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| <h3>Khenchen Kunzang Palden's ''The Nectar of Mañjushri's Speech'' and Minyak Kunzang Sönam's ''The Brilliant Torch''</h3>
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| Khenchen Kunzang Pelden and Minyak Kunzang Sönam . . . were both close disciples of Dza Patrul Rinpoche.<ref>Patrul Rinpoche, Orgyen Jigme Chökyi Wangpo (1808-1887), also known as Dzogchen Palge Tulku.</ref>
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| Together with Jamyang Khyentse
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| Wangpo (1820-1892), Jamgön Kongtrul and Jamgön Ju Mipham<ref>Mipham Rinpoche (1846-1912), also known as Mipham Jamyang Gyatso and Jampel Gyepai Dorje.</ref>
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| and others, this famous master was one of the foremost representatives of the Rime or non-sectarian movement, which did so
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| much to restore and invigorate Buddhism in Tibet in the course of
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| the 19th century. Patrul Rinpoche has been acknowledged as the
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| greatest authority of his time on the ''Bodhicharyavatara'', Shantideva's
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| masterpiece on the stages of the Bodhisattva path, and it is not
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| surprising that many of the commentaries written around the turn
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| of the century bear witness to the pervasive influence of his oral
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| lineage.<ref>As an example of the Rime attitude, it is interesting to note that Patrul Rinpoche would, according to circumstances, teach commentaries by Gyalse
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| Ngulchu Thogme, Sönam Tsemo and Pawo Tsuklag Trengwa, as well as his own oral tradition.</ref>
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| This is true of Mipham Rinpoche's celebrated exegesis of
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| the ninth chapter,<ref>This brilliant and profound commentary gave rise to intense debate. Mipham
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| Rinpoche replied to his critics in two further works (see bibliography).</ref>
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| as well as of the two commentaries translated
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| here, which by the unity of their source and the diversity of the style
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| and content, are particularly fine examples of the non-sectarian
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| spirit.
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| Khenchen Kunzang Pelden (c.1870-c.1940), better known as
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| Khenpo Kunpel, was a disciple also of Mipham Rinpoche. His lucid
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| and accessible commentary on the ninth chapter closely follows the
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| interpretation of Mipham Rinpoche which in turn is based on the
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| teachings that Patrul Rinpoche gave at Dzogchen Shri Singha. The
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| text translated here is in fact an excerpt taken from a much larger
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| presentation of the ''Bodhicharyavatara''. This, together with similar commentaries by Shechen Gyaltsab Pema Namgyal and Mewa
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| Sönam Chödrup, also disciples of Patrul Rinpoche, is widely used
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| in Nyingmapa colleges inside and outside Tibet.
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| Khenpo Kunpel also wrote a biography of Patrul Rinpoche, and
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| several other important works including a history of the Vinaya and
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| a commentary on Mipham Rinpoche's ''Torch of Certainty'' (''nges shes sgron me''). He was highly respected in eastern Tibet and his disciples
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| included Dzongsar Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö and many other important masters.
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| Minyak Kunzang Sönam, also known as Chökyi Trakpa, was
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| Patrul Rinpoche's closest disciple in the Gelug tradition. He studied
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| with him for over twenty years, with a devotion that knew no
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| bounds. In Kunzang Sönam's time, the interpretation of the
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| ''Bodhicharyavatara''<i>'</i>s ninth chapter had already given rise to much
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| philosophical controversy between the various Tibetan Buddhist
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| schools. It is therefore interesting to note that the masters who
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| requested him to write commentaries on this delicate subject were
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| Lungtok Tenpai Nyima (Patrul Rinpoche's principal dzogchen disciple) and Lerab Lingpa, or Tertön Sogyal (1856-1926), both followers of the Nyingma school. This illustrates how genuine the non-sectarian movement was, and indeed still is, and how close was
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| the relationship between the masters who took part in it.
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| Minyak Kunzang Sönam in fact wrote two commentaries on the
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| ninth chapter, ''The Brilliant Torch'', a word-by-word commentary on
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| the root text, which has been translated here, and another commentary expounding the general meaning of the Perfection of Transcendent Wisdom. He also composed an extensive commentary on the
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| first eight chapters of the ''Bodhicharyavatara''.
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| In ''The Brilliant Torch'', Kunzang Sönam follows the traditional
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| interpretations of the Gelugpa school as set forth by Je Tsongkhapa
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| (1357-1419) and Gyaltsab Darma Rinchen (1362-1432).
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| |text=Blankleder, Helena, Wulstan Fletcher, and Stephen Gethin (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. "Historical Note." In ''Wisdom: Two Buddhist Commentaries on the Ninth Chapter of Shantideva's Bodhicharyavatara'', Khenchen Kunzang Palden's ''The Nectar of Mañjushri's Speech'' and Minyak Kunzang Sönam's ''The Brilliant Torch'', xv-xvi. Saint Léon sur Vézère, France: Editions Padmakara, 1999.
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