4.17

Bodhicaryāvatāra · Verse 4.17

Bodhicaryāvatāra Verses | Chapter 4

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Sanskrit §No information about the source used.

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

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

न हीदृशैर्मच्चरितैर्मानुष्यं लभ्यते पुनः। अलभ्यमाने मानुष्ये पापमेव कुतः शुभम्॥

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Chanted Verse

Recitation by Professor Kashinath Nyaupane

17

By conduct such as mine I will not reach again the human condition. If I do not attain again human birth, I will only meet sin; whence would arise then what is meritorious?

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

བདག་གི་སྤྱོད་པ་འདི་འདྲས་ནི། །

མི་ཡི་ལུས་ཀྱང་འཐོབ་མི་འགྱུར། ། མི་ལུས་ཐོབ་པར་མ་གྱུར་ན། །

སྡིག་པ་འབའ་ཞིག་དགེ་བ་མེད། །

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Chanted Verse

Recitation by Lopen Karma Phuntsho

17

And yet the way I act is such

That I shall not regain a human life! And losing this, my precious human form,

My evils will be many, virtues none.52According to Buddhist teachings (see remarks in the introduction), karmic results follow ineluctably upon the perpetration of acts, irrespective of conscious attitude or moral conscience (although the quality and force of the act may be significantly affected thereby). Thus beings in the lower realms, animals for example, do indeed accumulate karma and must sooner or later experience the consequences of their actions, even though these may be performed under the irresistible influence of instinct. And the karmic situation is compounded, rather than mitigated, by an unconsciousness of the Dharma. The strength of instinctual habit and the ignorance of what behavior is to be adopted and what behavior is to be abandoned are among the principal miseries of existence in states other than that of the precious human condition.

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

Je me conduis de telle sorte

Que je ne retrouverai plus même d’existence humaine. Et si je ne suis plus un homme,

Je ne ferai que le mal, jamais le bien.

Padmakara France 2007

Bodhicaryâvatâra: La marche vers l'éveil (2007)

Y sin embargo actúo de tal modo

que no volveré a tener un cuerpo humano. Y si no tengo una existencia humana

sólo haré actos negativos, ninguno virtuoso53Según las enseñanzas budistas (véase la introducción), los resultados kármicos siguen ineludiblemente a los actos que llevamos a cabo, independientemente de que se hayan hecho conscientemente o se haya tenido conciencia moral de ellos (aunque la cualidad y la fuerza del acto puede que hayan sido afectadas significativamente por ello). Así pues, los seres en los reinos inferiores, los animales por ejemplo, acumulan de hecho karma y deben antes o después experimentar las consecuencias de sus acciones, aunque hayan sido efectuadas bajo la influencia irrefrenable del instinto. Esta situación kármica además se ve empeorada, en vez de aminorada, por el desconocimiento del darma. La fuerza de un hábito instintivo y el desconocimiento de qué comportamiento es el que hay que adoptar y cuál es el que se debe abandonar constituye una de las principales miserias de la existencia en cualquier otro estado distinto al humano.

Padmakara Spain 2008

La Práctica del Bodisatva

With behaviour like this

I will not even attain a human body. If I do not attain a human body

There will be only negativity and no virtue.

Stracke 2016

The Entrance for the Children of the Conquerors

My conduct such as this

Will not even accomplish a human body again. If a human body is not attained.

There will be no virtue, only sin.

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

བདག་གི་སྤྱོད་པ་འདི་འདྲས་ནི། །

མི་ཡི་ལུས་ཀྱང་འཐོབ་མི་འགྱུར། ། མི་ལུས་ཐོབ་པར་མ་གྱུར་ན། །

སྡིག་པ་འབའ་ཞིག་དགེ་བ་མེད། །

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The kinds of activities I am performing

Won’t lead once again to obtaining a human body. If I don’t obtain a human body, I will only perform negative actions

And won’t engage in virtuous activity.

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.

བདག་གི་སྤྱོད་པ་འདི་འདྲས་ནི། །

མི་ཡི་ལུས་ཀྱང་འཐོབ་མི་འགྱུར། ། མི་ལུས་ཐོབ་པར་མ་གྱུར་ན། །

སྡིག་པ་འབའ་ཞིག་དགེ་བ་མེད། །

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Tsadra Critical Edition

The Written Works of Śāntideva (Phuntsho 2025)

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