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In chapter 2, Śāntideva demonstrates the importance of making offerings—material and nonmaterial—paying homage through veneration (prostrations), going for refuge, and, in particular, confessing one's evil deeds. By openly acknowledging one's past negative behaviors and tendencies through confession, only then can one begin to move in a different direction and transform oneself.
Concise Summary of Essential Points
Chapter 1 introduces to us to the incredible qualities and vast intent of bodhicitta, the mind wishing to attain complete enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings.
We may feel tremendous appreciation for this incredible altruistic thought for the welfare of all sentient life. Its great depth and profundity may inspire us to begin the process of cultivating that noble mind, but we need to know how to set out on that journey.
The Supreme Worship
In chapters 2 and 3, Śāntideva provides us with a framework within which to begin the journey of cultivating bodhicitta, the seven-limb prayer [LINK TO TERMS]. This is one form of the ancient Buddhist practice of the supreme worship (Skt. annutara pūja) [LINK TO TERMS], which includes the practices of accumulating merit and purifying the negative actions that we have performed. This practice seems to date back to at least the fourth century CE, and in its shortest form is literally seven lines. The roots of this prayer are found in the Mahāyāna sūtra entitled Samantabhadra's Prayer Called The King of Prayers (Skt. Samantabhadracarīpraṇidhānarāja), which makes up the last section of the Gaṇḍavyūha in the Avataṃsakasūtra.
This second chapter contains the first three branches of the supreme worship—the practices of prostration or paying homage, making offerings, and the confession of negative actions. In this chapter Śāntideva also adds the central practice of taking refuge to the traditional seven-limb prayer, to make a total of eight limbs or branches.
The initial part of the chapter, verses 1 to 23, actually starts with the practice of making offerings. We make offerings primarily to the Three Jewels—the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. These offerings include things which we ourselves possess and which we manifestly offer up, but they also include all the beautiful and wonderful things of the whole universe, such as those things of natural beauty, which are not personally owned. Moreover, they also include the virtue that we have performed throughout all of our lives, whether that be our physical, verbal, or mental actions. And these offerings are not limited to that which is physically manifest. It is also considered very positive to imagine many wonderful places, environments, or things which we create in our minds and to offer them up.
There are also verses of homage and prostrations to the Three Jewels. We pay reverence to them for the incredible qualities of wisdom and compassion that they possess.
Refuge
Śāntideva then describes one of the key elements of a Buddhist practitioner’s life, that of taking refuge in the Three Jewels[LINK to terms]. Refuge is a practice shared by all the Buddhist traditions across the world, although here, in the context of the conduct of a bodhisattva, there is special emphasis on Mahāyāna refuge.
Until the essence of enlightenment is reached, I go for refuge to the Buddhas. Also I take refuge in the Dharma And in all the host of Bodhisattvas.
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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.
བྱང་ཆུབ་སྙིང་པོར་མཆིས་ཀྱི་བར། །
སངས་རྒྱས་རྣམས་ལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི། ། ཆོས་དང་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ་ཡི། །
ཚོགས་ལའང་དེ་བཞིན་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི། །byang chub snying por mchis kyi bar/_/
sangs rgyas rnams la skyabs su mchi/_/ chos dang byang chub sems dpa' yi/_/
tshogs la'ang de bzhin skyabs su mchi/_/This means that we take refuge in the Three Jewels as our guides and sources of protection but with the specific purpose of attaining complete enlightenment for the welfare of all. This refuge is maintained until we reach the state of buddhahood. It is not a process of asking for another powerful and omnipotent force to help us out. It is an active process of training one’s own mind. The Buddha very clearly stated that he can only show us the path but that it is up to us to actually walk that path.
Confession of Our Negative Actions
Having oriented ourselves with refuge, we need to create a stable ground on which the qualities and practices can be built.
If we look closely, we may understand how a lot of our lives have been characterized by harmful actions of body, speech, and mind.
We do not need to look any further than this life to see that there are many negative things which we have done, which have either directly or indirectly harmed other sentient beings. At times we have rejoiced in being negative and have even encouraged others to join in. If we bring in the perspective of past lives, then there must be countless actions which we need to feel remorse for and to purify. This is not supposed to make us feel bad about ourselves or cause us to sink into guilt. We are not trying to beat ourselves up but to recognize the reality of who we are and where we are. Confession is not an avoidance of responsibility. Indeed, it is the opposite. We approach all these past negative actions with the goal of letting the bad habits go and moving forward positively. The second half of the chapter, from verse 27 until the end, focuses on the process and sentiment of laying open our actions through confession. We then purify our negative actions through wisdom that understands what we did, and we make a commitment to not repeat the same mistakes. This is done in a formal way through the four antidotal forces or strengths [LINK to main terms], such as the force of regretting what one has done wrong, which are explained more fully in the introductory essay.
Avoiding Laziness
Even though we may be inspired by the spirit of bodhicitta and now have the tools at our disposal to start building a solid foundation for our Dharma practice, it is easy for us to get sidetracked or to lose sight of our long-term goals.
We may easily become lazy and drawn into the byways of distraction. To counteract this, Śāntideva forcefully points out to us that we cannot wait for tomorrow. Verses 32 to 45 provide us with powerful reminders of how everything, including our own lives, is momentary, in a state of constant flux.
We cannot trust the wanton Lord of Death. The task complete or still to do, he will not wait. In health or sickness, therefore, none of us can trust Our fleeting, momentary lives.
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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.
We, as individuals, those for whom we engaged in negative actions, and those who we harmed in the process will all eventually pass. Death will not wait for us to finish all that we have planned, and nothing but our Dharma practice can help us at the time of death.
These verses are there to inspire us to ensure we do not pass away with so much negativity left unresolved. We will carry forward the effects of those actions imprinted on our mental continuums, and in the future we may be born in realms of great suffering. There is no way to avoid the unwanted and painful results of these negative actions if we cannot overcome them.
Understanding the fragility of our situation, we are encouraged to confess everything right away and to rid ourselves of all our destructive habits. The remaining verses, from verse 54 until the end of the chapter, relate an essential part of the confession process—that is, to regret what we have done and to promise to restrain ourselves from ever doing it again. There must be some commitment moving forward, a real positive sense of change of direction. Without this sincere commitment, the process of purification will not be complete.
Introductory Essay
Inspired by the qualities of this jewel-like bodhicitta and the amazing practices of the bodhisattva, our interest is now raised to enter into this Mahāyāna path.
Although we may be enthusiastic to get going on the path, at the beginning obstacles may lie in our way. Dungkar Rinpoche Lobsang Trinley, in his Introduction to the Way of the Bodhisattva, mentions that when beginning our engagement in any spiritual activity, our progress will be best facilitated by two important practices—accumulating merit and purifying the negative actions that we have performed.[1] Chapters 2 and 3 of The Way of the Bodhisattva is basically divided into these two sections, although chapter 3 is also concerned with practices related to merit.
In the Bodhicaryāvatāra the practice of accumulating merit is explained through the classical seven-limb prayer [LINK to terms]. This is also referred to as the supreme worship (Skt. annutara pūja) and includes a series of religious activities such as rejoicing in the merit of others, making offerings, and dedicating our own merit to other beings' awakening. It provides us with a complete form of daily religious practice. Chapters 2 and 3 basically cover the branches of practice of the seven-limb prayer, with this second chapter containing the first three branches of the practice—prostration or paying homage, making offerings, and the confession of negative actions.
The first section of the chapter deals with making offerings of the physical actions of our body, the verbal actions of our speech, and and the mental actions of our mind. We make these offerings to the Three Jewels—the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.
To the Buddhas, those thus gone, And to the sacred Dharma, spotless and supremely rare, And to the Buddha’s offspring, oceans of good qualities, That I might gain this precious attitude, I make a perfect offering.36The actual confession, from which this chapter takes its name, begins at stanza 27. It is preceded by the traditional formulas of homage and offering. See note 48
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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.
༈ རིན་ཆེན་སེམས་དེ་གཟུང་བར་བྱ་བའི་ཕྱིར། །
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་རྣམས་དང་དམ་པའི་ཆོས། ། དཀོན་མཆོག་དྲི་མ་མེད་དང་སངས་རྒྱས་སྲས། །
ཡོན་ཏན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་རྣམས་ལ་ལེགས་པར་མཆོད། །!_rin chen sems de gzung bar bya ba'i phyir/_/
de bzhin gshegs pa rnams dang dam pa'i chos/_/ dkon mchog dri ma med dang sangs rgyas sras/_/
yon tan rgya mtsho rnams la legs par mchod/_/We go on to offer everything in the universe. This is not limited to the things we actually own, but we also offer up even things which do not have any owner, such as the beauty of the natural world:
Every mountain wrought of precious jewels, All sweet and lonely forest groves, The trees of paradise adorned with blossom, Trees with branches bowed with perfect fruit;
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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.
རིན་ཆེན་རི་བོ་དང་ནི་དེ་བཞིན་དུ། །
ནགས་ཚལ་ས་ཕྱོགས་དབེན་ཞིང་ཉམས་དགའ་དང་། ། ལྗོན་ཤིང་མེ་ཏོག་རྒྱན་སྤྲས་སྤུད་པ་དང་། །
ཤིང་གང་འབྲས་བཟང་ཡལ་ག་དུད་པ་དང་། །rin chen ri bo dang ni de bzhin du/_/
nags tshal sa phyogs dben zhing nyams dga' dang /_/ ljon shing me tog rgyan spras spud pa dang /_/
shing gang 'bras bzang yal ga dud pa dang /_/We also offer a host of wonderful offerings which are mentally created, as exemplified by verse 10.
A bathing chamber excellently fragrant, With even floors of crystal, radiant and clear, And graceful pillars shimmering with gems, All hung about with gleaming canopies of pearls—
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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.
ཁྲུས་ཀྱི་ཁང་པ་ཤིན་ཏུ་དྲི་ཞིམ་པ། །
ཤེལ་གྱི་ས་གཞི་གསལ་ཞིང་འཚེར་བ་བསྟར། ། རིན་ཆེན་འབར་བའི་ཀ་བ་ཡིད་འོང་ལྡན། །
མུ་ཏིག་འོད་ཆགས་བླ་རེ་བྲེས་པ་དེར། །khrus kyi khang pa shin tu dri zhim pa/_/
shel gyi sa gzhi gsal zhing 'tsher ba bstar/_/ rin chen 'bar ba'i ka ba yid 'ong ldan/_/
mu tig 'od chags bla re bres pa der/_/The verses of homage and prostration come after the verses of offering.
To Buddhas of the past, the present, and all future time, And to the Dharma and Sublime Assembly, With bodies many as the grains of dust Upon the earth, I will prostrate and bow.39In the traditional practice of prostration, it is normal to imagine that one possesses innumerable bodies, all prostrating at the same time.
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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.
དུས་གསུམ་གཤེགས་པའི་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀུན། །
ཆོས་དང་ཚོགས་ཀྱི་མཆོག་བཅས་ལ། ། ཞིང་རྡུལ་ཀུན་གྱི་གྲངས་སྙེད་ཀྱི། །
ལུས་བཏུད་[p.13]Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)Slob dpon zhi ba lha and Mkhan po kun dpal. Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1990.
dus gsum gshegs pa'i sangs rgyas kun/_/
chos dang tshogs kyi mchog bcas la/_/ zhing rdul kun gyi grangs snyed kyi/_/
lus btud [p.13]Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)Slob dpon zhi ba lha and Mkhan po kun dpal. Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1990.
Bringing to mind the qualities of those Three Jewels, Śāntideva physically and mentally prostrates to them. He imagines himself to have innumerable bodies, as innumerable as there are atoms in the universe, and respectfully recites the words of homage. The chapter then goes on to discuss the Buddhist method of taking refuge in the Three Jewels [LINK to terms].
Refuge
Refuge is the key orientation for Buddhists and is essential in considering oneself a Buddhist. We place our trust in the Three Jewels and commit to relying on them regardless of what is happening in our lives. It is not just a request seeking help when times are hard but an understanding of the qualities of the Three Jewels, particularly the Dharma Jewel, which is said to be the real refuge.
Until the essence of enlightenment is reached, I go for refuge to the Buddhas. Also I take refuge in the Dharma And in all the host of Bodhisattvas.
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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.
བྱང་ཆུབ་སྙིང་པོར་མཆིས་ཀྱི་བར། །
སངས་རྒྱས་རྣམས་ལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི། ། ཆོས་དང་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ་ཡི། །
ཚོགས་ལའང་དེ་བཞིན་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི། །byang chub snying por mchis kyi bar/_/
sangs rgyas rnams la skyabs su mchi/_/ chos dang byang chub sems dpa' yi/_/
tshogs la'ang de bzhin skyabs su mchi/_/Refuge is a shared practice across all the Buddhist traditions. Because Śāntideva is introducing us to the conduct of the bodhisattvas, here the refuge is specifically Mahāyāna refuge. We go for refuge for the purpose of attaining the unsurpassed, fully enlightened state for the welfare of all sentient beings. We carry this refuge with us until we reach the ultimate state of buddhahood, where we will then be able to spontaneously and most effectively work for their benefit.
Khenpo Kunzang Palden, aka Khenpo Kunpal (1862–1943), in his famous commentary to the Bodhicaryāvatāra entitled The Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, reminds us of the general way in which we take refuge.
In accordance with the formula "The Buddha is the teacher unsurpassed; the sacred Dharma is the guardian unsurpassed, the Sangha is the leader unsurpassed," the actual protector or refuge for beginners is in fact the Dharma. The Buddha said, "I have taught you the methods that lead to liberation. Practice with diligence; your liberation depends on you."[2]
The Buddha is telling us that, for beginners, the main refuge is the teaching and one's own realization. But he also makes sure to point out that, although he has revealed the way, walking the path must be done by ourselves. Thus, taking refuge does not involve giving up responsibility to another higher power who will pull us along the path but is a process of relying on someone with deep experience and knowledge and then integrating their advice and teachings into our own lives. As the famous and oft-repeated lines on this say:
The Sage does not wash sins away with water, Nor wipe away the pain of beings with his hands. His realization he does not transfer to others, He frees by showing them the peace of ultimate reality.[3]
There are two main causes of refuge. One is the fear of the suffering that is an inevitable consequence of the negative actions we have done. The other cause is to understand that the Three Jewels have the power to protect us from those sufferings.
Confession of Our Negative Actions
The second half of chapter 2 explains the next branch of the seven-limb prayer, confession. Of course, we must strive from the beginning in trying not to engage in negative actions. Even whilst following the path we may stumble, whether through carelessness or our many afflictions, but it is not suitable to thoughtlessly just leave our negative actions unconfessed. Confession means literally "laying aside" or "laying down or putting down" all negative actions of body, speech, and mind that we have performed in the past. It is a combined process of acknowledging our faults, honestly admitting to them and disclosing them, and then laying them aside and letting go of them.
Confession of downfalls from specific vows that we have taken, such as monastic vows, individual liberation vows [LINK to glossary], and the bodhisattva or tantric vows, should be confessed and restored according to their respective methods. Here, Śāntideva explains to us the process of purifying our general negativity.
Firstly, we must visualize those who will witness our confession.
To perfect Buddhas and to Bodhisattvas, In all directions where they may reside, To them who are the sovereigns of great mercy, I press my palms together, praying thus:
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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.
ཕྱོགས་རྣམས་ཀུན་ན་བཞུགས་པ་ཡི། །
རྫོགས་སངས་རྒྱས་དང་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས། ། ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོ་མངའ་རྣམས་ལ། །
ཐལ་མོ་སྦྱར་ཏེ་གསོལ་བ་ནི། །phyogs rnams kun na bzhugs pa yi/_/
rdzogs sangs rgyas dang byang chub sems/_/ thugs rje chen po mnga' rnams la/_/
thal mo sbyar te gsol ba ni/_/Khenpo Kunpal explains in his commentary how this is done.
In the sky in front of himself, Shantideva visualizes the object of confession: all the perfect Buddhas, victorious, virtuous and transcendent, together with all the great Bodhisattvas, who reside in the infinite buddhafields in the ten directions and who are the sovereigns of great compassion. He prays to them with his palms pressed together.[4]
We fold our hands together and we make sincere supplications to the fully enlightened buddhas and the bodhisattvas who abide in all directions, requesting them to pay heed to us. Filled with regret, we confess the negative deeds we have committed.
Since we have been bound to the wheel of samsaric existence since beginningless time, we confess every negative action that we have done in this and all other lives, actions which we did through lack of knowledge about the ripening results of karma.
Gyaltsab Je Dharma Rinchen [LINK to the text] also points out in his commentary The Entrance for the Children of the Conquerors that all karma can be overcome with confession:
If the created and accumulated karmas are karmas definitely to be experienced then, since they can be cleared away, what need is there to say about those that are not definite.[5]
There are two kinds of karma—karma whose result will definitely be experienced and karma the result of which it is not definite to be experienced. If it is possible using the correct methods to clear away even those karmic seeds whose result is definite, then there is no doubt that this is also true for those actions whose result is not definite. But what kind of method can we adopt to clear away the effects of the negative actions we have done? In The Sūtra Teaching the Four Factors (Skt. Caturdharmanirdeśasūtra) it says the following:
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling in the Sudharmā assembly hall in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, together with a great gathering of five hundred monks, and very many bodhisattva mahāsattvas, including Maitreya and Mañjuśrī.
At that time the Blessed One said to the bodhisattva mahāsattva Maitreya, [F.59.b] “O Maitreya, bodhisattva mahāsattva, if you possess four factors, the misdeeds you have committed and accumulated will be overcome.
“What are these four? The action of repentance, antidotal action, the power of restraint, and the power of support.[6]
Confession does not mean just simply absolving ourselves of the bad actions we have done. It involves a full understanding of why what we did was negative and the heartfelt promise to not engage in these actions in the future. We put them aside but at the same time continue to improve by trying to prevent them from occurring again. Confession is also not done in the way of wallowing in self-absorption of past actions. It is a practical acceptance that we did wrong, but this is turned into a positive process which has an element of encouraging us to improve in the future.
We confess these negativities to the buddhas, the bodhisattvas, and our gurus. But this is not asking a savior to wash away those sins with the wave of a hand. This process involves a clear awareness of what we have done and heartfelt regret at the harm that those actions may cause.
But we may feel lazy to carry out this process of confession everyday. We feel that since we will be around for a long time there is nothing wrong with leaving negativities unconfessed. Śāntideva chides us and reminds us that death can be just around the corner:
We cannot trust the wanton Lord of Death. The task complete or still to do, he will not wait. In health or sickness, therefore, none of us can trust Our fleeting, momentary lives.
Page(s) 42
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.
ཡིད་བརྟན་མི་རུང་འཆི་བདག་འདི། །
བྱས་དང་མ་བྱས་མི་སྡོད་པས། ། ན་དང་མི་ན་ཀུན་གྱིས་ཀྱང་། །
གློ་བུར་ཚེ་ལ་ཡིད་མི་བརྟན། །yid brtan mi rung 'chi bdag 'di/_/
byas dang ma byas mi sdod pas/_/ na dang mi na kun gyis kyang /_/
glo bur tshe la yid mi brtan/_/He reminds us that our lives are fleeting and that we do not want to go on to the next life with a whole mass of negative actions left unconfessed. We must be careful and attentive to make sure that whenever we commit transgressions we must repair them and work to never repeat them.
Relating confession to the first cause of refuge, which is developing fear of rebirth in the saṃsāric world, we must understand the whole reach of sufferings that may befall us if we do not purify the karmic actions we have accumulated. Of particular concern is to fall into the abyss of the lower realms from where it will be extremely difficult to extricate ourselves.
And we must pass away, forsaking all. But I, devoid of understanding, Have, for sake of friend and foe alike, Provoked and brought about so many wrongs.
Page(s) 42
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.
ཐམས་ཅད་བོར་ཏེ་ཆས་དགོས་པར། །
བདག་གིས་དེ་ལྟར་མ་ཤེས་པས། ། མཛའ་དང་མི་མཛའི་དོན་གྱི་ཕྱིར། །
སྡིག་པ་རྣམ་པ་སྣ་ཚོགས་བྱས། །thams cad bor te chas dgos par/_/
bdag gis de ltar ma shes pas/_/ mdza' dang mi mdza'i don gyi phyir/_/
sdig pa rnam pa sna tshogs byas/_/We understand that we have engaged in many unconstructive things, mostly for the sake of goals which are ultimately meaningless. Death may come to us at any time, and we will have to go on alone, carrying with us only the karmic imprints from the life we have lived.
All that I possess and use Is like the fleeting vision of a dream. It fades into the realms of memory, And fading, will be seen no more.
Page(s) 42
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.
རྨི་ལམ་ཉམས་སུ་མྱོང་བ་བཞིན། །
དངོས་པོ་གང་དང་གང་སྤྱད་པ། ། དེ་དེ་དྲན་པའི་ཡུལ་དུ་འགྱུར། །
འདས་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་མཐོང་མི་འགྱུར། །rmi lam nyams su myong ba bzhin/_/
dngos po gang dang gang spyad pa/_/ de de dran pa'i yul du 'gyur/_/
'das pa thams cad mthong mi 'gyur/_/There are constant reminders throughout the text of how everything will eventually pass. All that we own and everyone that we love will eventually become just memories, remaining nothing more than a fleeting dream. Although the situations in which we created the karmic actions have receded into the past, the imprints of those actions remain behind with us. Carried in our continuum, the results can easily mature if the right causes and conditions coalesce.
Śāntideva also encourages us to imagine the situation when death comes to us. As we lie on our deathbed, no one can help us, however many caring friends and family members are there at our bedside.
There I’ll be, prostrate upon my bed, And all around, my family and friends. But I alone shall be the one to feel The cutting of the thread of life.
Page(s) 43
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.
བདག་ནི་མལ་ན་འདུག་བཞིན་དུ། །
གཉེན་བཤེས་ཀུན་གྱིས་མཐའ་བསྐོར་ཀྱང་། ། སྲོག་འཆད་པ་ཡི་ཚོར་བ་དག །
བདག་ཉིད་གཅིག་པུས་མྱོང་བར་འགྱུར། །bdag ni mal na 'dug bzhin du/_/
gnyen bshes kun gyis mtha' bskor kyang /_/ srog 'chad pa yi tshor ba dag_/
bdag nyid gcig pus myong bar 'gyur/_/The thread that ties us to this birth is almost worn through, and the messengers from the Lord of Death approach us. Who can help us? What can be done?
And when the heralds of the Deadly King41Yama, the King of Death—not a sentient being but a symbol and personification of death. have gripped me, That help to me will be my friends and kin? for then life’s virtue is my one defense, And this, alas, is what I shrugged away.
Page(s) 43
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.
གཤིན་རྗེའི་ཕོ་ཉས་ཟིན་པ་ལ། །
གཉེན་གྱིས་ཅི་ཕན་བཤེས་ཅི་ཕན། ། དེ་ཚེ་བསོད་ནམས་གཅིག་བསྐྱབས་ན། །
དེ་ཡང་བདག་གིས་མ་བསྟེན་ཏོ། །gshin rje'i pho nyas zin pa la/_/
gnyen gyis ci phan bshes ci phan/_/ de tshe bsod nams gcig bskyabs na/_/
de yang bdag gis ma bsten to/_/Śāntideva replies that at this moment, as our life force fades, there is only one real protection. Only the Dharma can really help us at that moment, and in particular it is only the merit that derives from the positive karmic actions we have done throughout our life that can be of aid in this stricken moment. There should be a strong sense of regret that we had opportunities to act in more positive ways, and yet we never took them. The regret of missing such an opportunity to engage in virtue and instead act in negative ways can also be taken as a kind of confession. In this condition we look for a source of guidance and protection—a true place of refuge:
Who can give me safe protection From this horror, from this frightful dread? And then I’ll search the four directions, Seeking help, with panic-stricken eyes.
Page(s) 43
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.
སུ་ཞིག་འཇིགས་ཆེན་འདི་ལས་བདག །
ལེགས་པར་སྐྱོབ་པར་བྱེད་འགྱུར་ཞེས། ། བྲེད་ཤ་ཐོན་པའི་མིག་བགྲད་ནས། །
ཕྱོགས་བཞིར་སྐྱབས་དག་ཚོལ་བར་བྱེད། །su zhig 'jigs chen 'di las bdag_/
legs par skyob par byed 'gyur zhes/_/ bred sha thon pa'i mig bgrad nas/_/
phyogs bzhir skyabs dag 'tshol bar byed/_/But in those four directions no protection shall I find.
And I shall sink into despairing woe.
No refuge will there be for me;
At such a time, what shall I do?[p.44]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) 43
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.
ཕྱོགས་བཞིར་སྐྱབས་མེད་མཐོང་ནས་ནི། །
དེ་ནས་ཀུན་ཏུ་ཡི་མུག་འགྱུར། ། གནས་དེར་སྐྱབས་ཡོད་མ་ཡིན་ན། །
དེ་ཚེ་བདག་གིས་ཇི་ལྟར་བྱ། །phyogs bzhir skyabs med mthong nas ni/_/
de nas kun tu yi mug 'gyur/_/ gnas der skyabs yod ma yin na/_/
de tshe bdag gis ji ltar bya/_/We are so close to death, and the possibility of falling into the lower realms suddenly becomes real. But if we have not made an effort to seek out and correctly rely on a valid source of refuge and have made no attempt to recognize our past negative actions and confess them, then there will be no chance to do that as we lie there dying. In desperation we search for some kind of safe place, but there is none to be found. Gyaltsab Je's conclusion here is that we must put all of these practices into place now while we have the leisure and time. Leaving them to our last moments will be disastrous.
Understanding that we will be unable to find any source of help if we leave it until the time of death when terror overwhelms us, we look around right now for a source of support. Therefore, right now we must immediately resolve to rely for that strength on the buddhas, the supreme guardians of beings, who are able to protect us from all sorrow.
Thus, from this day forward I take refuge In the Buddhas, guardians of beings, Who labor to protect all wanderers, Those mighty ones who scatter every fear.
Page(s) 44
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.
དེ་བས་རྒྱལ་བ་འགྲོ་[p.16]Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)
Slob dpon zhi ba lha and Mkhan po kun dpal. Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1990.
འགྲོ་བ་སྐྱོབ་པའི་དོན་བརྩོན་པ། ། སྟོབས་ཆེན་འཇིགས་པ་ཀུན་སེལ་ལ། །
དེ་རིང་ཉིད་ནས་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི། །de bas rgyal ba 'gro [p.16]Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)
Slob dpon zhi ba lha and Mkhan po kun dpal. Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1990.
'gro ba skyob pa'i don brtson pa/_/ stobs chen 'jigs pa kun sel la/_/
de ring nyid nas skyabs su mchi/_/The primary thrust of this chapter has been the confession of negativity, and the Three Jewels can act as a support for that confession. But they are also able to act as a support for the process of purification. Understanding what the valid objects of refuge are and reflecting on all the negativity one has done and confessing it to those objects of refuge, we then set a course for ourselves moving forward:
How instead can I make sure To rid myself of evil, only cause of sorrow? This should be my one concern, My only thought both night and day.
Page(s) 46
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.
མི་[p.18]Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)
Slob dpon zhi ba lha and Mkhan po kun dpal. Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1990.
དེ་ལས་ཇི་ལྟར་ངེས་ཐར་ཞེས། ། ཉིན་མཚན་རྟག་ཏུ་བདག་གིས་ནི། །
འདི་ཉིད་འབའ་ཞིག་བསམ་པའི་རིགས། །g.yang sa tha mal chung ngu la'ang /_/
bag yod gnas par bya dgos na/_/ dpag tshad stong du ltung ba yi/_/
yun ring g.yangs sar smos ci dgos/_/We swear to ourselves that our one course of action must be to break all of our negative habitual patterns and actions. Khenpo Kunpal insists we ask ourselves:
. . . how can we make sure to rid ourselves of evil, which alone is the cause of sorrow? This should be our only concern, as the text says—our sole and constant thought. This should be our daytime obsession and something that keeps us awake at night! It is thus that we should strive to confess our evil actions.[7]
In his commentary Khenpo Kunpal also makes a very important point regarding our negative actions. Besides leading us to future suffering in the lower realms, it also prevents our virtuous actions right now, such as trying to study, contemplate, and meditate on the teachings, from being effective.
To conclude the chapter, Śāntideva mentions another of the key features of confession—the promise never to engage again in the actions which we have confessed:
I pray you, guides and guardians of the world,
To take me as I am, a sinful man.
And all these actions, evil as they are,
I promise I will never do again.[p.47]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) 46
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.
འདྲེན་པ་རྣམས་ཀྱིས་བདག་གི་སྡིག །
ནོངས་པ་ལགས་པར་གཟུང་དུ་གསོལ། ། འདི་ནི་བཟང་པོ་མ་ལགས་པས། །
སླན་ཆད་བདག་ནི་ཡོང་མི་བགྱིད། །dren pa rnams kyis bdag gi sdig_/
nongs pa lags par gzung du gsol/_/ 'di ni bzang po ma lags pas/_/
slan chad bdag ni yong mi bgyid/_/This is a central part of the practice. We do not expect to say some simple words of how sorry we feel and then simply be absolved from any further consequence. Confession in the Buddhist tradition is an active process of really taking on board the bad things we have done, admitting honestly to them, confessing them to the buddhas and our teachers, and then, through confession, marking a line in the sand, promising that we will not transgress these boundaries again.
Discussion of the main terms
Three Jewels (Skt. trīṇi ratna or triratna; Tib. dkon mchog gsum)
- These are the three main places of refuge for Buddhists. In his White Conch Dictionary (Tib. Dung dkar tshig mdzod chen mo), Dungkar Rinpoche says that, simply put, the Buddha Jewel is the one who speaks/declares the teachings, the Dharma Jewel is what he taught, and the Sangha Jewel is made up of those who put those teachings into practice.
- The Tibetan etymology uses the word "དཀོན་," which means rare or hard to find, and then "མཆོག་," meaning supreme, outstanding, or distinguished. Dungkar Rinpoche says the meaning here of being a "Jewel" is taken in terms of something which appears very rarely in this world, which we therefore can consider as more precious than any ordinary diamond or jewel. In terms of being a field of merit, they are the best of all fields and therefore supreme.
- Technically, the Buddha Jewel is the place of refuge which has taken to its final limit the two aims, of oneself and others. The Dharma Jewel is considered the most important of the three because it includes both the scriptural teachings and the actual path of realizations. The scriptures are those teachings which were spoken to guide us on the path, the actual words of the Buddha. Taking those teachings to heart and practicing them, we develop in our continuum the truths of the path and then the truth of cessation, which is the result of practicing that path. The Dharma Jewel is anything which is a fully purified truth of an ārya being which is subsumed within the truth of cessation or the truth of the path. The Sangha Jewel is often taken to mean the wider community of ordained sangha members or even the wider diaspora of fellow Buddhists, whether ordained or not. But technically the Sangha Jewel means an ārya being who has the qualities of wisdom and liberation.
Seven-limb prayer
- The seven-limbed prayer is the name of a Buddhist religious liturgy or puja, which literally contains seven limbs or branches. In the Indian tradition of Mahāyāna Buddhism, a puja would not be considered complete unless it contained all of these branches.
- The prayer is part of a tradition of supreme worship (Skt. anuttara-puja), which seems to date back to at last the fourth century CE. This supreme worship took many forms, both extensive and more condensed, with some containing at least nine limbs. In the form of an actual prayer, the shortest form is literally seven lines. The roots of this prayer are found in the Mahāyāna Sūtra, Samantabhadra's prayer called The King of Prayers (Skt. Buddhāvataṃsakamahāvaipūlyasūtra).
- The seven limbs or branches of the prayer are:
1) the branch of prostration or homage
2) the branch of offering
3) the branch of confession or laying aside of negativity
4) the branch of rejoicing in merit and in particular in other's merit
5) the branch of requesting the teachers to turn the wheel of dharma
6) the branch of supplicating them not to enter nirvāṇa
7) the branch of dedicating virtue to the complete enlightenment of all beings
- ↑ Dungkar Rinpoche Lobsang Trinley, An Introduction to the Bodhicaryāvatāra, Spyod 'jug gi gzhung gi ngo sprod (Dharamsala: Sara Tibetan Publishing House, 2017), 40.
- ↑ Wulstan Fletcher and Helena Blankleder (Padmakara Translation Group), trans., The Nectar of Manjushri’s Speech, by Kunzang Pelden (Boston: Shambhala, 2010), 90.
- ↑ Although it is somewhat difficult to trace the source of these exact lines, they appear to derive at least in part from the Udānavarga or Prajñāvarman's commentary on the Udānavarga.
- ↑ Fletcher and Blankleder, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 95.
- ↑ Fedor Stracke, trans., The Entrance for the Children of the Conquerors - A Commentary on the Introduction to the Actions of Bodhisattvas. Chapter Two: Purifying Negativities (N.p.: HappyMonksPublication, 2016), 15. https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/
- ↑ Adam Pearcey, trans., The Sūtra Teaching the Four Factors, Caturdharmanirdeśasūtra, Toh 249 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2023), https://read.84000.co/translation/toh249.html?#UT22084-066-007-55.
- ↑ Pelden, The Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 116.
