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This collection of tales, drawn from verses in chapter 6 of the Bodhicaryāvatāra, illustrate key virtues on the path to enlightenment. The first demonstrates how a single instance of anger can destroy accumulated good karma. The second reveals the power of patience through the story of a sage who maintained equanimity even when mutilated by a jealous king, eventually becoming Śākyamuni Buddha and teaching his former tormentor. The third contrasts worldly and spiritual rewards, showing how a king could only offer material wealth, while serving sentient beings leads to the supreme goal of buddhahood.
The stories presented here were translated by Gregory Forgues and Khenpo Könchok Tamphel.
The Danger of Anger
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/_/The statement "A single flash of anger shatters them" means that generating a strong mind of hatred is an extremely grave fault.
In the past, when the teachings of the Buddha were nearing decline, there was a bodhisattva named Lord of Joy. He was intelligent, especially devoted to the doctrine of emptiness, had served many Buddhas, and worked tirelessly for the benefit and happiness of sentient beings. He traveled from village to village and city to city, teaching the Dharma in accordance with emptiness, establishing many beings on the path of nonreturning.
At that time, there was another bodhisattva named Victorious Intellect, who was of lesser intelligence, held moral discipline as supreme, and lacked devotion to emptiness—indeed, he harbored hatred for this teaching. When he saw the bodhisattva Lord of Joy speaking only of emptiness to many beings, his mind became filled with anger, agitation, and fierce hostility.
He declared, "This one is of corrupt intelligence! He is destroying the Buddha's teachings, slandering the Dharma, and leading sentient beings down the wrong path. Therefore, no one should listen to him, associate with him, or serve him!" He even made efforts to expel Lord of Joy from the region.
Due to the fault of such slander, at the time of his death, the ground cracked open beneath Victorious Intellect, and he fell into the hell realms, experiencing terrible suffering for many millions of years. At the moment of his death, the bodhisattva Lord of Great Joy, out of compassion, spoke to him of emptiness. Because of this, after his time in hell was complete, Victorious Intellect was later reborn as a human and became supreme in his delight in emptiness. He is now known as the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī.
The Importance of Compassionate Offering
Since I have grown in patience Thanks to them, To them its first fruits I should give, For of my patience they have been the cause.
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.
The statement "To them its first fruits I should give" means that even the fruits obtained from practicing virtuous actions such as generosity, when motivated by compassion, should be dedicated to others, and their welfare should be our primary concern.
In the past, in a land called Kaśika, there lived a king named Arisen from Strife, also known as Born of Conflict. One day, accompanied by his four ministers, noble queens, sons, and retinue, he went to a garden for recreation. Upon arriving, the king fell asleep while his companions ventured further.
The retinue wandered into a forest where they encountered a sage named Patient Speaker, who was steadfast in his austerities and abiding in deep meditation. Filled with devotion, they prostrated before him and requested spiritual instruction. The sage taught them various aspects of the Dharma, including the fundamental truth that "all conditioned phenomena are impermanent."
Later, the king awoke and followed his retinue's path. When he saw his queens gathered around the sage, a terrible thought arose in his mind: "Alas! My queens have fallen under the control of this monk!" Being of a cruel nature, he drew his sharp weapon, intending to kill the sage.
Seeing this, the sage spoke calmly, "Great king, I have only taught them the Dharma; I have done nothing harmful. Though I can endure being deprived of my life, it would not be good for you, as you would gain a bad reputation in this world and experience severe karmic consequences in the future."
The king did not believe these words. Convinced they were false, he became enraged and cut off all the sage's limbs. Yet remarkably, the sage's patience remained undiminished. Astonished by this, the king begged for forgiveness and requested, "When you become a Buddha, please accept us as your disciples."
The sage granted this request and made a powerful aspiration. In time, that sage became Śākyamuni Buddha himself, and the king, along with his four ministers, became the five good companions, to whom the Buddha gave his first teaching on the four noble truths in Varanasi. This illustrates how the Buddha prioritized the welfare of others, even before his own.
The Superiority of Bodhisattva Service
And even if that king were pleased, Enlightenment he could not give to me. For this will only be achieved By bringing happiness to beings.
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.
རྒྱལ་པོ་ལྟ་ཞིག་མགུ་ན་ཡང་། །
སེམས་ཅན་མགུ་བར་བྱས་པ་ཡིས། ། འཐོབ་པར་འགྱུར་བ་གང་ཡིན་པ། །
སངས་རྒྱས་ཉིད་སྦྱིན་མི་སྲིད་དོ། །rgyal po lta zhig mgu na yang /_/
sems can mgu bar byas pa yis/_/ 'thob par 'gyur ba gang yin pa/_/
sangs rgyas nyid sbyin mi srid do/_/The statement "Enlightenment he could not give to me" means that a bodhisattva's efforts to please sentient beings is profoundly meaningful, resulting in favorable rebirths and liberation. In contrast, pleasing a king—though considered powerful in worldly terms—can offer nothing more than mere food and wealth.
In the past, a king named Master Deva issued a decree throughout his realm: "All people in my kingdom must abandon the dialects of the outlying regions and communicate only in Sanskrit." He then skillfully arranged for the teaching of this refined language to all his subjects.
Later, the king went to see if his decree was being followed. Along the way, he came across an ugly brahmin bathing in a river. The king asked him, "How deep is this water?" The brahmin replied in perfect Sanskrit, "It appears to be knee-deep, Your Majesty."
The king was extremely pleased by this simple response and rewarded the brahmin with great riches. As it is said in verse:
- A hundred thousand, a hundred thousand,
And yet another hundred thousand treasures
Were granted to the divine brahmin
For merely saying, "The water is knee-deep."
This demonstrates how worldly rulers can offer only material rewards, whereas service to the Dharma and sentient beings leads to the incomparable achievement of buddhahood.
