1.5

Bodhicaryāvatāra · Verse 1.5

Bodhicaryāvatāra Verses | Chapter 1

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Sources:

Dūnhuáng §This version is extracted from the book [[Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra: Entering the Way of the Bodhisattvas (2022, Khenpo Gawang and Wiener)]], a translation of an edition of the text created from three Dūnhuáng manuscripts. A description and sample pages of these can be found on the [https://earlytibet.com/2014/02/04/the-original-bodhicaryavatara/ Early Tibet Blog]. Scans of the actual manuscripts themselves can be found at http://idp.bl.uk

Sanskrit §No information about the source used.

Standard Tibetan §Padmakara used the 1990 edition printed by si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang: [[Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)]]. Also found in Derge Tengyur D3871, dbu ma, vol. 105, la 1b1–40a7.

Tsadra Critical Edition §This text was created by comparing four versions of the text from Derge, Cone, Narthang, and Peking Tengyurs from BDRC scans, along with Dunhuang manuscripts IOL Tib J 628, 629, and 630. When Tibetan readings were problematic, the Sanskrit texts from GRETIL and LTB (Oslo) were consulted.

Sanskrit §No information about the source used.

source

translation

रात्रौ यथा मेघघनान्धकारे

विद्युत् क्षणं दर्शयति प्रकाशम्। बुद्धानुभावेन तथा कदाचि-

ल्लोकस्य पुण्येषु मतिः क्षणं स्यात्॥

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Chanted Verse

Recitation by Professor Kashinath Nyaupane

5

Only through the inspiration of the awakened ones occasionally arises in a human being, for one instant, a thought directed toward the good, as lightning flashes for only an instant in clouded night skies.

Gomez 2017

How to Be a Bodhisattva: Introduction to the Practice of the Bodhisattva Path (The Bodhicaryāvatāra)

Standard Tibetan §Padmakara used the 1990 edition printed by si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang: Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990). Also found in Derge Tengyur D3871, dbu ma, vol. 105, la 1b1–40a7.

source

translation

ཇི་ལྟར་མཚན་མོ་མུན་ནག་སྤྲིན་རུམ་ན* ནས། in the source text. ། །

གློག་འགྱུ་སྐད་ཅིག་རབ་སྣང་སྟོན་པ་ལྟར། ། དེ་བཞིན་སངས་རྒྱས་མཐུ་ཡིས་བརྒྱ་ལམ་ན། །

འཇིག་རྟེན་བསོད་ནམས་བློ་གྲོས་ཐང་འགའ་འབྱུང་། །

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Chanted Verse

Recitation by Lopen Karma Phuntsho

5

Just as on a dark night black with clouds,

The sudden lightning glares and all is clearly shown, Likewise rarely, through the Buddhas’ power,

Virtuous thoughts rise, brief and transient, in the world.

Padmakara 2006

The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)

Browse other translations

Standard Tibetan §Padmakara used the 1990 edition printed by si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang: Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990). Also found in Derge Tengyur D3871, dbu ma, vol. 105, la 1b1–40a7. - Other translations

Comme un éclair déchire la nuit

En révélant avec éclat ce que les ténèbres voilaient, Il arrive exceptionnellement que, par le pouvoir des bouddhas,

Une pensée méritoire surgisse dans le monde quelques instants.

Padmakara France 2007

Bodhicaryâvatâra: La marche vers l'éveil (2007)

Como un relámpago con su resplandor ilumina

por un instante una oscura noche nublada, aparecen en el mundo, por el poder del Buda,

pensamientos virtuosos, rara y fugazmente.

Padmakara Spain 2008

La Práctica del Bodisatva

Just like a flash of lightening illuminates the

Dark clouded night sky for a moment, Likewise sometimes, through the power of the Buddha,

Worldly beings receive wisdom and merit occasionally.

Hence, virtue is always meek

Stracke 2016

The Entrance for the Children of the Conquerors

Just as a flash of lightning on a dark, cloudy night

For an instant brightly illuminates all, Likewise, occasionally by the power of the Buddha,

A rare virtuous thought occurs in the world.

Chodron & Gyaltsen 2019

A Commentary on Shantideva's Engaging in the Conduct of the Bodhisattvas

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Dūnhuáng §This version is extracted from the book Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra: Entering the Way of the Bodhisattvas (2022, Khenpo Gawang and Wiener), a translation of an edition of the text created from three Dūnhuáng manuscripts. A description and sample pages of these can be found on the Early Tibet Blog. Scans of the actual manuscripts themselves can be found at http://idp.bl.uk

source

translation

ཇི་ལྟར་མཚན་མོ་མུན་ནག་སྤྲིན་རུམ་ནས། །

གློག་འགྱུ་སྐད་ཅིག་རབ་སྣང་སྟོན་པ་ལྟར། ། དེ་བཞིན་སངས་རྒྱས་མཐུ་ཡིས་བརྒྱ་ལམ་ན། །

འཇིག་རྟེན་བསོད་ནམས་བློ་གྲོས་ཐང་འགའ་འབྱུང༌། །

alt verse 1.2 tm data

This version differs from it's counterparts.

Just as a flash of lightning from the dense clouds of a dark night,

In an instant brilliantly illuminates and reveals, So too, in one chance out of one hundred, The power of the Buddha Gives rise to a moment of meritorious intelligence

In worldly beings.

Gawang & Wiener 2022

Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra: Entering the Way of the Bodhisattvas (2022, Khenpo Gawang and Wiener)

Tsadra Critical Edition §This text was created by comparing four versions of the text from Derge, Cone, Narthang, and Peking Tengyurs from BDRC scans, along with Dunhuang manuscripts IOL Tib J 628, 629, and 630. When Tibetan readings were problematic, the Sanskrit texts from GRETIL and LTB (Oslo) were consulted.

ཇི་ལྟར་མཚན་མོ་མུན་ནག་སྤྲིན་རུམ་ན། །

གློག་འགྱུ་སྐད་ཅིག་རབ་སྣང་3སྡེ་དགེ་དང་ཅོ་ནེ་༴ ‘བར་སྣང་’སྟོན་པ་ལྟར། ། དེ་བཞིན་སངས་རྒྱས་མཐུ་ཡིས་བརྒྱ་ལམ་ན། །

འཇིག་རྟེན་བསོད་ནམས་བློ་གྲོས་ཐང་འགའ་འབྱུང་། །

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Tsadra Critical Edition

The Written Works of Śāntideva (Phuntsho 2025)

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