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		|header=Introduction
		|text=Talk about practice traditions (Gom luk) of Śāntideva’s Teachings
		Discuss historical developments in India (Dharmakīrti, Atiśa, et al.)
		Discuss in Kadam tradition and others
		Patrul Rinpoche – Nyima Changra - Khunu Rinpoche – Dalai Lama


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				|text=The Way of the Bodhisattva
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		|header=Buddhism as a Science of Mind and Art of Inner Transformation
		|text=Buddhism is often dubbed as a science of the mind. It is typically seen as a way of life concerned with inner transformation through the cultivation of positive outlooks and values rather than being concerned with religious dogmas and rituals. The Buddha was a pragmatic teacher who taught the way to escape the cycle of existence ridden with dissatisfaction and suffering and how to achieve a state of awakening and eternal happiness. As happiness and suffering are essentially states of the mind, the Buddhist path is centered on the inner state of the mind or consciousness. It is aimed at clearly understanding the true nature of mind and seeking, through such insight, a full transformation of the individual, both morally and cognitively. Through the use of many techniques and methods, it strives to bring one from a distracted mind to a focused one, from agitated to calm, from malicious to loving, from dull to intelligent, and so forth.
 
		Thus, Buddhism is considered to be an art of mind training. Taming and transforming the mind is seen as the essence of the Buddha's teachings. "There is no need for many regimes other than the regime of guarding the mind," says Śāntideva. Such a regime starts with the proper understanding of how the mind or the inner spirit works. What is the nature of consciousness? How do our feelings and emotions work? What informs our ordinary thoughts and emotions? "If one fails to understand the secret of the mind, one will hopelessly wander in existence, though one may wish for happiness and the end of suffering," claims Śāntideva.

		Śāntideva's thoughts and enjoinments are set in such a Buddhist system of seeking total freedom from suffering and the cycle of existence by transforming the inner mind. He is a master ''par excellence'' in showing us how to look at the inner workings of our mind and its various trappings. From reining in a mad elephant-like mind and motivating the mind to fight like a warrior for the benefit of all beings to resting in the transcendent absorption beyond thoughts and words, Śāntideva presents a discourse of spiritual edification and enlightenment laden with moving exhortations, critical analyses, striking allegories, and earnest aspirations.
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		|header=Wisdom and Compassion as a Way of Life
		|text=Within the broad range of Buddhist thought dealing with the mind, Śāntideva belongs to the Mahāyāna tradition, which teaches wisdom and compassion as the primary path to freedom and the ultimate happiness. He is perhaps the most influential author of Mahāyāna altruism to persuasively argue for the deliverance of all sentient beings from the cycle of existence with an unconditional, impartial, and urgent sense of compassion based on logical reasoning. In the Mahāyāna tradition, one's welfare is deeply intertwined with the welfare of all other beings, and there is the recognition that all beings equally wish for happiness and do not wish for suffering. Therefore, Śāntideva argues, "I must clear the suffering of all beings because they are suffering, like my own suffering. I must benefit all beings because they are sentient beings, like my own body."

		The Mahāyāna path is often epitomized by ''bodhicitta'', or the thought of awakening—an earnest wish to take all sentient beings to the state of the Buddha, which is viewed as the state of genuine and lasting happiness and bliss. Heroic and altruistic beings who tread this path and seek to rescue the world from suffering are known as ''bodhisattvas''. Their actual practices, which lead them to enlightenment, are presented as a set of six perfections. These are the perfections of giving, discipline, tolerance, zeal, meditation, and wisdom. The cultivation of bodhicitta and the training of the bodhisattvas by practicing the six perfections form the central theme of Śāntideva's writings. He claims to have condensed in his works the teachings on the highest human ideals of bodhisattva altruism, teachings which are scattered across numerous Mahāyāna scriptures.

		At the heart of the Buddhist endeavor to understand and transform the mind and the Mahāyāna ethos to benefit all beings is ''prajña'', or the wisdom which sees through the beguilement of our ordinary existence and distinguishes the kernel of truth from the chaff of illusory transient appearance created by our thoughts. "All these branches of training are taught by the Sage for the sake of wisdom," Śāntideva proclaims, and such wisdom is concerned with discerning the interdependence of all things on a relative level and the ineffable nature of emptiness as the ultimate truth. It is in the exposition of wisdom that we see the critical and incisive philosopher in Śāntideva as he presents the way things are according to his Middle Way school. Śāntideva is not only an evocative spiritual poet but also a reductionist analytical thinker. "Just as there is no plantain plant if one breaks it down into parts, there is no real self if one thoroughly examines," he concludes. In his final ontology, Śāntideva rejects any instances of a real existence, nonexistence, both, or neither. Everything, including emptiness itself, is said to be utterly empty and nonapprehensible, akin to the bare, clear openness of space. Only when the mind is free from fixation on a thing, non-thing, or neither does it naturally rest in its true state of peace, free from the slightest tension, stress, and apprehension. Only then can one effectively cut through the habitual propensities for self-love, attachment, hatred, stupidity, jealousy, etc.

		Such a deep experience of emptiness and the illusory nature of things, according to Śāntideva, helps one not only face the ups and downs of life with the same level of ease and equanimity but also induces an intense surge of compassion for the beings who are drowning in the sea of suffering. It inspires one to work evermore to free other beings who are caught in the prison of ignorance, mistakenly holding illusory and empty things to be real. Just as compassion for other beings leads to developing the wisdom to see things as they really are, wisdom and insight into the true nature of things helps enhance the vigor of compassion for all beings. In this way, wisdom and compassion mutually strengthen each other.

		Thus, Śāntideva and his project of illuminating the bodhisattva path can be appreciated fully only by placing him in the context of the Mahāyāna ethos, which skillfully weaves together wisdom and compassion as an enlightened way of life.
 
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		|header=Śāntideva's Works
		|text=We have very sparse information on the life and works of Śāntideva. The common accounts claim Śāntideva to have mostly remained as a meditator, even when he was at the famous scholarly center of Nalanda. However, verses 105 and 106 of the fifth chapter of ''The Way of the Bodhisattva'' mention two other works Śāntideva composed: ''The Compendium of Training'' and ''The Compendium of Sūtras''. In the Derge edition of the Tibetan Tengyur collection, we find three works attributed to Śāntideva besides ''The Way of the Bodhisattva''. They are ''The Compendium of Training'', ''The Verses on the Compendium of Training'', and a short text entitled ''The Hundred Syllable Mantra Essence of the Buddhas for Protection and Purification of Sins''. The last two are short supplements to ''The Compendium of Training'', and we do not have any text entitled ''The Compendium of Sūtras'' by him. Thus, the two main works of Śāntideva available to us are ''The Way of the Bodhisattva'' and ''The Compendium of Training''.
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                |header=The Way of the Bodhisattva
		|text=The ''Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra'', or ''The Way of the Bodhisattva'', is considered to be one of the most influential Buddhist classical writings. Combining highly inspirational exhortations and incisive philosophical arguments in an evocative poetic language, the book, it is safe to claim, has shaped the lives of millions throughout the centuries. "If studying ''The Way of the Bodhisattva'' has not changed a person for the better, there is not much hope," goes a saying among Tibetan Buddhist readers of the book in order to illustrate the powerful impact it has on people's minds. "So simple an instruction which strikes the point, there is no other text like ''The Way of the Bodhisattva'' in India or Tibet," goes another praise of the book, often attributed to Patrul Rinpoche, a nineteenth-century master who championed the promotion of ''The Way of the Bodhisattva'' and its message. Due to its powerful and comprehensive presentation of the Mahāyāna path, it is perhaps the most widely read, studied, and commented upon text in the Tibetan tradition and one that is also used as a textbook for edification and as an instruction manual for contemplative practices.

''The Way of the Bodhisattva'' is a composition in verse made up of ten chapters and some 913 verses. It begins with a praise of bodhicitta, or the thought of awakening, in chapter 1. Chapters 2 and 3 contain the common Mahāyāna Buddhist practice of what is known as the seven-limb worship, which includes prostration, offering, confession, rejoicing, requesting to live long, requesting to teach Dharma, and dedication of merits, before it presents the actual ritual of taking the bodhisattva vow to save all sentient beings from suffering. Having taken the bodhisattva vow, chapter 4 deals with vigilance, and chapter 5 addresses the mindfulness and introspection needed in order to observe the precepts associated with Mahāyāna path. Chapters 2 and 3 are considered to cover the first perfection of giving, and chapters 4 and 5 are said to cover the second perfection of discipline, although these perfections are not explicitly mentioned. Chapter 6 explicitly deals with the perfection of patience, chapter 7 with diligence, chapter 8 with the perfection of meditation or concentration, and chapter 9 with the perfection of wisdom. In this way, ''The Way of the Bodhisattva'' has the six perfections of the Mahāyāna system as its main content.
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		|header=The Compendium of Training
		|text=While ''The Way of the Bodhisattva'' is an original work of Śāntideva in verse, albeit a digest of the bodhisattva ideal and ethics which are found dispersed in a wide range of Mahāyāna sūtras, ''The Compendium of Training'' is an anthology of excerpts from the Mahāyāna sūtras that discusses the bodhisattva path and principles in much greater length and detail. In ''The Way of the Bodhisattva'', Śāntideva claims there is nothing he shall say that has not been said before and that he shall briefly describe the practice of the bodhisattvas according to the scriptures. ''The Compendium of Training'' provides exactly those scriptural sources which he succinctly summarizes. Citing important passages from many dozens of Mahāyāna sūtras, ''The Compendium of Training'' has 19 chapters and, like ''The Way of the Bodhisattva'', treats the six perfections of the Mahāyāna path as its main topic, although not all six perfections are explicitly mentioned in the chapter headings. If ''The Way of the Bodhisattva'' can be considered an original composition which is meant to be used as a core curricular treatise, ''The Compendium of Training'' is a crucial reference providing the scriptural basis for the exhortations and arguments in ''The Way of the Bodhisattva''. Śāntideva adeptly presents numerous important passages on bodhisattva ethics, thereby also exhibiting his expert knowledge of the scriptures.

Yet, the main framework used for the exposition of ''The Compendium of Training'' includes the four actions of giving, protection, purification, and expansion of the three objects, including body, possessions, and virtues of the past, present, and future times. This is presented in  verse form in both the main text of ''The Compendium of Training'' and the summary as the crux of the matter to avoid any transgressions on the bodhisattva path:

:The vows of a bodhisattva<br>Are taught in detail in the Mahāyāna sūtras.<br>Know these to be the essential points,<br>By which one can avoid transgressions.

:One's body and possessions<br>And the virtues accrued in the three times,<br>Giving them to all sentient beings<br>Protecting, purifying, and expanding them.

Though ''The Compendium of Training'' is mainly a collection of passages from the sūtras, it is still laden with Śāntideva's own inspirational words and advice, such as the following quotes:<br>

"Take up any good project, but in everything know your limits."<br>
"Beware of gain and veneration."<br>
"Eschew arrogance at all times."<br>
"A well-trained body becomes a beneficial wealth."<br>
"Hold the welfare of sentient beings at all times."
 
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		|header=Śāntideva's Legacy through the Centuries
		|text=Most scholars who have attempted to date Śāntideva estimate that he lived around the end of the seventh century and the middle of the eighth and place him in the middle period of the systematization of the Madhyamaka school of philosophy. The starting date is speculative and is based on the assumption that the Chinese monk travelers Xuanzang and Yijing, who were at Nalanda (Yijing left Nalanda in 685 CE), would have mentioned Śāntideva if he was well known by then. The end date, however, is more reliable, as Śāntarakṣita, who came to Tibet in 763 and died probably in 788 CE, quoted Śāntideva in his ''Attainment of Reality'' (Skt. ''Tattvasiddhi''). Also, around 800 CE, Śāntideva's two main works were translated into Tibetan. Thus, it is very likely that Śāntideva lived in the early part of the eighth century and that his works became well known in India by the middle of the eighth century.

While the exact dates for Śāntideva cannot be confirmed, it is quite clear that his writings became very popular among Buddhist circles in India in the subsequent centuries. This can be deduced from the many commentaries written on his works, mainly on ''The Way of the Bodhisattva'', from the tenth century onwards. Later accounts claim a large number of commentaries written on Śāntideva's ''Way of the Bodhisattva'', but only ten such titles are preserved today in Tibetan translation. In addition, another anonymous commentary in Sanskrit was also found in Nepal. A few works related to his ''Compendium of Training'' were also composed from the tenth century and are available in Tibetan translation. From these, we can tell that both his works were available and perhaps widely read among Buddhist centers in India during the few centuries before Buddhism started to decline there.

We can also see the spread of Śāntideva's writings and the attention paid to them from the flurry of translations and revisions of translations taking place using Kashmiri or other recensions of his writings. Their prevalence in Nepal, which lay connected to the Indian Buddhist world and served as an avenue for the transmission of Buddhist ideas northward, is another indication. Some forty-one manuscripts associated with ''The Way of the Bodhisattva'' alone were found in the Kathmandu Valley in a recent cataloging project, the earliest dated specimen being from 1180 CE. The only existing Sanskrit text of ''The Compendium of Training'' was also acquired from Nepal. From South Asia, Śāntideva's writings spread to China by the turn of the second millennium with ''The Way of the Bodhisattva'' translated by Tiān Xīzāi 天息災 in 985 CE during the Northern Sòng dynasty, although the text did not gain much influence, most likely due to the difficult style of translation and the declining interests of Chinese Buddhists in new teachings from India. The translation of ''The Compendium of Training'' into Chinese was also completed between 1004 and 1058 CE, albeit with attribution to one Dharmayaśas. 

The most notable development for the works of Śāntideva, however, is their transmission to Tibet at the turn of the ninth century. Both his major works were translated in the early ninth century by the leading translators of the period. A version of the translation of ''The Way of the Bodhisattva'' from this period can be seen today among the Dunhuang collection, although the text is attributed to Akṣayamati, which some scholars think is another name of Śāntideva. The earlier translations were further improved in the eleventh and twelfth centuries by leading translators of the time, and we also see around this time the translation of many commentaries on his works and other associated texts. These sufficiently indicate the importance and popular use of Śāntideva's works among Buddhist circles in Tibet as Tibet saw the resurgence of Buddhist teachings in the early part of the second millennium.

The translations of Śāntideva's works and Indian commentaries on them were soon supplemented by Tibetan writings on Śāntideva's philosophical, ethical, and spiritual theories and practices. By the end of the twentieth century, over a hundred commentarial works, numerous synopses and outlines, and many practical instructions associated with Śāntideva's writings, particularly ''The Way of the Bodhisattva'', were written in Tibetan, making Śāntideva one of the most celebrated classical Buddhist masters. In the Kadam school, which emerged as a leading new Buddhist tradition in the eleventh century, ''The Way of the Bodhisattva'' and ''The Compendium of Training'' featured as two of six fundamental texts of the school. The Sakya school included The Way of the Bodhisattva in their set of eighteen great treatises and the Nyingma included it in the collection of thirteen great Indian treatises. The Kagyu and Geluk schools also highly regarded ''The Way of the Bodhisattva'', resulting in the composition of extensive commentaries by masters of these schools. Thus, his ''Way of the Bodhisattva'' became part of the core curriculum in most scholastic centers and an essential reading for Middle Way studies. Concurrently, the ninth chapter of ''The Way of the Bodhisattva'' on wisdom and understanding the true nature of reality also became the crux of philosophical debates and controversies among Tibetan thinkers, leading to a rich tradition of polemical exchanges.

Śāntideva's writings also became a cornerstone for the Tibetan Buddhist practices of mind training (''lojong'') and the preliminary practices (''ngöndro'') in the Vajrayāna tradition. His words came to be considered as the most powerful source of spiritual and ethical inspiration. The verses in the second and third chapters of his ''Way of the Bodhisattva'' are commonly used as the main liturgy for making offerings and for cultivating bodhicitta, or the altruistic thought of enlightenment, and taking the bodhisattva vow. Similarly, the tenth chapter is recited independently as an aspiration prayer. His works came to be seen as the epitome of the Mahāyāna teachings on wisdom and compassion.

In the nineteenth century, Śāntideva's ''Way of the Bodhisattva'' found an unprecedented popularity in Tibet through the efforts of Patrul Rinpoche, who championed the study and practice of Śāntideva's work in tandem with the Rimé nonsectarian movement of which he was a chief advocate. Promoting ''The Way of the Bodhisattva'' as the ''tour de force'' for spiritual and ethical training and edification, Patrul Rinpoche and his disciples spread the study and practice of Śāntideva's works, which led to an outburst of vigorous scholarship and contemplative activities associated with Śāntideva's writings. Largely due to their effort and influence, such vigorous interest and engagement in Śāntideva's works continue in our times in all schools and traditions of Tibetan Buddhism.

From Tibet, the transmission of Śāntideva's works spread to many other countries which follow Tibetan Buddhism. ''The Way of the Bodhisattva'' was first translated into Mongolian in 1305 by Čosgi Odser, who also wrote a commentary. Śāntideva's works also became an important part of Buddhist education in the Himalayan regions to the south of the Tibetan plateau, in places such as Bhutan, Sikkim, Ladakh, and Arunachal Pradesh. The exodus of Tibetans from Tibet in the twentieth century further enhanced the study and practice of Śāntideva's writings in these areas and also spurred a vibrant study and practice of Śāntideva's works in India through great advocates and teachers such as the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.

In more recent times, Śāntideva's writings have also begun to spread beyond the traditional Buddhist world, with the first publication of ''The Way of the Bodhisattva'' by Ivan P. Minayev, a Russian Indologist, in 1889 and the first translation into a European language by Louis de La Vallée Poussin, a Belgian Indologist, over a century ago. Since then, ''The Way of the Bodhisattva'' has seen many different translations in English, and ''The Compendium of Training'' has been translated into English twice. ''The Way of the Bodhisattva'' has also been translated into dozens of other languages, and Śāntideva's writings have seen both widespread religious adoption and academic study in many parts of the world, the latter even giving rise to heated debates among modern Western commentators and critics. Today, the profusion of engagement in Śāntideva's legacy continues unabated with an increasing range of interest in his philosophical arguments, ethical theory, spiritual mysticism, religious homilies, poetic styles, legendary life story, and social impact.
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				|header=Śāntideva
				|text=Śāntideva lived in the first half of the eighth century in Northern India. Accounts of his life are very scarce. According to the Buddhist tradition, he was born the son of King Kalyāṇavarman of Saurāṣṭra. After having a vision of the deity of wisdom, Mañjuśrī, he gave up his right to the throne and became a monk at the great monastic university of Nalanda in present day Bihar. Śāntideva was in appearance a lazy practitioner who did not spend much time studying. As he was about to be expelled from Nalanda, he was asked to give a public teaching by some monks who wanted to ridicule him, as they asked him to teach an original composition. Śāntideva spontaneously expounded the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra'', a poem of 913 verses, without any hesitation. As he reached the end of his recitation, he rose into the sky and disappeared. The ''Bodhicaryāvatāra'' is a detailed presentation of the path of the bodhisattvas in which all aspects of practice are explained in detail. Śāntideva composed a companion work on the topic of the bodhisattva's training, the ''Śikṣāsamuccaya'', which is a compendium of Mahāyāna sūtras.
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