Site guide
Welcome to the Bodhicitta Resource Website
This website offers a comprehensive collection of scriptures, scholarship, and teachings centered on bodhicitta—the awakening mind that lies at the heart of the Mahāyāna Buddhist path—and on the life and works of the eighth-century Indian master Śāntideva (Shantideva), particularly his two seminal texts: the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra (Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life) and the Śikṣāsamuccaya (Compendium of Training).
We created this resource hub to serve anyone seeking trustworthy, accessible materials for learning about or teaching bodhicitta and Śāntideva's profound contributions to Buddhist thought and practice. The site features both original content developed specifically for this platform and carefully curated materials from respected scholars, translators, teachers, and projects already working in this field. Our goal is to serve a wide range of audiences—from those encountering these teachings for the first time to seasoned practitioners and academic researchers. Much of the content in the library is simply a bibliographic record of content in our Research Library is not necessarily something Tsadra Foundation has created or funded the creation of.
This website is designed around the "Four Doorways": Discover, Explore, Study, and Practice. Each is designed for different audiences and can also be seen as a progressive way to move through the content on the website.
- Discover – An accessible entry point for newcomers to explore what bodhicitta is and why Śāntideva's teachings matter
- Explore – A deeper dive into the historical, cultural, and philosophical contexts surrounding these teachings
- Study – Rigorous academic and textual resources for serious students and scholars
- Practice – Guidance and materials for integrating these teachings into meditation and daily life
In-Depth Editorial Content
From the different doorways, you will be able to explore many different aspects of the study and experiencial cultivation of bodhicitta. Thanks to the many contributions of Tsadra's editorial writers, you can explore:
- Introductory concepts - Videos and written introductions to essential concepts such as "bodhisattva", "compassion", "The Mahāyāna", the "six perfections," and so forth. Each connects to larger themes, research, and writing on the topics.
- Bodhicitta and the Path of the Bodhisattva - Essential steps on the path to developing bodhicitta.
- The Mahāyāna Tradition - Start here to learn more about the core ideas, practices, and traditions that lead to wisdom and compassion.
- Philosophy and Bodhicitta - More core ideas for the study and practice of Buddhism.
- The Jātaka Tales and other collections of stories - Essential tales and stories of the Buddha and bodhisattvas of the past, translated and summarized for modern readers by Khenpo Tamphel and Dr. Gregory Forgues.
- Detailed Mind-Map Outlines of the BCA and SSC - Created based on Tibetan outlines (sabche) and traditional ways of teaching the texts.
- Long-form write-ups on the various texts central to the study of bodhicitta - Details for the study of the core texts.
- Living Traditions of Practice - Learn about Patrul Rinpoche’s tradition of teaching, Khunu Lama, and His Holiness in the modern era.
Textual Resources
Along with the four Doorways, we have special content for students and researchers presented on the following resource pages:
- The Reading Room - Explore our curated collection of essential texts, thoughtfully organized to guide your journey through the essential literature on bodhicitta. You'll find foundational works focused on bodhicitta and the cultivation of compassionate awakening, alongside other core teachings and a rich selection of texts from the Tibetan tradition.
- The Bodhicaryāvatāra - Everything (literally) there is on the famous text, The Way of the Bodhisattva (BCA).
- The Śikṣāsamuccaya - Everything we could find on The Compendium of Training (SSC).
- The BCA Verses - View all the versions of a single verse including different translations and the relevant sections of various commentaries from major traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. We currently have Sazang Mati, Gyaltsap Jé, Minyak Kunzang Sonam, Kunzang Palden, Mipham, and more for certain popular verses. Soon we will be adding Tokmé Zangpo and Sonam Tsemo's commentaries. Along with these important lineage texts you can also listen to the verses chanted in Sanskrit or Tibetan and watch videos of teachers teaching on that particular verse.
- The Library - Explore the most comprehensive bibliography on bodhicitta—the mind of awakening. This curated digital library brings together books, articles, dissertations, sūtras, commentaries, Tibetan and Sanskrit publications, and multimedia resources.
- The Bibliography - This is the most complete bibliography of academic and related references on bodhicitta. Special emphasis has been given to works on Śāntideva's life and his texts, the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra and the Śikṣāsamuccaya. It includes all existent commentaries in source languages as well as academic research. On this page you can find secondary sources first, followed by multimedia citations with links and then primary source citations with links to relevant recension information and online resources in each available language.
- The Glossary - A Compendium of Key Terms related to bodhicitta and Śāntideva's works.
- A Timeline of BCA Commentaries - The Commentaries of the Bodhicaryāvatāra over the centuries, presented by classical author.
- A Timeline of BCA Translations - The Bodhicaryāvatāra in Western Languages presented by western translations starting in the early 1900s.
བྱང་སེམས་ཆོས་མཛོད།
བོད་སྐད་ནང་གི་སྔོན་གླེང་འདིར་འཇུག་དགོས། བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས་དང་ཞི་བ་ལྷའི་བརྩམས་ཆོས་སྐོར་གྱི་ཞིབ་ཕྲའི་བགྲོ་གླེང་དང་ཞིབ་འཇུག།
- Content coming soon. Please be patient. INTRODUCTION IN TIBETAN GOES HERE
Bilingual Bookshelf
You will find below links to a bilingual presentation for many important works in the field of bodhicitta studies.
