in Buddhist practice is to focus all our attention on holy objects such as the buddhas, the bodhisattvas or arhats, and the sublime Dharma scriptures and teachings. But when it comes to ordinary beings, we seldom see how our Dharma practice could be enhanced by them. This, according to Śāntideva, is a completely mistaken way of thinking. In the next section of the sixth chapter, Śāntideva shows us important reasons why we should regard ordinary beings, and especially those who cause us harm, as fields of merit equal to the buddhas.
In his commentary to The Way of the Bodhisattva, Gyalse Tokme Zangpo quotes from the Buddha’s own words to show that the field of beings is also a field of merit for us, citing The Sūtra That Authentically Condenses the Dharma (Dharmasaṅgītisūtra):
The field of sentient beings is the field of the buddhas, and the qualities of the buddhas are attained from the field of the buddhas, it is improper to act wrongly in relation to them.[54]
Here, the Buddha is telling us that beings are equally a field in which we can plant the seeds of merit for the eventual harvest of buddhahood. Therefore, we must treat them equally with respect and not act improperly toward them.
In verses 112 and 113, Śāntideva encourages us to be very mindful of this fact, as without this understanding it will not be possible to attain complete enlightenment:
And so the mighty Sage has spoken of the field of beings As well as of the field of Conquerors. Many who brought happiness to beings, Have passed beyond, attaining to perfection.
Page(s) 93
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.
དེ་ཕྱིར་སེམས་ཅན་ཞིང་དང་ནི། །
རྒྱལ་བའི་ཞིང་ཞེས་ཐུབ་པས་གསུང། ། འདི་དག་མགུ་བྱས་མང་པོ་ཞིག །
འདི་ལྟར་ཕུན་ཚོགས་ཕ་རོལ་ཕྱིན། །de phyir sems can zhing dang ni/_/
rgyal ba'i zhing zhes thub pas gsungs/_/ 'di dag mgu byas mang po zhig_/
'di ltar phun tshogs pha rol phyin/_/Thus the state of Buddhahood depends On beings and on Buddhas equally. What kind of practice is it then That honors only Buddhas but not beings?
Page(s) 93
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.
སེམས་ཅན་རྣམས་དང་རྒྱལ་བ་ལས། །
སངས་རྒྱས་ཆོས་འགྲུབ་འདྲ་བ་ལ། ། རྒྱལ་ལ་གུས་བྱེད་དེ་བཞིན་དུ། །
སེམས་ཅན་ལ་མིན་ཅི་ཡི་ཚུལ། །sems can rnams dang rgyal ba las/_/
sangs rgyas chos 'grub 'dra ba la/_/ rgyal la gus byed de bzhin du/_/
sems can la min ci yi tshul/_/One of the reasons we cannot think only of the buddhas as a field of merit is that we can never develop compassion toward them. Buddhas have transcended suffering, and therefore there is no reason to feel compassion for them. It is only in relation to those who are in pain that we can develop the wish that they be released from the prison of their suffering.
As His Holiness the Dalai Lama notes, without compassion our spiritual practice would lead only to the solitary peace of nirvana:
Without beings we cannot have compassion, and without compassion we cannot achieve supreme enlightenment but will rather fall into the extreme of nirvāṇa. So the attainment of supreme enlightenment and the understanding we gain on the path are dependent on beings just as much as on the Buddhas. It is a mistake to separate them, saying the Buddhas are superior and beings are inferior.[55]
Since both ordinary beings and buddhas are equally necessary for our attainment of enlightenment, why is it that we do not respect beings in the same way we respect the buddhas?
In verses 114 and 116, Śāntideva answers an objection to the idea that beings are fields of merit equal to the buddhas. We may object that beings cannot be equal to buddhas because there is a huge gulf in the qualities of their minds. The buddhas are without defect and are endowed with every excellent quality, and yet ordinary beings' minds are overwhelmed by the poisonous afflictions.
Not in the qualities of their minds But in the fruits they give are they alike. In beings, too, such excellence resides, And therefore beings and Buddhas are the same.
Page(s) 93
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.
བསམ་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་རང་[p.62]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.
འབྲས་བུ་ལས་ཡིན་དེས་མཚུངས་པར། ། སེམས་ཅན་རྣམས་ལའང་ཡོན་ཏན་ཡོད། །
དེའི་ཕྱིར་དེ་དག་མཉམ་པ་ཡིན། །bsam pa'i yon tan rang [p.62]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.
'bras bu las yin des mtshungs par/_/ sems can rnams la'ang yon tan yod/_/
de'i phyir de dag mnyam pa yin/_/Although not one of them is equal
To the Buddhas, who are oceans of perfection,
Because they have a share in bringing forth enlightenment,
Beings may be likened to the Buddhas.[p.94]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.
Page(s) 93
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.
སངས་རྒྱས་ཆོས་འགྲུབ་ཆ་ཡོད་པ། །
དེས་ན་དེ་དག་མཉམ་པར་འདོད། ། ཡོན་ཏན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་མཐའ་ཡས་པའི། །
སངས་རྒྱས་རྣམས་དང་འགའ་མི་མཉམ། །sangs rgyas chos 'grub cha yod pa/_/
des na de dag mnyam par 'dod/_/ yon tan rgya mtsho mtha' yas pa'i/_/
sangs rgyas rnams dang 'ga' mi mnyam/_/Here, Śāntideva isn't claiming that beings are equal in qualities to the buddhas. The reason they are said to be equal to the buddhas is because beings equally have the potential to assist us in our accumulation of merit and attainment of the fully enlightened state. It is only in relation to ordinary beings and not the buddhas that we are able develop essential practices such as compassion and patience, practices that we need in order to become a buddha ourselves.
Paying Respect to Beings as a Way to Delight the Buddhas
In verses 119 to 127, Śāntideva explains how we should respect ordinary beings and never get angry with them. We should always practice patience toward them because they are loved and cared for by the buddhas. If we please and help other beings, we will also delight the buddhas:
The Buddhas are my true, unfailing friends. Boundless are the benefits they bring to me. How else may I repay their goodness But by making living beings happy?
Page(s) 94
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.
གཞན་ཡང་གཡོ་མེད་གཉེན་གྱུར་ཅིང་། །
ཕན་པ་དཔག་མེད་མཛད་རྣམས་ལ། ། སེམས་ཅན་མགུ་བྱ་མ་གཏོགས་པ། །
གཞན་གང་ཞིག་གིས་ལན་ལོན་འགྱུར། །gzhan yang g.yo med gnyen gyur cing /_/
phan pa dpag med mdzad rnams la/_/ sems can mgu bya ma gtogs pa/_/
gzhan gang zhig gis lan lon 'gyur/_/The buddhas are our steadfast friends. They are without pretense or insincerity, and they care for every living being wandering in samsara. Their only wish is to help beings attain the ultimate state of happiness. Thus, Śāntideva asks, "How else, then, can I repay what they have done for me except by coming to the aid of beings and benefiting them?" Here, Śāntideva tells us there is no other way to repay the kindness the buddhas have shown to us than to help other beings attain the highest happiness.
In verse 122 Śāntideva explains how if we harm other beings, we harm the buddhas themselves. Likewise, since the buddhas care so dearly for all living beings, if we care and work for others' welfare, then we will please the buddhas:
Buddhas are made happy by the joy of beings. They sorrow, they lament when beings suffer. By bringing joy to beings, then, I please the Buddhas also; By wounding them, I wound the Buddhas too.
Page(s) 94
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.
གང་དག་བདེ་བས་ཐུབ་རྣམས་དགྱེས་འགྱུར་ཞིང་། །
གང་ལ་གནོད་ན་མི་དགྱེས་འབྱུང་འགྱུར་བ། ། དེ་དག་དགའ་བས་ཐུབ་པ་ཀུན་དགྱེས་ཤིང་། །
དེ་ལ་གནོད་བྱས་ཐུབ་ལ་གནོད་པ་བྱས། །gang dag bde bas thub rnams dgyes 'gyur zhing /_/
gang la gnod na mi dgyes 'byung 'gyur ba/_/ de dag dga' bas thub pa kun dgyes shing /_/
de la gnod byas thub la gnod pa byas/_/His Holiness the Dalai Lama also comments on this verse by explaining the responsibility we take on if we claim to follow a certain religion. In particular, he says that if we call ourselves Buddhists and claim to have respect for the buddhas and take refuge in them, then we should also respect their wishes:
If we really take refuge in the Buddhas, then we should respect their wishes. After all, in ordinary life it is normal to adapt in some way to one's friends and respect their wishes. The ability to do so is considered a good quality. It is truly sad if, on the one hand, we say that we take refuge with heartfelt devotion in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, but on the other hand, in our actions, we contemptuously ignore what displeases them. We are prepared to conform to the standards of ordinary people but not to those of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. How miserable! If, for example, a Christian truly loves God , then he should practice love for all his fellow human beings. Otherwise, he is failing to follow his religion: his words and deeds are in contradiction.[56]
If we say we respect our religion and the teachers of that religion, then we must also respect their advice and follow what will please them. This is not pandering to them or a blind submission to authority but is done with the understanding that they see what brings us lasting happiness and wish to help us achieve that goal.
Confession and Restraint in the Future
Having understood the mistakes we have made in relation to beings, and how by this we have displeased the buddhas in the past, Śāntideva encourages us to confess these needless faults to the sages, the omniscient buddhas:
The damage I have done to beings Saddens all the Buddhas in their great compassion. Therefore, all these evils I confess today And pray that they will bear with my offences.
Page(s) 95
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.
དེ་བས་བདག་གིས་འགྲོ་ལ་གནོད་བྱས་པས། །
ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེ་ཀུན་མི་དགྱེས་གྱུར་པ་གང་། ། སྡིག་དེ་དེ་རིང་སོ་སོར་བཤགས་བགྱི་ཡིས། །
མི་དགྱེས་གང་ལགས་དེ་ཀུན་བཟོད་པར་གསོལ། །de bas bdag gis 'gro la gnod byas pas/_/
thugs rje che kun mi dgyes gyur pa gang /_/ sdig de de ring so sor bshags bgyi yis/_/
mi dgyes gang lags de kun bzod par gsol/_/In his commentary to verse 124, Khenpo Kunga Wangchuk presents a whole prayer that expresses the meaning of this confession:
For that reason, from beginningless time in samsara until this moment now, I have caused other migrator beings immeasurable harm, through actions such as taking their lives, or taking what was not given. From this day on, I confess with strong regret and sorrow all my individual nonvirtuous negative actions, one by one, that displease all the completely enlightened buddhas who are endowed with great compassion. I beseech you the buddhas, please have patience with whatever I have done to displease you the buddhas, the Sages.[57]
Here, the meaning of confession is to honestly lay bare and open the negative things we have done. This is accompanied by a strong sense of regret for the harm we have caused. In front of the buddhas, we ask for their forgiveness and resolve to never repeat these actions again. This is not done out of fear for the buddhas but with an understanding of the terrible consequences of these harmful actions for ourselves and others.
Verse 126 explains that because the buddhas have such deep compassion for other beings, they consider all beings to be themselves:
The great compassionate lords consider as themselves82This idea is further developed in the course of chapter 8. See the commentary in appendix 2. All beings—there’s no doubt of this. Those whom I perceive as beings are Buddhas in themselves; How can I not treat them with respect?
Page(s) 95
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.
འགྲོ་བ་འདི་ཀུན་ཐུགས་རྗེའི་བདག་ཅན་དེས། །
བདག་ཏུ་མཛད་པ་འདི་ལ་ཐེ་ཚོམ་མེད། ། སེམས་ཅན་ངོ་བོར་མཐོང་བ་འདི་དག་ཉིད། །
མགོན་དེ་བདག་ཉིད་ཅི་ཕྱིར་གུས་མི་བྱེད། །gro ba 'di kun thugs rje'i bdag can des/_/
bdag tu mdzad pa 'di la the tshom med/_/ sems can ngo bor mthong ba 'di dag nyid/_/
mgon de bdag nyid ci phyir gus mi byed/_/In his commentary to this verse, Geshe Yeshe Tobden explains this deep compassion that the buddhas have for other beings and the responsibility they feel for them:
The buddhas have so much compassion that they constantly think of alleviating the suffering and procuring the happiness for everyone, and this sense of responsibility is their own, in spite of the fact that they do not conceive of themselves as truly existent "I."[58]
Although the buddhas realize the true nature of reality and understand that there is no truly existent self, they also understand that deluded beings conventionally suffer, and so out of deep compassion for all these suffering beings, they take upon themselves the responsibility for freeing them, as though these beings were their very selves.
Khenpo Kunpal quotes from the sūtras, explaining how the body, speech, and mind of the buddhas extend out infinitely to all beings, and how, ultimately, there is no difference between ordinary beings and the buddhas:
The enlightened body, speech, and mind of the Buddha embraces the whole of space, wherever it extends. As it is written in the sutras:
- However far the sphere of space extends,
Thus far is the extent of living beings.
And:
- Wherever space pervades,
The enlightened body likewise spreads.
Wherever the enlightened body lies,
Is present also the enlightened speech.
Wherever the enlightened speech pervades
Enlightened mind is present too.
As the text declares, beings dwell wherever space pervades, and they are all embraced by the enlightened body, speech, and mind. Therefore, from the very beginning, beings are never separated from the enlightened mind. Knowing this, those great beings who have attained enlightenment take beings as themselves.[59]
Khenpo Kunpal takes this point further and explains that in the third line of Śāntideva's verse, where it says "Those whom I perceive as beings are Buddhas in themselves," means those who see that the nature of ordinary beings is buddha-nature. Therefore, there is no difference between beings and the buddhas:
For there is not the slightest difference between what is called "Buddha" and what is called "beings" in that all are endowed with the Buddha-nature.[60]
Since, from this perspective, all beings are the same as the buddhas, how could we get angry with them?
The Benefits of Meditating on Patience
The last verses of chapter 6 discuss the benefits of practicing patience, especially in the face of others' anger or harm.
This very thing is pleasing to the Buddhas’ hearts And perfectly secures the welfare of myself. This will drive away the sorrows of the world, And therefore it will be my constant work.
Page(s) 95
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.
འདི་ཉིད་དེ་བཞིན་[p.64]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.
རང་དོན་ཡང་དག་སྒྲུབ་པའང་འདི་ཉིད་དོ། ། འཇིག་རྟེན་སྡུག་བསྔལ་སེལ་བའང་འདི་ཉིད་དེ། །
དེ་ལྟས་བདག་གིས་རྟག་ཏུ་འདི་ཉིད་བྱ། །di nyid de bzhin [p.64]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.
rang don yang dag sgrub pa'ang 'di nyid do/_/ 'jig rten sdug bsngal sel ba'ang 'di nyid de/_/
de ltas bdag gis rtag tu 'di nyid bya/_/Working for the welfare of beings is the best way to rejoice the hearts of the buddhas. But it is also taught that benefitting beings is the highest way of accomplishing one's own benefit and happiness. If we help others, then in this life we will be much happier and relaxed. We will have more friends and be well thought of. And it is said that in future lives we will attain positive rebirths and also find it easier to perfect the two accumulations of method and wisdom.
Moreover, helping beings also aids in driving away the sorrows of the world because when we are able to please others and they feel a sense of happiness, they are much more likely to accumulate virtue. Therefore, practicing patience not only pleases the buddhas but also helps in accomplishing the aims of both oneself and others.
Minyak Kunzang Sönam quotes the Buddha from In Praise of Pleasing Sentient Beings (Sattvārādhanastava) to show what the Buddha considers to be real respect:
Respect for me is the welfare of sentient beings, there is no other kind of respect. Those who do not forsake compassion have respect for me. . . . Even a small benefit to sentient beings is an offering because it is an offering that brings gladness to their minds. Those with a hostile nature and others who bring harm to others may participate in what is good and make an offering, but that is not an offering.[61]
True respect for the buddhas is working for the welfare of others and always practicing compassion for all. Those who feel they are doing Dharma practice may make offerings, but if they have a mind filled with anger or if they harm other living beings, that is not a proper offering and is disrespectful to the buddhas.
The Results of Practice
The last two verses of the chapter encourage us forward in our practice of patience by describing the positive results of patience, particularly the patience that allows us to endure difficult circumstances and harm from others.
Verse 133 speaks of the immediate benefits of patience that are visible even in this life:
No need to mention future Buddhahood, Achieved through bringing happiness to beings. How can I not see that glory, fame, and pleasure Even in this life will likewise come?
Page(s) 96
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.
སེམས་ཅན་མགུ་ལས་བྱུང་བ་ཡི། །
མ་འོངས་སངས་རྒྱས་འགྲུབ་ལྟ་ཞོག ། ཚེ་འདི་ཉིད་ལ་དཔལ་ཆེན་དང་། །
གྲགས་དང་སྐྱིད་འགྱུར་ཅིས་མ་མཐོང་། །sems can mgu las byung ba yi/_/
ma 'ongs sangs rgyas 'grub lta zhog_/ tshe 'di nyid la dpal chen dang /_/
grags dang skyid 'gyur cis ma mthong /_/Thus, Śāntideva tells us, as a result of practicing patience, we will have much greater peace and happiness in our lives. We will attain a good reputation and easily find wealth and success.
Verse 134 explains how, beyond these obvious immediate benefits, there will also be many benefits to practicing patience in future lives:
For patience in saṃsāra brings such things As beauty, health, and good renown. Its fruit is great longevity, The vast contentment of a universal king.
Page(s) 96
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.
འཁོར་ཚེ་བཟོད་པས་མཛེས་སོགས་དང་། །
ནད་མེད་པ་དང་གྲགས་[p.65]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.
khor tshe bzod pas mdzes sogs dang /_/
nad med pa dang grags [p.65]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.
In future lives we will also encounter positive conditions and enjoy fame and fortune. We will have beauty and good health and be blessed with a long life. We will have a good livelihood, and as the verse describes, have the bliss and happiness of a wheel-turning king.
Of course, we do not set out in our practice of patience with attachment to achieving these things, but they come as the benefits of controlling our anger and pleasing other beings, as well as the buddhas.
The Ripening Result
In conclusion to the chapter, Khenpo Kunpal gives us a sobering reminder of why anger is so dangerous and why patience is so important in our lives:
This is to be cultivated when the venom of anger appears, the result of feelings of dissatisfaction arising through the subtle experience of attachment and aversion, which, hard to recognize, derive from the eight worldly concerns.[62]
Here, Khenpo Kunpal warns of the grave danger of the eight worldly concerns. They are a breeding ground for subtle feelings of dissatisfaction that arise from encountering what we dislike and from not being able to get what we are attached to. The result of this is the corrosive anger that destroys the very happiness we seek.
The best way to confront these worldly concerns is to cultivate patience in the face of harm and when difficult circumstances arise. Transforming these negative situations in the practice of the path will create a field of merit with which to walk the path.
At the conclusion of his commentary, the Dalai Lama provides us with a very personal summary of why anger is such an unconstructive emotion and why seeing someone as an enemy is so toxic:
In general it is the very notion of enemies that is the main obstacle to bodhichitta. If we can transform an enemy into someone for whom we feel respect and gratitude, then our practice will naturally progress, like water following a channel cut in the earth.
To be patient means not to get angry with those who harm us and instead to have compassion for them. That is not to say that we should let them do what they like. We Tibetans, for example, have undergone great difficulties at the hands of others. But if we get angry with them, we can only be the losers. This is why we are practicing patience. But we are not going to let injustice and oppression go unnoticed.[63]
The Dalai Lama's words capture the essential qualities of patience: it requires both compassion and clarity, both acceptance and action. He reminds us that transforming our view of those who harm us is not passive resignation but an active cultivation of wisdom. When we release our grip on the concept of "enemy," we free ourselves from the mental torment that anger creates while simultaneously opening a path toward genuine transformation—both our own and potentially that of others. Patience, then, becomes not merely a personal practice but a powerful force for justice, one that refuses to perpetuate cycles of harm while steadfastly opposing oppression. In this way, the practice of patience serves both our individual spiritual development and the broader work of creating a more compassionate world.
Notes
- ↑ Adrian O'Sullivan, trans., Bodhicaryāvatāra with Commentary, by Śāntideva and Sonam Tsemo (Los Angeles: Dechen Foundation, 2019), 162.
- ↑ 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 (Boston: Shambhala, 2010), 453n155.
- ↑ O’Sullivan, Bodhicaryāvatāra with Commentary, 162.
- ↑ Thrangu Rinpoche, A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life of Shantideva: A Commentary by the Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, trans. Ken and Katia Holmes and Thomas Doctor (Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 2016), 102.
- ↑ Thrangu Rinpoche, Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, 103.
- ↑ Fedor Stracke, trans., The Entrance for the Children of the Conquerors - A Commentary on the Introduction to the Actions of Bodhisattvas, Chapter Six: The Way of Training in Patience, by Gyaltsap Je Dharma Rinchen (N.p.: HappyMonksPublication, 2016), 6, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 201.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 201.
- ↑ Dalai Lama, 14th, A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of Night: A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, translated by the Padmakara Translation Group (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1994), 57.
- ↑ Dalai Lama, 14th, Flash of Lightning, 57.
- ↑ 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), 353.
- ↑ Wangchuk, A Commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra, 354.
- ↑ Wangchuk, A Commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra, 354.
- ↑ Wangchuk, A Commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra, 354.
- ↑ Adam Pearcey, trans., The Brightly Shining Sun: A Step-by-Step Guide to Meditating on the Bodhicaryāvatāra, by Patrul Rinpoche (Lotsawa House, 2004), revised and updated August 2007 and 2019, http://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, 206.
- ↑ Dalai Lama, 14th, Flash of Lightning, 62.
- ↑ Thrangu Rinpoche, Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, 109.
- ↑ Thrangu Rinpoche, Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, 109.
- ↑ Dalai Lama, 14th, Flash of Lightning, 63.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 209.
- ↑ Wangchuk, Commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra, 369.
- ↑ Dalai Lama, 14th, Flash of Lightning, 64.
- ↑ Dalai Lama, 14th. Flash of Lightning, 64.
- ↑ Dalai Lama, 14th. Flash of Lightning, 64.
- ↑ Dalai Lama, 14th, Flash of Lightning, 64.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 210.
- ↑ Pearcey, Brightly Shining Sun, http://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/patrul-rinpoche/bodhicharyavatara-brightly-shining-sun.
- ↑ Dalai Lama, 14th, How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving Relationships, translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins (New York: Atria Books, 2005), 63.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 212.
- ↑ Wangchuk, Commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra, 381.
- ↑ Geshe Yeshe Tobden, The Way of Awakening: A Commentary on Shantideva's Bodhicaryavatara, trans. Manu Bazzano and Sarita Doveton, ed. Fiorella Rizzi (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2005), 161.
- ↑ Stracke, Entrance for the Children, Chapter Six: Patience, 26, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/.
- ↑ Thrangu Rinpoche, Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, 114.
- ↑ Stephen Gethin, Helena Blankleder, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans., Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend: With Commentary by Kangyur Rinpoche (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2005), 39.
- ↑ Thrangu Rinpoche, Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, 114.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 215.
- ↑ 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 (Swayambhu, Nepal: Shree Gautam Buddha Vihara, 2017), 15.
- ↑ Dalai Lama, 14th, Flash of Lightning, 67.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 217.
- ↑ Dalai Lama, 14th, Flash of Lightning, 68.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 220.
- ↑ O'Sullivan, Bodhicaryāvatāra with Commentary, 203.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 222.
- ↑ Dalai Lama, 14th, Discourses on Bodhicharyāvatāra, translated by Parmananda Sharma (Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 2017), 145.
- ↑ Douglas Duckworth, trans., The Great Hūṃ: A Commentary on Śāntideva's Way of the Bodhisattva, by Minyak Kunzang Sönam (New York, NY: Wisdom Publications, 2025), 554.
- ↑ Duckworth, The Great Hūṃ, 555.
- ↑ Duckworth, The Great Hūṃ, 555.
- ↑ Dalai Lama, 14th, Flash of Lightning, 71.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 223.
- ↑ See Thupten Jinpa, trans. and ed., Mind Training: The Great Collection, compiled by Shönu Gyalchok and Könchok Gyaltsen (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2006), 275.
- ↑ Thrangu Rinpoche, Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, 120.
- ↑ Thokme Zangpo, Ocean of Excellent Explanation, 238.
- ↑ Dalai Lama, 14th, Flash of Lightning, 72.
- ↑ Dalai Lama, 14th, Flash of Lightning, 73.
- ↑ Wangchuk, Commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra, 428.
- ↑ Tobden, Way of Awakening, 172.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 229.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 229.
- ↑ Duckworth, The Great Hūṃ, 554.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 232.
- ↑ Dalai Lama, 14th, Flash of Lightning, 74.
