The Great Hūṃ

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The Great Hūṃ: A Commentary on Śāntideva's Way of the Bodhisattva

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

This longest commentary on the first eight chapters of the Chonjuk or Way of the Bodhisattva (Bodhicaryāvatāra) was funded by Tsadra Foundation as part of an effort to support research and translation on Śāntideva and the concept of Bodhicitta. The book, both in Tibetan and in its English translation by Douglas Duckworth, is remarkable for the way it shows how the poetry of the original root text is embedded in a vast Buddhist textual multiverse, interconnecting sutras and commentaries, traditions and ideas.

Śāntideva's Way of the Bodhisattva (Bodhicaryāvatāra) is without a doubt one of the greatest masterpieces of Indian Buddhism and the single most influential text on Mahāyāna ethical theory. Since it was composed in around the eighth century, it has continuously animated the living tradition, especially in Tibet but now in the West as well, as more translations have become available. Its poetic evocations of the spirit of awakening allow readers to enter the mind of the bodhisattva.

Its longest commentary in any language is the one translated here, by the nineteenth-century master Minyak Kunzang Sönam. It came to be known as the Great Hūṃ because it fills the entirety of the third or hūṃ volume of the author's collected works. Citing hundreds of sūtras, he shows how Śāntideva's verses are beautifully integrated within, and express, the Buddhist textual universe. In particular, he ties Śāntideva's verses with the Anthology of Training, the thematic collection of scriptural citations also compiled by Śāntideva, creating a detailed tapestry of Mahāyāna thought and practice. This volume presents Kunzang Sönam’s commentary on the first eight chapters, detailing the generation of the spirit of awakening, the cultivation of positive qualities, and the practice of meditation. Embedded in the commentary is a fresh translation of Śāntideva’s verses, making this an unparalleled guide to appreciating their layers of meaning and applying them in one’s practice and life. (Source: Wisdom Publications)

Bilingual Layout

Citation

Duckworth, Douglas, trans. The Great Hūṃ: A Commentary on Śāntideva's Way of the Bodhisattva. By Minyak Kunzang Sönam. New York, NY: Wisdom Publications, 2025.

Publisher Link

https://wisdomexperience.org/product/the-great-huṃ/?inf_contact_key=920ba40fdd4cb612640bc899353956ee842e902fbefb79ab9abae13bfcb46658

Table of contents

Preface ix
Translator's Introduction 1
- Outline of the Text 4
- The Life of Minyak Kunzang Sönam 8
- The Gemang Movement10
- Voice: A Note on Translation 17

- Excellent Vase That Spills Forth an Ocean of the Inexhaustible and Precious Qualities of the Victor's Children: An Explanation of the Way of the Bodhisattva

- Preliminaries 21

Chapters That Generate The Spirit Of Awakening
- 1. Benefits of the Spirit of Awakening 47
- 2. Confession of Evil 99
- 3. Completely Upholding the Spirit of Awakening 155

Chapters That Protect The Spirit Of Awakening
- 4. Carefullness 187
  - Overview of the Bodhisattva Trainings 187
  - Explanation of the Verses 269
- 5. Guarding Meta-Awareness 329
- 6. Patience 463

Chapters That Develop The Spirit Of Awakening
- 7. Diligence 587
- 8. Meditative Concentration 673

Notes 829
Bibliography 885
Index 903
About the Translator 949

Interconnections

Works related to this item

2 Full translation of

Śāntideva (ཞི་བ་ལྷ་). Bodhicaryāvatāra [बोधिचर्यावतार]. byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa [བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྤྱོད་པ་ལ་འཇུག་པ།]. [The Way of the Bodhisattva]. Tengyur, RKTST 3216 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=3216&typ=2.

Classical WorksAbout this item

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.

Mi nyag kun bzang bsod nams (མི་ཉག་ཀུན་བཟང་བསོད་ནམས་). byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa'i 'grel bshad rgyal sras rgya mtsho'i yon tan rin po che mi zad 'jo ba'i bum bzang [བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྤྱོད་པ་ལ་འཇུག་པའི་འགྲེལ་བཤད་རྒྱལ་སྲས་རྒྱ་མཚོའི་ཡོན་ཏན་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་མི་ཟད་འཇོ་བའི་བུམ་བཟང།]. [Excellent Vase That Spills Forth an Ocean of the Inexhaustible and Precious Qualities of the Victor's Heirs: An Explanation of the "Way of the Bodhisattva."].

Classical WorksAbout this item

This commentary by Minyak Kunzang Sönam explains the verses of the BCA and their meaning. It is based on a topical outline (sa bcad) and contains frequent external citations. At the end, there are two different commentaries on the ninth chapter. The first one is called Spyod 'jug shes rab le'u'i gzhung 'grel zab mo rten 'byung gi de kho na nyid gsal ba'i sgron me. The second one is called Spyod 'jug shes rab le'u'i spyi don rim par phye ba zab mo rten 'byung gi de kho na nyid yang gsal sgron me. The tenth chapter on dedication seems to be missing in this version.

1 Interviews

Duckworth, Douglas, and Daniel Aitken. "Douglas Duckworth: The Great Hūṃ." Wisdom Podcast episode #206. Produced by Wisdom Publications, March 28, 2025. Audio, 52:19. https://wisdomexperience.org/wisdom-podcast/douglas-duckworth-wp206/?utm_campaign=Podcast&utm_medium=email&utm_source=keap&utm_content=&utm_term=&inf_contact_key=fcb8a87103775e9f98d39883dc1615f116358d5485884e2f31e6019a0d26c8b0.

MultimediaAbout this item

In this Wisdom Podcast episode host Daniel Aitken joins Douglas Duckworth as they discuss Douglas's translation The Great Hūṃ. Douglas Duckworth is a professor of religion at Temple University in Philadelphia. He received his PhD in religious studies (Indo-Tibetan Buddhism) from the University of Virginia in 2005, and he previously taught at Kathmandu University. In this episode, Douglas shares his journey of becoming interested in the text during his studies in India and Nepal, and he shares the challenges and rewards of working on such a monumental text.

You’ll hear Daniel and Douglas discuss:

the text's structure, its thematic elements, the profound philosophical implications of bodhicitta;
the structure and significance of the Bodhicaryāvatāra;
the ninth chapter's unique challenges; and much more!