4.20

Bodhicaryāvatāra · Verse 4.20

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

अत एवाह भगवान्-मानुष्यमतिदुर्लभम्। महार्णवयुगच्छिद्रकूर्मग्रीवार्पणोपमम्॥

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Chanted Verse

Recitation by Professor Kashinath Nyaupane

20

This is why the Blessed One has said that to obtain human birth is as difficult as having a sea turtle pass its head through a yoke drifting in the ocean.

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

དེ་ཉིད་ཕྱིར་ན་བཅོམ་ལྡན་གྱིས། །

རྒྱ་མཚོ་ཆེར་གཡེངས་གཉའ་ཤིང་གི ། བུ་གར་རུས་སྦལ་མགྲིན་ཆུད་ལྟར། །

མི་ཉིད་ཤིན་ཏུ་ཐོབ་དཀར་གསུངས། །

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Chanted Verse

Recitation by Lopen Karma Phuntsho

20

This is why Lord Buddha has declared

That like a turtle that perchance can place Its head within a yoke adrift upon the mighty sea

This human birth is difficult to find!

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

C’est pourquoi le seigneur Bouddha explique

Qu’il est aussi difficile de trouver une existence humaine Que pour une tortue de passer son cou

Dans un joug balloté sur l’océan.

Padmakara France 2007

Bodhicaryâvatâra: La marche vers l'éveil (2007)

Por eso el Buda explicó

que obtener una vida humana es tan difícil como que una tortuga introduzca su cuello

en un yugo que va a la deriva en un gran océano.[p.78]La Práctica del Bodisatva
Hervás, María Jesús (Padmakara Translation Group, Spain), trans. La Práctica del Bodisatva: Una Traducción del Bodicharyavatara de Shantideva. Translated from the 2006 English translation of Helena Blankleder and Wulstan Fletcher. Novelda, Alicante, Spain: Ediciones Dharma, 2008.

Padmakara Spain 2008

La Práctica del Bodisatva

For that very reason the Bagawan taught

That merely becoming human is extremely difficult, As it is for a turtle

To put its neck through the yoke floating on the great ocean.

Stracke 2016

The Entrance for the Children of the Conquerors

Therefore, the Blessed One taught

This human birth is extremely hard to attain, Like a turtle inserting its neck

In the hole of a yoke floating on a great ocean.

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

དེ་ཉིད་ཕྱིར་ན་བཅོམ་ལྡན་གྱིས། །

རྒྱ་མཚོ་ཆེར་གཡེངས་གཉའ་ཤིང་གི ། བུ་གར་རུས་སྦལ་མགྲིན་ཆུད་ལྟར། །

མི་ཉིད་ཤིན་ཏུ་ཐོབ་དཀའར་གསུངས། །[p.71]Entering the Way of the Bodhisattvas (2022, Khenpo Gawang and Wiener)
Gawang, Khenpo, and Gerry Wiener, trans. Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra: Entering the Way of the Bodhisattvas by Shantideva - Dunhuang Edition. Memphis, TN: Jeweled Lotus Publishing, 2022.

alt verse 3.20 tm data

On account of that, the Bhagavan said

That attaining a human birth is extremely difficult. It is just like the difficulty of a blind tortoise To arise from the depths of a large ocean And to place his neck through the hole of a yoke

Floating haphazardly on the surface.[p.72]Entering the Way of the Bodhisattvas (2022, Khenpo Gawang and Wiener)
Gawang, Khenpo, and Gerry Wiener, trans. Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra: Entering the Way of the Bodhisattvas by Shantideva - Dunhuang Edition. Memphis, TN: Jeweled Lotus Publishing, 2022.

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.

དེ་ཉིད་ཕྱིར་ན་བཅོམ་ལྡན་གྱིས། །

རྒྱ་མཚོ་ཆེར་གཡེངས་གཉའ་ཤིང་གི ། བུ་གར་རུས་སྦལ་མགྲིན་ཆུད་ལྟར། །

མི་ཉིད་ཤིན་ཏུ་ཐོབ་དཀར་གསུངས། །

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Tsadra Critical Edition

The Written Works of Śāntideva (Phuntsho 2025)

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