Practice

Practice

Practice wisdom and compassion as a way of life

Introduction

As Śāntideva’s writings focus on and give importance to practice, it is crucial to understand and experience Śāntideva’s writings through practical engagement. One can only fully appreciate Śāntideva’s teachings and their value and purpose as a whole by putting his teachings into practice. In the following passages we provide the most common procedures for the practical application of Śāntideva’s teachings with bodhicitta at their heart.

There is no doubt that Śāntideva’s two works were composed as aids for spiritual practice on the path to enlightenment following the Mahāyāna system. While The Way of the Bodhisattva is an inspirational and poetic exhortation and instruction for practice, The Compendium of Training is a convenient anthology of instructions and rules, which are otherwise dispersed in numerous sūtras. Śāntideva did not write them as philosophical discourses, topical enumerations, or literary compositions, although they contain rich ethical, philosophical, and literary elements. His writings were first and foremost designed as didactic instructions for the practice of the Mahāyāna path, at the heart of which is the cultivation of bodhicitta, or the thought of awakening, and the practice of the six perfections.

It is also for the effectiveness in inspiring and furthering bodhisattva practice that Śāntideva’s works have been valued and widely promoted throughout the centuries after their appearance. From their early days in India and initial propagation in Tibet to their diffusion in numerous countries in our times, Śāntideva’s writings spread across many continents mainly as inspiring and instructive literature for moral and spiritual training and practice. The tradition of the practical application of Śāntideva’s teachings appears to have thrived, particularly in the times of figures such as Dharmakīrti of Suvarṇadvīpa and Atiśa. This continued during the transmission of Buddhism to Tibet, as most leading hierarchs of Tibetan Buddhist schools enthusiastically took up the practice of Śāntideva’s teachings. The tradition of practice reached new heights in the days of Patrul Rinpoche, one of the greatest champions of Śāntideva’s teachings. The legacy continues to this day through strong promoters such as the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso.

As Śāntideva’s writings focus on and give importance to practice, it is crucial to understand and experience Śāntideva’s writings through practical engagement. One can only fully appreciate Śāntideva’s teachings and their value and purpose as a whole by putting his teachings into practice. In the following passages we provide the most common procedures for the practical application of Śāntideva’s teachings with bodhicitta at their heart.

Generating Bodhicitta - Entering the Path

• Preparatory Stage
• Physical support (meditation on the precious human body, refer book, audio, etc.)
• Mental support (faith, compassion, think of benefit of Bodhicitta)
• The seven limbs of worship
• Brief instructions on Prostration, offering, confession, rejoicing, entreaties, dedication
• Mind Training – four immeasurables, sense of giving
• Actual Stage
• Taking refuge
• Taking Bodhisattva vow
• Concluding Stage
• Rejoicing oneself
• Asking others to rejoice

There is no doubt that Śāntideva’s two works were composed as aids for spiritual practice on the path to enlightenment following the Mahāyāna system. While The Way of the Bodhisattva is an inspirational and poetic exhortation and instruction for practice, The Compendium of Training is a convenient anthology of instructions and rules, which are otherwise dispersed in numerous sūtras. Śāntideva did not write them as philosophical discourses, topical enumerations, or literary compositions, although they contain rich ethical, philosophical, and literary elements. His writings were first and foremost designed as didactic instructions for the practice of the Mahāyāna path, at the heart of which is the cultivation of bodhicitta, or the thought of awakening, and the practice of the six perfections.

It is also for the effectiveness in inspiring and furthering bodhisattva practice that Śāntideva’s works have been valued and widely promoted throughout the centuries after their appearance. A verse attributed to Patrul Rinpoche goes:

གོ་༷༷སླ་མན་ངག་གནད་དུ་བརྡེག་པའི་ཆོས། །སྤྱོད་འཇུག་གཞུང་འདྲ་རྒྱ་བོད་གཉིས་ན་མེད། །

So simple an instruction which strikes the point, there is no other text like The Way of the Bodhisattva in India or Tibet.

"If studying The Way of the Bodhisattva has not changed a person for the better, there is not much hope," goes another saying among Tibetan Buddhist readers of the book in order to illustrate the powerful impact it has on people's minds. Great masters such as Penor Rinpoche considered studying Śāntideva’s works as equivalent to completing the preliminary practices which is required for higher Vajrayāna training in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

From their early days in India and initial propagation in Tibet to their diffusion in numerous countries in our times, Śāntideva’s writings spread across many continents mainly as inspiring and instructive literature for moral and spiritual training and practice. The tradition of the practical application of Śāntideva’s teachings appears to have thrived, particularly in the times of figures such as Dharmakīrti of Suvarṇadvīpa and Atiśa (11th century). This continued during the transmission of Buddhism to Tibet, as most leading hierarchs of Tibetan Buddhist schools enthusiastically took up the practice of Śāntideva’s teachings. The tradition of practice reached new heights in the days of Patrul Rinpoche, one of the greatest champions of Śāntideva’s teachings. The legacy continues to this day through strong promoters such as the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso.

As Śāntideva’s writings focus on and give importance to practice, it is crucial to understand and experience Śāntideva’s writings through practical engagement. One can only fully appreciate Śāntideva’s teachings and their value and purpose as a whole by putting his teachings into practice. In the following passages are provided the most common procedures for the practical application of Śāntideva’s teachings with bodhicitta at their heart.

Protecting Bodhicitta - Training on the Path

• Precepts (list root vows, dos and don’ts from SSC mainly)
• Four trainings from SSC
• Vigilance, mindfulness, introspection
• Tolerance and patience
• Reasons for respecting sentient beings

Enhancing Bodhicitta - Progressing on the Path

• Four forces and two powers
• Reflecting on karma / virtues, sins and their results
• Meditation – shamatha
• Cultivating Relative Bodhicitta
• Equality between self and others
• Exchange between self and others
• Seven Instructions on Cause and Effect
• Four Immeasurables
• Four modes of cultivation

• Cultivating Ultimate Bodhicitta
  • Mindfulness of body
  • Mindfulness of sensation
  • Mindfulness of mind
  • Mindfulness of phenomena

Dedication

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A Short Account of Patrul Rinpoche's Life

Patrul Rinpoche's Way of Teaching the Bodhicaryāvatāra

The Lineage Prayer

Patrul Rinpoche's Practice Instructions

Patrul Rinpoche and the Dissemination of the Bodhicaryāvatāra

Rdza Dpal sprul's Teaching at the Śrī Siṃha Shedra in East Tibet

Two Commentaries by Patrul Rinpoche's Disciples

Living Traditions of Practice
Patrul Rinpoche

Discover and practice a living spiritual tradition rooted in Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra....Content coming soon. Please be patient.

Living Traditions of Practice
Khunu Lama and the Dalai Lama

Khunu Lama Tenzin Gyaltsen ཁུ་ནུ་བླ་མ་བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱལ་མཚན་ (1894/1895 - 1977). Content coming soon. Please be patient. Content coming soon. Please be patient.

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The Practices of the Bodhisattva

Explore the practices of the bodhisattva expounded by Śāntideva.

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Generating Bodhicitta

Preliminary Practices

The Bodhisattva Vow

Protecting Bodhicitta

Cultivating Discipline

Cultivating Patience

Perfecting Bodhicitta

Cultivating Diligence

Cultivating Concentration

Cultivating Wisdom

Dedication of Merit

Dedication of Merit

 

Patrul Rinpoche's Tradition

Discover and practice a living spiritual tradition rooted in Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra.

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A Short Account of Patrul Rinpoche's Life

Patrul Rinpoche's Way of Teaching the Bodhicaryāvatāra

Lineage Prayer

Practice Instructions

Patrul Rinpoche and the Dissemination of the Bodhicaryāvatāra

Rdza Dpal sprul's Teaching at the Śrī Siṃha Shedra in East Tibet

Two Commentaries by Patrul Rinpoche's Disciples

 

The Training of the Bodhisattva

Explore the training of the Bodhisattva path as laid out by Śāntideva in the Śikṣāsamuccaya.

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Śāntideva's Approach to the Bodhisattva Training

Training: Giving

Training: Protecting

Training: Purifying

Training: Increasing

 

Śāntideva

Śāntideva lived in the first half of the eighth century in Northern India. Accounts of his life are very scarce. According to the Buddhist tradition, he was born the son of King Kalyāṇavarman of Saurāṣṭra.

Figure

The Way of the Bodhisattva

Book

Bodhicaryâvatâra: La marche vers l'éveil (1992)

Book

Prajñā - One of the key terms for wisdom or knowledge, most often having the sense of insight, transcendent knowledge, or perhaps gnosis. In some contexts it can also refer to cognition or intellectual understanding. Skt प्रज्ञा  Tib ཤེས་རབ་  Ch 般若  

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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  

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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  

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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  

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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  

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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  

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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  

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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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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  

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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  

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Pāramitā - The six or ten types of practices which lead an individual to Buddhahood. The practice of perfections is particularly important in Mahāyāna Buddhism in which the entire path of the Bodhisattva to reach full enlightenment is included in the six or ten perfections. The six perfections are that of giving, of discipline, patience, zeal, meditation, and wisdom. The perfection of skill-in-means, aspirations, power, and pristine wisdom are added to them to make ten perfections. Skt पारमिता  Tib ཕར་ཕྱིན།;ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ།  Ch 波羅蜜  

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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  

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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  

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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  

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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  

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Pāpadeśanā - The Buddhist practice of 'confession' or 'laying aside evil.' It involves honestly acknowledging past mistakes and negative actions with regret, then committing not to repeat them. This process helps clear the mind of guilt and negative karmic imprints, creating space for positive qualities to grow. Skt पापदेशना  Tib སྡིག་པ་བཤགས་པ་  Ch 懺悔;披露罪過  

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Anumodanā - The practice of feeling genuine joy and appreciation for the good deeds, success, and positive qualities of others. It is a powerful way to overcome jealousy and build positive energy by simply delighting in the virtue found in the world. Skt अनुमोदना  Tib རྗེས་སུ་ཡི་རང་བ་  Ch 隨喜  

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Pariṇāmanā - The Buddhist practice of 'dedicating' or giving away the positive energy from one's good deeds for the benefit of others. It ensures that the goodness created is shared with all beings and directed toward the ultimate goal of enlightenment, preventing it from being exhausted. Skt परिणामना  Tib བསྔོ་བ་  Ch 迴向  

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Śaraṇagamana - The foundational act of entering the Buddhist path by formally seeking protection and guidance from the Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha. Skt शरणगमन  Tib སྐྱབས་འགྲོ་  Ch 皈依  

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Vajrayāna - The esoteric Buddhist tradition which developed as a syncretic system involving deity worship, use of mantras, physical energy, and mystical practices. It is also known as the mantra tradition and the tantric school as a result of being based on texts known as tantras. Skt वज्रयान  Tib རྡོ་རྗེ་ཐེག་པ།  Ch 金剛乘  

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Smṛtiḥ - Mindfulness is the ability to keep a chosen object or the present moment in mind without forgetting it. It acts as a stable foundation for meditation and daily awareness. Skt स्मृति  Tib དྲན་པ་  Ch 念  

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Saṃprajanyam - Vigilance or alertness is the mental function that monitors one's thoughts, speech, and physical actions to ensure they stay on the right path and avoid harmful distractions. Skt संप्रजन्य  Tib ཤེས་བཞིན་  Ch 正知  

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Kṣānti - Patience is the ability to remain calm and composed when facing difficulties, suffering, or harm from others, without becoming angry or discouraged. Skt क्षान्ति  Tib བཟོད་པ་  Ch 忍;忍辱  

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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.

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Śāntideva (ཞི་བ་ལྷ་). Śikṣāsamuccaya [शिक्षासमुच्चय]. bslab pa kun las btus pa [བསླབ་པ་ཀུན་ལས་བཏུས་པ།]. [The Compendium of Training]. Tengyur, RKTST 3281 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=3281&typ=2.

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