Reading Room

Reading Room

Multilingual Editions of Root Verses & Commentaries

 

Bodhicaryāvatāra

You will find here the full list of verses of the Bodhicaryāvatāra in Tibetan and from Padmakara's 2006 english translation and links to various versions as they become available.

Root Verses

 

The Nectar of Manjushri's Speech

Khenpo Kunzang Palden's commentary to the Bodhicaryāvatāra translated by the Padmakara Translation Group. In this commentary, Kunzang Pelden has compiled the pith instructions of his teacher Patrul Rinpoche, the celebrated author of The Words of My Perfect Teacher.

Commentary

 

A Commentary on Shantideva's Engaging in the Conduct of the Bodhisattvas

This volume contains an English translation of a famous commentary by the great Sakya scholar Sazang Mati Panchen, which provides both a concise overview of Buddhist philosophy, and a clear verse-by-verse commentary.

Commentary

 

Bodhicaryâvatâra: La marche vers l'éveil (2007)

Cette nouvelle traduction de La Marche vers l'Éveil de Shântideva (VIIIe-IXe siècles) a été réalisée à partir du tibétain d'après l'interprétation et les explications détaillées du khenpo Kunzang Palden, disciple de Patrul Rinpoché et héritier d'une tradition millénaire de commentaire de ce texte.

Root Verses (French)

 

Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra: Entering the Way of the Bodhisattvas

This first version of the text was translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan in the late 8th century by the great Nyingmapa translator, Kawa Peltsek together with the Indian pandit, Sarvajnadeva. The Dunhuang Bodhisattvacharyavatara manuscripts are over 1000 years old. We examined three manuscripts, each written in a different hand, made spelling corrections, and then combined the manuscripts into one complete text.

Root Verses (Dunhuang)

 

The Wisdom Chapter

This commentary by the great scholar Mipham Rinpoche presents in quite straightforward terms Shāntideva’s exposition of emptiness, the essential foundation of all Buddhist doctrine, demonstrating that it is not only compatible with, but in fact crucial to, the correct understanding of other important Buddhist teachings such as karma, rebirth, and the practice of compassion.

Commentary

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.

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhicaryāvatāra'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhisattvas'

Sakya - The Sakya tradition developed in the eleventh century in the Khön family of Tsang, which maintained an imperial-era lineage of Vajrakīla and which adopted a new teaching from India known as Lamdre. Tib ས་སྐྱ་  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Sakya'

Śrāvaka - The disciples of the Buddha who aspire to attain individual liberation or nirvāṇa. The final goal of the Hearers is to become an arhat, a state in which one has totally eliminated the inner problems of attachment, hatred and ignorance, the main causes for rebirth in this cycle of existence. There are four stages of a śrāvaka path including eight phases. Skt श्रावक  Tib ཉན་ཐོས།  Ch 聲聞  

Go to the page with the definition of 'disciple'

Nyingma - The Nyingma, which is often described as the oldest tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, traces its origin to Padmasambhava, who is said to have visited Tibet in the eighth century. Tib རྙིང་མ་  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Nyingmapa'

Śūnyatā - The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics. Skt शून्यता  Tib སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་  Ch 空;空門  

Go to the page with the definition of 'emptiness'

Karuṇā - The profound wish for all sentient beings to be free from suffering and the causes of suffering. It is a core virtue in Buddhism and, in the Mahāyāna tradition, develops into 'great compassion' (mahākaruṇā), the driving force behind the pursuit of enlightenment for the benefit of others. Skt करुणा  Tib ཐུགས་རྗེ་  Ch 悲  

Go to the page with the definition of 'compassion'