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|header=''Bhāvanākrama'' (བསྒོམ་པའི་རིམ་པ།) | |header=''Bhāvanākrama'' (བསྒོམ་པའི་རིམ་པ།) | ||
|header-line-height=line16 | |header-line-height=line16 | ||
|text= | |text=The ''Bhāvanākrama'', or "Stages of Meditation," is the title of three separate but related works by the late eighth-century Indian master Kamalaśīla. The three texts set forth the process for the potential bodhisattva to cultivate bodhicitta and then develop ''śamatha'' and ''vipaśyanā'' and progress through the bodhisattva stages (''bhūmi'') to buddhahood. The cultivation of ''vipaśyanā'' requires the use of both scripture (''āgama'') and reasoning (''yukti'') to understand emptiness (''śūnyatā''). | ||
|label=Text | |label=Text | ||
|page=Bhāvanākrama | |page=Bhāvanākrama | ||
Revision as of 17:30, 2 December 2025
Study
Detailed discussions and research on bodhicitta and Śāntideva's works
Study the Core Texts
This curated selection represents essential texts for understanding the concept of bodhicitta within the Indian and Tibetan Buddhist traditions. The resource serves as both a scholarly repository and pedagogical tool, with planned expansions scheduled for 2026 to include additional critical texts and research materials. This comprehensive resource presents extensive scholarship on Śāntideva's Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra and the Śikṣāsamuccaya, featuring both contemporary research and classical texts in multiple languages. The collection prioritizes the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra as the primary focus, with substantial coverage of the Śikṣāsamuccaya and supplementary materials on related works.
Śikṣāsamuccaya (བསླབ་པ་ཀུན་ལས་བཏུས་པ།)
Śāntideva's only other major known text, A Compendium of Training, is like a companion to the Bodhicaryāvatāra and deals extensively with the motivation and practice of the bodhisattva.
Text
Bodhisattvabhūmi (རྣལ་འབྱོར་སྤྱོད་པའི་ས་ལས་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་ས།)
Ārya Asaṅga’s Bodhisattvabhūmi, or The Stages of a Bodhisattva, is the Mahāyāna tradition’s most comprehensive manual on the practice and training of bodhisattvas.
Text
Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva (རྒྱལ་སྲས་ལག་ལེན་སོ་བདུན་མ།)
Tokme Zangpo's Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, written during a fourteenth-century retreat, transforms complex Mahāyāna philosophy into accessible instructions for handling life's challenges. Essential reading for all bodhisattva's-to-be.
Text
Bodhicaryāvatāra (བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྤྱོད་པ་ལ་འཇུག་པ།)
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.
Text
Śikṣāsamuccaya (བསླབ་པ་ཀུན་ལས་བཏུས་པ།)
In Sanskrit, "Compendium of Training," a work by the eighth-century Indian Mahāyāna master Śāntideva. It consists of twenty-seven stanzas on the motivation and practice of the bodhisattva, including bodhicitta, the six perfections (pāramitās), the worship of buddhas and bodhisattvas, the benefits of renunciation, and the peace derived from the knowledge of emptiness (śūnyatā). The topic of each of the stanzas receives elaboration in the form of a prose commentary by the author as well as in illustrative passages, often quite extensive, drawn from a wide variety of Mahāyāna sūtras. Some ninety-seven texts are cited in all, many of which have been lost in their original Sanskrit, making the Śikṣāsamuccaya an especially important source for the textual history of Indian Buddhism.
Text
Bodhisattvabhūmi (རྣལ་འབྱོར་སྤྱོད་པའི་ས་ལས་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་ས།)
Ārya Asaṅga's Bodhisattvabhūmi, or The Stages of a Bodhisattva, stands as one of the most comprehensive and systematic expositions of the Mahāyāna Buddhist path from classical India. Formally the fifteenth section of the massive Yogācārabhūmi corpus, this foundational treatise provides an encyclopedic manual detailing the entire spiritual trajectory of a bodhisattva—from the initial arising of the "mind of awakening" (bodhicitta) to the ultimate attainment of perfect buddhahood.
Text
Bodhicittavivaraṇa (བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ།)
The Bodhicittavivaraṇa, or "Exposition of the Mind of Enlightenment," consists of 112 stanzas, preceded by a brief section in prose. It is essentially a compendium of Mahāyāna theory and practice, intended for bodhisattvas, both monastic and lay, organized around the theme of bodhicitta, both in its conventional aspect (saṃvṛtibodhicitta) as the aspiration to buddhahood out of compassion for all sentient beings, and in its ultimate aspect (paramārthabodhicitta) as the insight into emptiness (śūnyatā).
Text
Bhāvanākrama (བསྒོམ་པའི་རིམ་པ།)
The Bhāvanākrama, or "Stages of Meditation," is the title of three separate but related works by the late eighth-century Indian master Kamalaśīla. The three texts set forth the process for the potential bodhisattva to cultivate bodhicitta and then develop śamatha and vipaśyanā and progress through the bodhisattva stages (bhūmi) to buddhahood. The cultivation of vipaśyanā requires the use of both scripture (āgama) and reasoning (yukti) to understand emptiness (śūnyatā).
Text
Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva (རྒྱལ་སྲས་ལག་ལེན་སོ་བདུན་མ།)
Tokme Zangpo's Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, written during a fourteenth-century retreat, transforms complex Mahāyāna philosophy into accessible instructions for handling life's challenges. Essential reading for all bodhisattva's-to-be.
Text
The Library
Dive into the ultimate in bodhicitta resources—an unprecedented digital collection spanning ancient sūtras to modern scholarship. Find everything from classical commentaries to cutting-edge research, all connected through detailed cross-references that reveal surprising links across traditions and time periods. Browse author profiles featuring the scholars and masters who've shaped our understanding of bodhicitta. Whether you're a practitioner, researcher, or simply curious, this is your gateway to centuries of wisdom on the mind of awakening—all in one place for the first time.
Visit the Library
More Resources
Immerse yourself in the world of bodhicitta! Explore the most extensive bibliography ever compiled on the topic, navigate complex concepts with our comprehensive glossary of key terms, trace the rich interpretive tradition through an interactive timeline of Bodhicaryāvatāra commentaries spanning over a millennium, and discover connections you never knew existed with our powerful advanced search tool. These resources will illuminate your journey into the heart of the bodhisattva path in exciting new ways!
The Other Doorways
