Bodhisattvacaryāsūtrīkṛtāvavāda/Full text
This is Atiśa's Brief Instruction on the Deeds of a Bodhisattva, a concise guide for practitioners seeking enlightenment to benefit all beings. The text begins with foundational principles: taking refuge in the Three Jewels, cultivating compassion, generating bodhicitta (the enlightenment mind), and crucially, taming one's own mind before attempting to help others. It then provides extensive practical guidance on ethical conduct, including treating all beings equally, speaking truthfully, avoiding the eight worldly concerns (praise/blame, gain/loss, etc.), practicing contentment with few desires, and maintaining mindfulness in all activities. The instruction emphasizes mental training through overcoming the three poisons (greed, hatred, delusion), accepting suffering without clinging to comfort, and viewing all sentient beings as one's own children. The text concludes with the ultimate goal of transcending cyclic existence, purifying obscurations, accumulating merit and wisdom, and attaining the enlightened state where one can effortlessly benefit others. Written by the influential 11th-century Indian master Atiśa, this practical manual reflects his systematic approach to Buddhist training and his significant role in revitalizing Buddhism in Tibet.
| Reference | Atīśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna (slob dpon chen po dpal mar me mdzad ye shes). bodhisattvacaryāsūtrīkṛtāvavāda [बोधिसत्त्वचर्यासूत्रीकृताववाद]. byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa mdo tsam gdams ngag tu byas pa [བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྤྱོད་པ་མདོ་ཙམ་གདམས་ངག་ཏུ་བྱས་པ]. [Brief Instructions on the Deeds of a Bodhisattva (84000)]. Tengyur, RKTST 3287 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=3287&typ=2. |
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| People | Atiśa |
