The Circle of Compassion: An Interpretive Study of Karuṇā in Indian Buddhist Literature
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The Circle of Compassion: An Interpretive Study of Karuṇā in Indian Buddhist Literature
Dissertation
- A Buddhist 'good life' Theory: Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra
- A Dialogue between Thomas Merton on Agape and Shantideva on Karuna: Some Moral Dimensions of a Catholic and Mahayana Exchange
- A Fearless Heart
- A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of Night
- A Mahāyāna Liturgy
- A Nirvana that Is Burning in Hell: Pain and Flourishing in Mahayana Buddhist Moral Thought
- A Note on Mahāyāna Buddhism and the Bodhicaryāvatāra
- A Precursory Phrase of Tantric Definition of Bodhicitta in the Śāntideva's Śikṣāsamuccaya
- A Role for Primordial Wisdom in the Buddhist Free Will Controversy
- A Study of the Wisdom Chapter (Prajñāpāramitā Pariccheda) of the Bodhicaryāvatārapañjikā of Prajñākaramati
- A Summons to Buddhahood: The Bodhicaryavatara as Santideva's Call to Embrace the Bodhicitta
- Altruism and Reality (1998)
- Altruism in the Charnel Ground: Śāntideva and Parfit on Anātman, Reductionism and Benevolence
- An Argument for Cittamātra: Reflections on Bodhicaryāvatāra 9:28 (Tib. 27) cd
- An Introduction to Buddhist Ethics
- Atiśa's Introduction to the Two Truths, and Its Sources
- Becoming Bodhisattvas
- Bhadracaryāvidhi in the Śikṣāsamuccaya Chapt. 16
- Bile & Bodhisattvas: Śāntideva on Justified Anger
- Blasphemie und Sakrileg im Buddhismus in Geschichte und Gegenwart mit besonderer Berücksichtigung des Verses Bodhicaryāvatāra 6.64
- Bodhi(sattva)caryāvatāra als Lehrschrift und Vorhaben: Zum Thema Ritual, Religion, Philosophie und Mystik im Buddhismus
- Bodhicaryāvatāra 9:2 as a Focus for Tibetan Interpretations of the Two Truths in the Prāsangika Mādhyamika
- Bodhicaryāvatāra and Bodhicaryāvatāra-Pañjikā (Malalasekera)
- Bodhicaryāvatāra and Tibetan Mind Training (Lojong)
- Bodhicaryāvatāra no kihon seikaku: Ichininshō no imi suru mono
- Bodhicaryāvatāra: Governing the Bodhisattvas Way of Life
- Bodhicharyavatara (Rigpa Shedra Wiki)
- Bodhicitta (Ringu Tulku)
- Bodhicitta and Bodhisattva: A Study of the Bodhicaryāvatāra of Śāntideva
- Bodhicitta and Charity: A Comparison
- Bodhicitta: Cultivating the Compassionate Mind of Enlightenment
- Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra: Exposition de la pratique des bodhisattvas
- Bodies and Embodiment in the Bodhicaryāvatāra
- Bu ston and the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāravyākhyāna (-pañjikā)
- Buddhist Ethics (2003)
- Buddhist Ethics in the Context of Conventional Truth: Path and Transformation
- Buddhist Texts Through the Ages
- Built on Emptiness: Śūnyatā as a Basis for Mahāyāna Ethics, With References to Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra
- Can We Kill Illusory People? Some Philosophical Reflections on Bodhi(sattva)caryāvatāra 9:11-13ab
- Characteristics of the Buddhist Mongolian Texts: The Lineage of the Bodhicaryāvatāra
- Commentaries on Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra (Ejima 1966)
- Comparative Confession: A Comparative Study of Confession in the Writings of Tertullian, Cassian, and Śāntideva
- Compassion in Mahayana Buddhism
- Compassion in Our Day: Learning from Shantideva
- Compassion in Schopenhauer and Śāntideva
- Conclusion: The Socratic Paradigm
- Consequences of Compassion
- Consequences of Compassion: An Interpretation and Defense of Buddhist Ethics-Review by Meyers
- Consequentialism, Agent-Neutrality, and Mahāyāna Ethics
- Consequentialism, Particularism, and the Emptiness of Persons: A Response to Vishnu Sridharan
- Cooking Living Beings: The Transformative Effects of Encounters with Bodhisattva Bodies
- Courageous Compassion
- Cultivating Bodhicitta: Wisdom and Compassion in Śāntideva's Introduction to the Awakened Life
- Das 7. Kapitel über die Tatkraft in Śāntidevas Bodhicaryāvatāra
- Das Ritual der Entschlussfassung im Bodhicaryāvatāra (Kap. II und III)
- Demandingness, Self-Interest and Benevolence in Santideva's Introduction to the Practice of Awakening (Bodhicaryavatara)
- Did Śāntideva Destroy the Bodhisattva Path?
- Die "Vollkommenheiten" im BCA und seinen tibetischen Kommentaren
- Die Aufnahme des Erleuchtungsgeistes: Eine Übersetzung von Prajñākaramatis Bodhicaryāvatārapañjikā 3.1-19
- Die Lehre von Satyadvaya in 'Ju Mi phams Nor bu ke ta ka
- Die zwei Wahrheiten
- Does "Buddhist Ethics" Exist?
- Does Anātman Rationally Entail Altruism? On Bodhicaryāvatāra 8:101-103
- Drops of Nectar: Khenpo Kunpal's Commentary on Shantideva's Entering the Conduct of the Bodhisattvas
- Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna's Commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra
- Emptiness and Moral Perfection
- Enlightened Vagabond
- Epitome of the Bodhicaryāvatāra with Its Pañjikā, Chap. IX
- Ethical Revaluation in the Thought of Śāntideva
- Ethics (Garfield)
- Ethics and the Subversion of Conceptual Reification in Lévinas and Śāntideva
- Ethics in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism
- Ethics in Schopenhauer and Buddhism
- Ethics in the Śikṣāsamuccaya: A Study in Mahāyāna Morality
- Exchanging Self and Other
- Experience and Morality: Buddhist Ethics as Moral Phenomenology
- Extreme Giving: The Vessantara Jātaka and Shantideva's A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life
- Features of Śraddhā in the Śikṣāsamuccaya
- Following in the Buddha's Footsteps
- For the Benefit of All Beings
- Freedom from Responsibility: Agent-Neutral Consequentialism and the Bodhisattva Ideal
- From Madhyamaka to Consequentialism: A Road Map
- General Introduction: Śāntideva and His World
- Gser gling pa's Bodhisattvacaryāvatārapiṇḍārtha and Its Thought
- Healing Anger
- Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a Buddhist Perspective-Review by Naga
- Hume as a Western Mādhyamika: The Case from Ethics
- Identifying the Object of Negation: On Bodhicaryāvatāra 9:140 (Tib. 139)
- In Praise of Great Compassion
- Innate Human Connectivity and Śāntideva's Cultivation of Compassion
- Internal and External Opposition to the Bodhisattva's Gift of His Body
- Introduction to Gzhan gyis brtsad pa'i lan mdor bsdus pa rigs lam rab gsal de nyid snang byed: An Answer to Blo-bzang-rab-gsal's Refutation of the Author's 'Sher le nor bu ke ta ka' and Its Defence, the Brgal lan nyin byed snang ba
- Jitāri, Śāntideva and Prabhākarakīrti
- La légende de Śāntideva
- Le commentaire de Mi-pham au chapitre IX du Bodhicaryāvatāra de Śāntideva: Échos modernes d'une controverse du XVème siècle
- Love in Christianity and Buddhism: A Comparative Study of Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologiae and Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra
- Madhyamaka Ethics
- Making and Remaking the Ultimate in Early Tibetan Readings of Śāntideva
- Mapping the Bodhicaryāvatāra
- Mental Purification (Blo sbyong): A Native Tibetan Genre of Religious Literature
- Mi pham and the Philosophical Controversies of the Nineteenth Century
- Mindfulness and Ethics: Attention, Virtue and Perfection
- Mindfulness and Moral Transformation: Awakening to Others in Śāntideva's Ethics
- Moderation or the Middle Way: Two Approaches to Anger
- Moonpaths: Ethics and Emptiness
- Moral Pluralism, Skillful Means, and Environmental Ethics
- Nachlese zum Mongolischen Turfanfragment des Bodhicaryāvatāra
- Nichtselbst, Leerheit und Altruistische Ethik im Bodhicaryāvatāra (Lecture Transcript)
- Nichtselbst, Leerheit und Altruistische Ethik im Bodhicaryāvatāra (Official Publication)
- No Time to Lose
- Notes on the Deśanā-ritual in the Bodhicaryāvatāra: Evidence of Its Revision
- Nyubosatsugyō-ron kaisetsu saisho no Shyāntidēva rikai
- On Agama and Yukti in Bu ston's Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa'i 'grel pa
- On Altruism and Rebirth: Philosophical Comments on Bodhicaryāvatāra 8: 97-8
- On Prakṛtinirvāṇa-Prakṛtinirvṛta in the Bodhicaryāvatāra: A Study in the Indo-Tibetan Commentarial Tradition
- On the Classification of Śāntideva's Ethics in the Bodhicaryāvatāra
- On the Role of Vairocanarakṣita in the Later Transmission Period: A Cross-section of the "Bodhisattva theory" Tradition
- On the Sanskrit Manuscript of the Śikṣāsamuccaya
- On the Textual Problems of Śāntideva's Bodhi(sattva)caryāvatāra: With Special Reference to Chapter 9 Entitled "Perfection of Wisdom (Prajñāpāramitā)"
- On Śāntideva's Position in the History of Mādhyamika Philosophy
- One Aspect of the Acceptance of the Bodhisattva-śīla in Tibet
- Peaceful Heart
- Perfecting Patience
- Performing Text as Practice: Rdza Dpal sprul's Practice Manual on the Bodhi(sattva)caryāvatāra
- Plant Seed, Pull Weed
- Polemics in Indo-Tibetan Scholasticism - A Late 19th-Century Debate Between 'Ju Mi pham and Dpa' ris Rab gsal
- Practicing Wisdom
- Proof of the Authenticity of the Mahāyāna in Akṣayamati's Bodhi(sattva)caryāvatāra
- Puṇya and Pāp in Public Health: Everyday Religion, Material Culture, and Avenues of Buddhist Activism in Urban Kathmandu
- Readings of Śāntideva's Guide to Bodhisattva Practice
- Readings of Śāntideva's Guide to Bodhisattva Practice-Review by Harris
- Reason and Knowledge on the Path: A Protreptic Reading of the Guide
- Regional Characteristics of Mongolian Buddhism: A Study on the Basis of the Bodhicaryāvatāra
- Remarks on Akṣayamati (Blo gros mi zad pa), Being the Author of the Earlier Version of the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra
- Remarks on an Instance of Intertextuality in the Eleventh Chapter of the Śikṣāsamuccaya and the Phrase Tṛṇagulmauṣadhivanaspati in Buddhist Sūtra Literature
- Remarks on the Philosophical Standpoint of the Anonymous Commentary, Bodhisattvacaryāvatāravyākhyāna(-pañjikā)
- Remarks on the Tabo Manuscript of the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra
- René Girard, Śāntideva, and the Emptiness of Desire
- Reply to Paul Williams
- Resentment and Reality: Buddhism on Moral Responsibility
- Response to Mark Siderits' Review
- Seeing Sentient Beings: Śāntideva's Moral Phenomenology
- Self-Sceptical Ethics and Selfless Morality: A Historical and Cross-Cultural Overview
- Selfhood and the Metaphysics of Altruism
- Selfless Ethics: The Equality of Non-Existence
- Selflessness and Normativity: Śāntideva and Emptiness Ethics
- Shantideva's Bodhicaryavatara: An Internal Pilgrimage to Universal Peace and Compassion
- Some New Remarks on the Bodhicaryāvatāra Chapter V
- Spinoza through the Prism of Later 'East-West' Exchanges: Analogues of Buddhist Themes in the Ethics and the Works of Early Spinozists
- Stoics and Bodhisattvas: Spiritual Exercise and Faith in Two Philosophical Traditions
- Stotra, Psychological Conditioning, and the Bodhicaryāvatāra: Together with a Translation of the Bodhicittānuśaṃsapariccheda
- Suffering Made Sufferable: Śāntideva, Dzongkaba, and Modern Therapeutic Approaches to Suffering's Silver Lining
- Suvarṇadvīpa's "Commentaries" on the Bodhicaryāvatāra
- Taming Śāntideva: Tsongkhapa's Use of the Bodhicaryāvatāra
- Tangut Texts of the Five Early Translations and the Texts on the Awakening of the Bodhicitta
- Textcritical Notes on Sanskrit Texts: I. Bodhi(sattva)caryāvatāra
- The Absence of Self and the Removal of Pain: How Śāntideva Destroyed the Bodhisattva Path
- The Awakening Mind (Tsering 2008)
- The Bodhicittotpādasamādanāvidhi by Jitari
- The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature
- The Bodhisattva Guide
- The Bodhisattva Path: Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra
- The Bodhisattva and the Ideal of Moral Wisdom in Śāntideva's Śikṣāsamuccaya
- The Bodistw-a Čari-a Awatar-un Tayilbur of 1312 by Čosgi Odsir
- The Buddhist Roots of Secular Compassion Training: A Comparative Study of Compassion Cultivation in Indian and Tibetan Mahāyāna Sources with the Contemporary Secular Program of Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT)
- The Case of 'Ju Mi pham (1846–1912) and Dpa' ris Rab gsal (1840–1912): A Study in Dgag lan Debate
- The Center of the Sunlit Sky
- The Circle of Compassion: An Interpretive Study of Karuṇā in Indian Buddhist Literature
- The Compassionate Gift of Vice: Śāntideva on Gifts, Altruism, and Poverty
- The Concept of Bodhicitta in Santideva's Bodhicaryavatara
- The Concept of Bodhicitta in Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra (Diss)
- The Concept of Bodhicitta in Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra-Review by Edelglass
- The Concept of Bodhicitta in Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra-Review by Tatz
- The Connection between Ontology and Ethics in Madhyamaka Thought
- The Contrasts between the Bodhisattvayāna and the Śrāvakayāna in the Śikṣāsamuccaya's Theory of Bodhicitta
- The Ethics of Mahāyāna Buddhism in the Bodhicaryāvatāra
- The Ethics of Śaṅkara and Śāntideva
- The Ethics of Śaṅkara and Śāntideva-Review by Abramson
- The Ethics of Śaṅkara and Śāntideva-Review by Javanaud
- The Ethics of Śaṅkara and Śāntideva-Review by O'Leary
- The Literature of the Madhyamaka School of Philosophy in India
- The Meaning of Sugata in the Bodhicaryāvatārapañjikā
- The Metaphysical Basis of Śāntideva's Ethics
- The Middle Way of the Bodhisattva
- The Original Bodhicaryāvatāra
- The Reality of Altruism: Reconstructing Śāntideva, A Review of Altruism and Reality: Studies in the Philosophy of the Bodhicāryāvatāra, by Paul Williams
- The Reflexive Nature of Awareness (1998)
- The Relationship between Morality and the Body in Monastic Training according to the Śikṣāsamuccaya
- The Resolve to Become a Buddha
- The Self and the Other in Bodhicaryāvatāra: Part 1
- The Self and the Suffering Other: Levinas and Śāntideva on the Ethics of Compassion
- The Selfless Removal of Pain: A Critical Glance at Śāntideva's Argument in Bodhicaryāvatāra 8: 101–3
- The Tanjur Bodhicaryāvatāra Auxiliaries: A Few Collected Bibliographical Pointers
- The Transmission of the Bodhicaryāvatāra: The History, Diffusion, and Influence of a Mahāyāna Buddhist Text
- The Śāntideva Passage: Bodhicaryāvatāra VIII.90–103
- Theory and Comparison in the Discussion of Buddhist Ethics
- Traces of Consequentialism and Non-Consequentialism in Bodhisattva Ethics
- Two Kinds of Saṃvṛtis in the Bodhicaryāvatārapañjikā IX 3-8
- Uncommon Happiness
- Uses of the Illusion of Agency: Why Some Buddhists Should Believe in Free Will
- Virtuous Bodies
- Waking into Compassion: The Three Ālambana of Karuṇā
- What Is It Like to Be a Bodhisattva? Moral Phenomenology in Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra
- Where Does the Cetanic Break Take Place? Weakness of Will in Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra
- Why War? Why Not Peace? Santideva's Answer to Einstein's Famous Question to Freud
- Zu einer zentralen philosophischen Kontroverse mit den "orthodoxen" Philosophen
- Zum Bodhisattvacāryāvatārabhāṣya des Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna
- Śāntideva (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
- Śāntideva (Karen Lang)
- Śāntideva (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
- Śāntideva and Bodhicaryāvatāra
- Śāntideva and Kant: An East-West Comparative Study in Ethics
- Śāntideva and an Ethic of Radical Compassion
- Śāntideva in the History of Mādhyamika Philosophy
- Śāntideva on Developing the Thought of Awakening
- Śāntideva's Criticism of Vijñānavāda and Bodhicitta
- Śāntideva's Critique of 'I' or Self in the Early and Later Recensions of the Bodhi(sattva)caryāvatāra
- Śāntideva's Ethics of Impartial Compassion
- Śāntideva's Impartialist Ethics
- Śāntideva's Philosophy as Expressed in the Early Version of His Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra, Chapter 8
- Śāntideva, Virtue, and Consequentialism
- Śāntideva: Mystique Bouddhiste des VIIe et VIIIe siècles
- Śāntideva: Mystique Bouddhiste des VIIe et VIIIe siècles-Review by Cabezón
- Śāntidevas Bodhicaryāvatāra: Das Weiterwirken des Werkes dargestellt anhand der Überlieferungsgeschichte des Textes und seiner Kommentare
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Description
Abstract
This is a study of compassion in the non-tantric literature of Indian Buddhism focused on whether it is correctly characterized as self-abnegating altruism. Because the meanings of concepts like karuṇā, anukampā, and maitrī overlap and dominant terms tend to subsume the meanings of others, this study works with a broad sense of compassion as empathetic sensitivity. It brings to light the strong presence of themes of interpretation that emphasize the circular complementarity of benefiting oneself and benefiting others. This pattern holds even in apparent examples of extreme self-sacrifice and places doubt on assessments of Indian Buddhist ethics as self-abnegating.
The methodology here is based on an argument that Buddhist sūtras are tapestries woven of threads drawn from a common stock of intertextual motifs and themes. It identifies key intertextual themes and then evaluates the range of their interpretive treatment from various philosophical perspectives.
The first chapter explores the general meaning, including the relation of passion to compassion, meditative techniques, powers and benefits, and the theme of svaparārtha. The second focuses on compassion as the motivation for the path. It shows strong continuities between mainstream and Mahāyāna Buddhism, in the double-edged aspirations of arhats and bodhisattvas to pursue personal development for the sake of others. It definitively documents that the bodhisattva vow can not be read as a renunciation of enlightenment. The third analyzes compassion and the realization of emptiness as a moment on the path, focusing on sources that direct the bodhisattva to skillfully postpone nirvāṇa by avoiding the realization of emptiness. Apparently advocating renunciation of enlightenment, they actually guide the practitioner to buddhahood through avoidance of arhat's nirvāṇa. The fourth examines the relationship of compassion to selflessness and emptiness, tracing the discussion of the ontological ālambana of karuṇā with a special focus on Prajñākaramati's commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra of Śāntideva. It concludes that even the highest compassion is based on conventional truth, but that this is a conventional wisdom informed by the realization of emptiness.
Citation
Jenkins, Stephen Lynn. "The Circle of Compassion: An Interpretive Study of Karuṇā in Indian Buddhist Literature." PhD diss., Harvard University, 1999.
Table of contents
- Abstractp. i
- Dedicationp. vi
- Acknowledgementsp. vii
- General Approachp. 1
- Structure of the Dissertationp. 4
- Methodologyp. 7
- Scriptural Sourcesp. 17
- The Use of Śāstrasp. 21
- Conclusionsp. 22
- Introductionp. 25
- Anukampāp. 33
- Mettāp. 35
- Passion and Compassionp. 40
- Meditation Techniquesp. 42
- Upekṣāp. 46
- Benefits of Compassionp. 47
- Svaparārthap. 55
- Introductionp. 63
- Lokānukampāp. 65
- Mettacittap. 67
- Śākyamuni's Decision to Teachp. 72
- The Plowing Festival and Great Renunciationp. 75
- Śākyamuni as Bodhisattva: Dīpamkara Jātakap. 78
- The Cult of Arhatsp. 81
- Conclusions Regarding Mainstream Buddhismp. 81
- The Bodhisattva Vowp. 83
- The Common Vowp. 85
- Dharmasamgīti Sūtra and Compassion From the Firstp. 88
- The Upāyakauśalya Sūtra: A Synchronic Conception of the Pathp. 90
- Icchantika Bodhisattvas: The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtrap. 93
- The Prajñāpāramitā and Descent into the Hell Realmsp. 96
- Vows of the Celestial Bodhisattvas and Buddhas
- Kṣitigarbhabodhisattvapraṇidhāna Sūtra:p. 102
- Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtrap. 105
- Conclusionp. 109
- Introductionp. 113
- Wisdom and Compassion p. 118
- On Not Directly Realizing Emptinessp. 126
- Realization of Emptiness and the Bodhisattva Bhūmisp. 135
- Daśabhūmika Sūtrap. 136
- Sūtras Reflecting a Similar Patternp. 141
- Daśbhūmikasūtraśāstrap. 146
- Bodhisattvabhūmip. 147
- Madhyamakāvatārap. 149
- The Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras and the Abhisamayālaṃkārap. 156
- Conclusionsp. 158
- Introductionp. 161
- Anātman and Mettā
- Theravāda Sourcesp. 163
- Abhidharmakośa on Mahākaruṇāp. 169
- Śūnyatā and Anālambana
- Even Though There Are No Sentient Beingsp. 179
- The Three Alāmbana of Karuṇāp. 188
- Akṣayamatinirdeśa Sūtrap. 189
- Akṣayamatinirdeśaṭīkāp. 191
- Bodhisattvabhūmip. 194
- Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkārap. 199
- Tathāgatagarbha Thoughtp. 203
- Candrakīrtip. 205
- Summaryp. 212
- Śāntideva and Prajñākaramati: Compassion for Illusory Beingsp. 215
- General Conclusionp. 228
- Appendix I: The Intention for Enlightenment in Mahāyāna Sūtrasp. 235
- Appendix II: A Note on Avalokiteśvarap. 238
- Appendix III: Notes on the Theme of Not Directly Realizingp. 239
- Appendix IV: Abhidharmakośa/Abhidharmaḍīpa on Mahākaruṇāp. 243
Interconnections
2 Scholarship on
An "Introduction to Bodhisattva Practice," the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra is a poem about the path of a bodhisattva, in ten chapters, written by the Indian Buddhist Śāntideva (fl. c. 685–763). One of the masterpieces of world literature, it is a core text of Mahāyāna Buddhism and continues to be taught, studied, and commented upon in many languages and by many traditions around the world. The main subject of the text is bodhicitta, the altruistic aspiration for enlightenment, and the path and practices of the bodhisattva, the six perfections (pāramitās). The text forms the basis of many contemporary discussions of Buddhist ethics and philosophy.
Written by Prajñākaramati (950–1030), the Bodhicaryāvatārapañjikā is considered to be the most important Indian commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāraby Śāntideva. This commentary explains the words in the verses (tshig 'grel), with additional commentaries on difficult points. Excluding The Dedication Chapter, it has only nine chapters.
