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Revision as of 17:32, 2 March 2026
- Chapter 1 - The Excellence and Benefits of Bodhicitta
- Chapter 10 - Dedication
- Chapter 2 - Confession of Negativity
- Chapter 3 - Taking Hold of Bodhicitta
- Chapter 4 - Conscientiousness
- Chapter 5 - Vigilant Introspection
- Chapter 6 - Patience
- Chapter 7 - Diligence
- Chapter 8 - Meditative Concentration
- Chapter 9 - Wisdom
In chapter 9 Śāntideva more explicitly discusses the subject of the wisdom of emptiness. Without a correct understanding and direct realization of emptiness, the practice of true compassion that is the activity of bodhisattvas is impossible. Śāntideva, therefore spends a considerable amount of time in this chapter discussing the cultivation and experience of wisdom, expounding upon topics such as the two truths, the selflessness of the person and the selflessness of phenomena, and the function of the realization of emptiness.
Concise Summary of Essential Points
Some people try to get peaceful by sitting quietly and having nothing disturb them at all, but that's like being dead. The practice of samādhi is for developing wisdom and understanding.—Ajahn Chah, "Still, Flowing Water"[1]
Techniques to develop concentration are not uniquely Buddhist. They have been valued and cultivated in many spiritual traditions. However, in the Buddhist traditions, although the concentrated mind is considered to be very beneficial, it is not a spiritual goal in itself. Meditative concentration, or samādhi, is a helpful tool which must then be directed to the goal of attaining knowledge and wisdom. This is true in secular life also. We see people with strong focus who do not necessarily point it in the right direction. Without the lamp of wisdom to light our way, we risk doing more harm than good.
To clearly make this point about the great importance of wisdom on the path to enlightenment, right at the beginning of chapter 9, Śāntideva stresses how all of the practices explained in the preceding chapters, such as purification, patience, and concentration, have all been taught for the purpose of leading us to wisdom, and how they act as causes for that wisdom to arise.
All these branches of the Doctrine The Enlightened Sage expounded for the sake of wisdom.106As already stated in the introduction, the ninth chapter of the Bodhicharyāvatāra is an extremely concise exposition of the Madhyamaka view, recapitulating its various stages of development and polemical interaction with other schools, both Buddhist and non-Buddhist. It is worth bearing in mind that on that famous occasion when Shāntideva recited his text from the lofty throne at Nālandā, he did so to a public already deeply versed in both the content and history of Madhyamaka. And his ninth chapter was no doubt intended as a brilliant and perhaps even lighthearted exposition of a highly recondite subject to a specialist audience of philosophers and academics. As it stands, the ninth chapter is scarcely comprehensible to the unassisted reader, and an extensive commentary is indispensable. Those of Kunzang Pelden and Minyak Kunzang Sönam are already available in translation, and the interested student will also derive much assistance from the other commentaries listed in the Bibliography. In an attempt to render the root text at least intelligible, almost all translators have resorted to the expedient of indicating in parentheses the different points of view (Sāṃkhya, Nyāya-Vaisheshika, Ābhidharmika, and so on) referred to as the chapter progresses. But it is doubtful whether, in the absence of an extensive commentary, these additions do any more than complicate the issue and increase the dismay of the bewildered reader. In any case, they tend to obscure the fact that the ninth chapter, like the rest of the book, is composed in seamless verse, and is in fact a fast-moving, scintillating tour de force. With regard to the present translation, the aim has been to facilitate comprehension as much as possible, and a certain latitude of expression seemed justifiable, mainly in the way of explanatory paraphrase where possible and appropriate. The interpretation given in the commentary of Kunzang Pelden, and by implication that of his teachers Patrul Rinpoche and Mipham Rinpoche, has been consistently followed. See also Crosby and Skilton, p. in, for a helpful breakdown of the subject matter of this chapter. Therefore they must cultivate this wisdom Who wish to have an end of suffering.
Page(s) 137
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.
༈ ཡན་ལག་འདི་དག་ཐམས་ཅད་ནི། །
ཐུབ་པས་ཤེས་རབ་དོན་དུ་གསུངས། ། དེ་ཡི་ཕྱིར་ན་སྡུག་བསྔལ་དག །
ཞི་བར་འདོད་པས་ཤེས་རབ་བསྐྱེད། །yan lag 'di dag thams cad ni/_/
thub pas shes rab don du gsungs/_/ de yi phyir na sdug bsngal dag_/
zhi bar 'dod pas shes rab bskyed/_/This wisdom, known as prajñā, is knowledge of the deeper levels of the reality of phenomena and must be developed in order to escape from an existence characterized by suffering. Prajñā is the sword of understanding that cuts through delusion, breaking the chains of ignorance that tie us to the samsaric life. The ninth chapter explains how to develop this exalted wisdom through the technique of insight meditation, vipaśyanā. This form of meditation does not merely aim to remain concentrated on the meditational object but has a more analytic role of examining and distinguishing phenomena as well as their characteristics. Śāntideva adopts a systematic approach to the cultivation of this insight into the nature of reality and the analytic method used to investigate it.
The early part of the ninth chapter's verses are devoted to presenting a fundamental key to the Buddha's teachings—the two truths, conventional truth and ultimate truth. He presents the division of the two truths and an explanation of the meaning of each, as well as examples of the different beings who realize each of the truths.
There then follow refutations of doubts raised about the two truths as a basic ground of phenomena. For instance, from an ordinary perspective, if it were true that there was no inherent reality, then it would be difficult to see how this could be explained to those whose very lives are embedded in a sense of the "true" reality of existence.
Among Buddhist traditions, the Sautrāntika school objects that if things are only an illusion and have no intrinsic reality, then both positive and negative actions would have no consequences at all. Śāntideva then counters these arguments by explaining how the lack of true existence does not entail a complete lack of existence.
The text then presents the objections of the Mind Only (Cittamātra) school to the Madhyamaka perspective as laid out by Śāntideva. Their own position on the nature of reality is presented and then that position is critiqued. Within this discussion, there is a particularly extensive refutation of their presentation of self-awareness (svasaṃvedana). This debate covers the very important topic of how memory functions and how it is possible for our very own minds to have awareness of our mental states.
Here, through the use of analogy, Śāntideva asks the propounders of the Mind Only school how it could be that the mind can be aware of itself. Is it not the same as a sword which is unable to cut itself or a lamp which is unable to illuminate itself?
But if the mirage is the mind itself, What is then perceived by what? The Guardian of the World himself has said That mind cannot be seen by mind.
Page(s) 139
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.
གང་ཚེ་སེམས་ཉིད་སྒྱུ་མ་ན། །
དེ་ཚེ་གང་ཞིག་གང་གིས་མཐོང་། ། འཇིག་རྟེན་གྱི་ནི་མགོན་པོས་ཀྱང་། །
སེམས་ཀྱིས་སེམས་མི་མཐོང་ཞེས་གསུངས། །gang tshe sems nyid sgyu ma na/_/
de tshe gang zhig gang gis mthong /_/ 'jig rten gyi ni mgon pos kyang /_/
sems kyis sems mi mthong zhes gsungs/_/In just the same way, he has said,
The sword’s edge cannot cut the sword.
"But,” you say, "it’s like the flame
That perfectly illuminates itself.”[p.140]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.
Page(s) 139
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.
རལ་གྲི་སོ་ནི་རང་ལ་རང་། །
ཇི་ལྟར་མི་གཅོད་དེ་བཞིན་ཡིད། ། ཇི་ལྟར་མར་མེ་རང་གི་དངོས། །
ཡང་དག་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་བཞིན་ན། །ral gri so ni rang la rang /_/
ji ltar mi gcod de bzhin yid/_/ ji ltar mar me rang gi dngos/_/
yang dag gsal bar byed bzhin na/_/Śāntideva then moves on to present arguments to establish that the teachings of the Mahāyāna tradition are indeed the true teachings of the Buddha.[2] The remainder of this chapter deals in extensive detail with the presentation of the two main forms of selflessness presented in the Buddhist schools of philosophy—the selflessness of persons and the selflessness of phenomena.
Followers of the Śrāvaka vehicle (Śrāvakayāna) contend that there is no need to understand the lack of self of phenomena in order to attain liberation from samsara, arguing that the understanding of lack of a personal self will be enough to put an end to the afflictions.
Śāntideva, in contrast, stresses that the understanding of the lack inherent existence of everything, whether it be the self or other phenomena, is crucial even if one wishes only to attain liberation from suffering, let alone the fully enlightened state.
In the section refuting the self of persons, Śāntideva guides us through a critique of not just the non-Buddhist schools but also the logical fallacies that he finds in the lower systems of Buddhist philosophical tenets. He presents a detailed refutation of the tenets of the early Indian non-Buddhist traditions and their presentations of a conscious self, a material self, and the ineffable primordial principle (prakṛti) of the Sāṁkhya tradition.
These protagonists counter with objections that if there is no existing self or real person, then the principle of karma, the law of cause and effect, would be untenable. Again, Śāntideva refutes these objections by explaining that just because the person lacks any true existence, it is still possible for them to have a level of functionality at the conventional level.
The next section of the root text explores the selflessness of phenomena and presents the key arguments which refute even the tiniest speck of intrinsic existence. The main focus is on meditation on the four foundations of mindfulness. Also called the four close placements of mindfulness, these four contemplations take respectively as their object (1) the body, (2) feelings, (3) the mind, and (4) phenomena, putting each of them under the analytical microscope to look into their deeper reality. Although this method of meditation is shared across all Buddhist traditions, Śāntideva has a unique take on the meaning. The more mainstream approach to these foundations of mindfulness is to watch the flow of sensations in the body or the stream of our thoughts and to see through their solidity. Here, Śāntideva goes beyond those levels of analysis and encourages us to look into the deeper level of reality of these phenomena—their lack of any intrinsic reality, or existence from their own side.
The last verses of the ninth chapter present classical arguments from the Mahāyāna sūtras that establish emptiness as the ultimate nature of phenomena. These include many of the arguments from the five great reasonings (gtan tshigs chen po lnga), such as the diamond-splinters argument, the argument of identity and difference, the reasoning of dependent arising, and the reasoning of existence and nonexistence. The diamond-splinters argument, whose main protagonist is the Sāṁkhya school, is dealt with extensively in this chapter.
The chapter concludes by expounding the benefits of emptiness and explaining how the true power of compassion is built on an understanding of emptiness. To have true compassion for sentient beings, we must realize how our own ignorance of the nature of reality creates our own suffering. Seeing that clearly in our own lives, we can then understand the depths of others' ignorance, and only then does our compassion for them really deepen.
Notes
- ↑ Ajahn Chah, "Still, Flowing Water," in Living Dhamma (Ubon Rachathani: Thailand, The Sangha, Wat Nong Pah Pong, 2007), 80–81. https://www.ajahnchah.org/pdf/living_dhamma.pdf.
- ↑ There is a debate between non-Mahāyāna and Mahāyāna proponents regarding which teachings of the Buddha are authentic and how they can be validated as true teachings of the Buddha.
Additional resources
Learn About Śāntideva's Texts
The Way of the Bodhisattva
The Compendium of Training
