9.18

Bodhicaryāvatāra · Verse 9.18

Bodhicaryāvatāra Verses | Chapter 9

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Sources:

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 च्छिनत्ति यथात्मानमसिधारा तथा मनः। आत्मभावं यथा दीपः संप्रकाशयतीति चेत्॥

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Chanted Verse

Recitation by Professor Kashinath Nyaupane

18

As a knife blade cannot cut itself, so it is with the mind. If you object that it illuminates itself, as does a light,

Crosby & Skilton 1996

The Bodhicaryāvatāra: A Guide to the Buddhist Path to Awakening

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

རལ་གྲི་སོ་ནི་རང་ལ་རང་། །

ཇི་ལྟར་མི་གཅོད་དེ་བཞིན་ཡིད། ། ཇི་ལྟར་མར་མེ་རང་གི་དངོས། །

ཡང་དག་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་བཞིན་ན། །

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Chanted Verse

Recitation by Lopen Karma Phuntsho

18

In just the same way, he has said,

The sword’s edge cannot cut the sword. “But,” you say, “it’s like the flame

That perfectly illuminates itself.”[p.140]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
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.

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

Just as the blade of a sword Cannot cut itself, so it is with the mind. [18ab]

If it were just like a lamp That perfectly illuminates its own entity, [18cd]

Brunnhölzl 2004

The Center of the Sunlit Sky

De même que la lame

Ne se coupe pas elle-même. » – Il en est comme d’une lampe

Qui s’éclaire elle-même.

Padmakara France 2007

Bodhicaryâvatâra: La marche vers l'éveil (2007)

Del mismo modo que tampoco

el filo de la espada puede cortarse a sí mismo. “Es como una llama de fuego —decís—

que se ilumina perfectamente a sí misma”.

Padmakara Spain 2008

La Práctica del Bodisatva

The edge of a knife does not cut itself It is the same for mind.

If, ‘It is like a candle Perfectly illuminating itself.’

Stracke 2016

The Entrance for the Children of the Conquerors

Just as the blade of a sword Cannot cut itself, so it is with the mind.

A light perfectly illuminates Its own material body.

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

གང་ཚེ་སེམས་ཉིད་སྒྱུ་མ་ན། །

དེས་ན་གང་ཞིག་གང་གིས་དམིགས། ། རལ་གྲི་སོ་ནི་རང་ལ་རང་། །

ཇི་ལྟར་མི་གཅོད་དེ་བཞིན་ཡིད། །[p.249]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 8.15 tm data

གལ་ཏེ་མར་མེ་བཞིན་དུ་ནི། །

རང་གཞན་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་ཅེ་ན། ། མར་མེ་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་མ་ཡིན། །

འདི་ལྟར་མུན་གྱིས་བསྒྲིབས་པ་མེད། །

alt verse 8.16 tm data

MD: If mind itself is an illusion,

Then who is the seer and what is seen? Just as the edge of a sword cannot cut itself,

So, mind cannot see itself.[p.250]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.

TA: Mind is like a light

That clearly illuminates itself and others. MD: A light does not have to illuminate itself,

Because it is not obscured by darkness like other objects.

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.

རལ་གྲི་སོ་ནི་རང་ལ་རང་། །

ཇི་ལྟར་མི་གཅོད་དེ་བཞིན་ཡིད། །169ཏུན་ཧོང་ཀ་༴ ‘རལ་གྱྀ་སོ་ནི་རང་ལ་རང་། །ཅྀ་ལྟར་མྱྀ་གཅོད་དེ་བཞིན་ཡིད། །གལ་ཏེ་མར་མྱེ་བཞིན་དུ་ནི། །’ ཇི་ལྟར་མར་མེ་རང་གི་དངོས། །

ཡང་དག་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་བཞིན་ན། །170ཏུན་ཧོང་ཀ་དང་ཁ་༴ ‘རང་གཞན་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་ཅེ་ན། །མར་མྱེ་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་མ་ཡིན། །འདྀ་ལྟར་མུན་གྱིས་བསྒྲུབས་པ་མྱེད། །’

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Tsadra Critical Edition

The Written Works of Śāntideva (Phuntsho 2025)

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