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Cultivating Wisdom

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In the ninth chapter of the Bodhicaryāvatāra, Śāntideva gives a thorough primer on the view of the Middle Way philosophy and its style of reasoned argumentation against what it deems to be lower or flawed positions. Known simply as the Wisdom Chapter, Prajñāpariccheda (shes rab le'u), this is by far the most famous, yet contentious, chapter of the treatise, and the extensive commentarial literature it spawned became the source of numerous debates in the Tibetan tradition.

When something and its nonexistence Both are absent from before the mind, No other option does the latter have: It comes to perfect rest, from concepts free.

Verse 9.34

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 142
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.

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གང་ཚེ་དངོས་དང་དངོས་མེད་དག །

བློ་ཡི་མདུན་ན་མི་གནས་པ། ། དེ་ཚེ་རྣམ་པ་གཞན་མེད་པས། །

དམིགས་པ་མེད་པ་རབ་ཏུ་ཞི། །

gang tshe dngos dang dngos med dag_/

blo yi mdun na mi gnas pa/_/ de tshe rnam pa gzhan med pas/_/

dmigs pa med pa rab tu zhi/_/

While Śāntideva's poem about the bodhisattva path is often praised for the accessibility of his writing style, the inspiring beauty of his prose, as well as the practicality of his instructions, the text itself is not always easy to understand. Among the more challenging aspects of the text, the Wisdom Chapter of the Bodhicaryāvatāra stands out for being nearly impenetrable without reliance on one of the many commentaries to the chapter. However, even in these works interpretations can vary widely. As Douglas Duckworth explains,

The ninth chapter of the Way of the Bodhisattva, the Wisdom Chapter, is notoriously difficult, given that it is often cryptic and truncated, and it presumes knowledge of many Buddhist and non-Buddhist systems. It also propounds the view of emptiness and describes emptiness and interdependence as the metaphysical basis of ethics. The ninth chapter is also where we see pronounced differences in the interpretation of the text, as different commentaries on the other chapters for the most part accord with one another.

~ The Profound Reality of Interdependence (7)

Śāntideva spends much of the Wisdom Chapter engaged in a sort of mock debate with the various philosophies of ancient India. In terms of non-Buddhist Indian philosophical systems, the Samkhya is his most frequent target, though he also addresses the views of the Naiyayika, Vaiśeśika, and the Carvaka.

Middle Way school

The Middle Way school is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. A proponent of the Madhyamaka philosophy is known as a Mādhyamika.

term page

As for the four main Buddhist tenet systems, these are divided by vehicle (yāna), thus there are the two Śrāvaka Schools, Vaibhaśika (Particularists) and Sautrāntika (Followers of Sūtra) and the two Mahāyāna Schools Cittamatra (Mind Only) and Madhyamaka (Middle Way), the last of which is of course Śāntideva's own tradition and the perspective from which he sets out to refute all the others.

Furthermore, Śāntideva employs a style of reasoning and argumentation that is typical of the Middle Way school. Often characterized as reductio ad absurdum, this type of analysis aims to deconstruct the positions of opposing schools by demonstrating their untenability when followed to their logical conclusions. The following verses are some prime examples.

These parts themselves will break down into particles, And particles divide according to direction. These fragments, too, lack partless parts; they are like space. Thus even particles have no existence.

Verse 9.86

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 149
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.

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ཆ་ཡང་རྡུལ་དུ་ཕྱེ་བས་ཏེ། །

རྡུལ་དེའང་ཕྱོགས་ཆའི་དབྱེ་བ་ཡིས། ། ཕྱོགས་དབྱེའང་ཆ་ཤས་དང་བྲལ་ཕྱིར། །

མཁའ་བཞིན་དེས་ན་རྡུལ་ཡང་མེད། །

cha yang rdul du phye bas te/_/

rdul de'ang phyogs cha'i dbye ba yis/_/ phyogs dbye'ang cha shas dang bral phyir/_/

mkha' bzhin des na rdul yang med/_/

If between the sense power and a thing There is a space, how will the two terms meet? And if there is no space, they form a unity, And therefore what is it that meets with what?

Verse 9.93

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 150
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.

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གལ་ཏེ་དབང་དོན་བར་བཅས་ན། །

དེ་དག་གང་དུ་འཕྲད་པར་འགྱུར། ། བར་མེད་ན་ཡང་གཅིག་ཉིད་དེ། །

གང་ཞིག་གང་དང་ཕྲད་པར་འགྱུར། །

gal te dbang don bar bcas na/_/

de dag gang du 'phrad par 'gyur/_/ bar med na yang gcig nyid de/_/

gang zhig gang dang phrad par 'gyur/_/

Since there is no subject for sensation, And sensation, too, lacks all existence, How is craving not arrested When all this is clearly understood?

Verse 9.98

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 151
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.

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གང་ཚེ་ཚོར་པོ་འགའ་* ཚོར་བ་འགའ་ in the source text. མེད་ཅིང་། །

ཚོར་བའང་ཡོད་པ་མ་ཡིན་པ། ། དེ་ཚེ་གནས་སྐབས་འདི་མཐོང་ནས། །

སྲེད་པ་ཅི་ཕྱིར་ལྡོག་མི་འགྱུར། །

gang tshe tshor po 'ga' * tshor ba 'ga' [ in the source text. ] med cing /_/

tshor ba'ang yod pa ma yin pa/_/ de tshe gnas skabs 'di mthong nas/_/

sred pa ci phyir ldog mi 'gyur/_/

The mind within the senses does not dwell, It has no place in outer things like form. And in between, the mind does not abide: Not out, not in, not elsewhere, can the mind be found.[p.152]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.

Verse 9.102

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 151
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.

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ཡིད་ནི་དབང་རྣམས་ལ་མི་གནས། །

གཟུགས་སོགས་ལ་མིན་བར་ནའང་མིན། ། ནང་ནའང་སེམས་མིན་ཕྱི་མིན་ཞིང་། །

གཞན་དུ་ཡང་ནི་རྙེད་མ་ཡིན། །

yid ni dbang rnams la mi gnas/_/

gzugs sogs la min bar na'ang min/_/ nang na'ang sems min phyi min zhing /_/

gzhan du yang ni rnyed ma yin/_/

If phenomena are truly analyzed, No basis for analysis remains. And when the object is removed, the subject too subsides. That indeed is said to be nirvāṇa.

Verse 9.110

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 153
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.

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དཔྱད་བྱ་རྣམ་པར་དཔྱད་བྱས་ན། །

རྣམ་དཔྱོད་ལ་ནི་རྟེན་ཡོད་མིན། ། རྟེན་མེད་ཕྱིར་ན་མི་སྐྱེ་སྟེ། །

དེ་ཡང་མྱ་ངན་འདས་པར་བརྗོད། །

dpyad bya rnam par dpyad byas na/_/

rnam dpyod la ni rten yod min/_/ rten med phyir na mi skye ste/_/

de yang mya ngan 'das par brjod/_/

As for the controversial nature of the Wisdom Chapter and its role in inter-tradition scholastic debates in Tibet, Markus Viehbeck explains,

While the actualities of Tibetan Buddhism show manifold cultural influences, the Indian tradition occupies indeed a particularly significant position – as a source of general cultural knowledge, but also as a very concrete authority in terms of particular Buddhist teachings, often in the form of texts, which were translated into Tibetan. In the increasingly specified and technical debates that emerged in the Tibetan Buddhist scholastic traditions, these texts were of fundamental importance: since they represented the authentic Indian tradition, aligning oneself with a text could provide authority to one’s own scholastic elaborations. At the same time, since any text can be read in different ways and its precise meaning needs to be established, usually with the help of commentaries, such texts provided an inexhaustible source for controversial discussion. It is therefore not surprising that many Tibetan commentaries on essential Indian treatises include polemical features in which the texture of a specific scholastic tradition is made explicit against the contours of other traditions, and that such evoked critical reactions from opposing factions. The resulting discourses not only clarify the doctrinal content of individual traditions, but also address to a large extent matters of textual hermeneutics, in the sense that diverging readings are refuted or argued for by using various means of validation. Studying polemical exchanges can therefore not only inform us about Tibetan Buddhist doctrine, but also about the relations between Indian texts and their Tibetan appropriators and the ways in which the latter negotiated these relations among each other.

~ Polemics in Indo-Tibetan Scholasticism - A Late 19th-Century Debate Between 'Ju Mi pham and Dpa' ris Rab gsal (12)

Notes

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Bibliography: Works on Cultivating Wisdom

Bodhicitta - The altruistic thought to seek enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. It is said to have two aspects: compassion aimed at sentient beings and their problems and the wisdom of enlightenment as the solution. Skt बोधिचित्त  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས།  Ch 菩提心  

Go to the page with the definition of 'bodhicitta'

Bodhicitta - The altruistic thought to seek enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. It is said to have two aspects: compassion aimed at sentient beings and their problems and the wisdom of enlightenment as the solution. Skt बोधिचित्त  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས།  Ch 菩提心  

Go to the page with the definition of 'bodhicitta'

Bodhicitta - The altruistic thought to seek enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. It is said to have two aspects: compassion aimed at sentient beings and their problems and the wisdom of enlightenment as the solution. Skt बोधिचित्त  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས།  Ch 菩提心  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhicitta'

Bodhicitta - The altruistic thought to seek enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. It is said to have two aspects: compassion aimed at sentient beings and their problems and the wisdom of enlightenment as the solution. Skt बोधिचित्त  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས།  Ch 菩提心  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhicitta'

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'

Madhyamaka - Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. Skt मध्यमक  Tib དབུ་མ་  Ch 中觀見  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Middle Way'

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 'Bodhisattva'

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 'Bodhisattva'

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 'bodhisattva'

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 'bodhisattva'

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'

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 'Śrāvaka'

Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

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Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of the Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. Skt महायान  Tib ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ།  Ch 大乘  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Mahāyāna'

Madhyamaka - Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. Skt मध्यमक  Tib དབུ་མ་  Ch 中觀見  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Madhyamaka'

Anumāna - Inference (Skt. anumāna; T. rjes dpag) is a way of knowing something indirectly, using logic and reasoning rather than direct experience. For example, if you see smoke rising from a distant mountain, you can infer that there is a fire there, even if you can't see the fire directly yourself. It's a key way to understand things that are hidden from our senses. It is used in the Buddhist tradition to gain insight into deeper levels of reality of self and phenomena. Skt अनुमान  Tib རྗེས་དཔག་  Ch 比量  

Go to the page with the definition of 'reasoning'