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A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life: Teaching by the Dalai Lama - December 25–27, 2016 (Part 1 of 3) +
Day one of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's three day teaching on Shantideva's "A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life" at the request of Russian Buddhists in Delhi, India on December 25-27, 2016. His Holiness speaks in Tibetan with a an English translation available. ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Qu5Z713wtw Source Accessed Oct 12, 2021]) +
A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life: Teaching by the Dalai Lama - December 25–27, 2016 (Part 2 of 3) +
Day Two of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's three day teaching on Shantideva's "A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life" at the request of Russian Buddhists in Delhi, India on December 25-27, 2016. His Holiness speaks in Tibetan with a an English translation available. ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bozR9uqwmHg Source Accessed Oct 12, 2021]) +
A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life: Teaching by the Dalai Lama - December 25–27, 2016 (Part 3 of 3) +
Day three of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's three day teaching on Shantideva's "A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life" at the request of Russian Buddhists in Delhi, India on December 25-27, 2016. His Holiness speaks in Tibetan with a an English translation available. ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tylXLbxWuA Source Accessed Oct 12, 2021]) +
A fresh translation and commentary to Tibet’s most famous text on living like a bodhisattva.
Who is a bodhisattva and what do they practice? In the fourteenth century, the Tibetan Buddhist master Gyalse Tokme Zangpo answered these questions in a classic teaching on mind training (lojong) called the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva. This text consists of short slogans outlining the core of the Buddhist path of compassion that continues to inspire modern-day Buddhist masters, including the Dalai Lama and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.
The most well-known commentary to the Thirty-Seven Practices is by the twentieth-century master Dzatrul Ngawang Tenzin, which is translated here along with a meditation instruction for the first time. Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, who commissioned this translation, provides an informative overview to the history of the text and commentary, introducing the reader to the world of Tibet’s most widely studied text.
[https://www.shambhala.com/a-guide-to-the-thirty-seven-practices-of-a-bodhisattva-15626.html (Source: Shambhala Publications)] +
The ''Lamp for the Enlightenment Path'' and its ''Commentary'' are eleventh-century Buddhist texts which were written at Tho-ling ("High-flying") Monastery in the central Himalayas near Mount Kailas. Although little known to "outsiders", these texts have been used and cherished by the Buddhist communities within Tibet and inner Asia for well over nine centuries. The monk who composed them wrote originally in Sanskrit (now lost) while simultaneously translating them into Tibetan, and they were included as authentic commentary in the earliest canon of Mahāyāna scripture. (Sherburne, introduction, x) +
This is Khunu Lama Tenzin Gyaltsen's 1975 teaching on Atiśa's ''Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment'' (''Lam drön''), a foundational eleventh-century text that became the basis for all Tibetan Buddhist ''lamrim'' (graduated path) teachings across all schools.
The commentary explains Atiśa's presentation of the three levels of practitioners: those of small capacity (seeking better rebirth), medium capacity (seeking liberation from samsara), and higher capacity (seeking enlightenment for all beings). Khunu Lama emphasizes the centrality of ''bodhicitta''—the aspiration to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings—as the defining feature of Mahāyāna Buddhism that distinguishes it from other spiritual paths.
The teaching covers the essential practices: generating bodhicitta, observing moral conduct, developing single-pointed concentration, and cultivating the wisdom realizing emptiness. Khunu Lama stresses that both method (compassion and skillful means) and wisdom must be practiced together to achieve enlightenment. He concludes by encouraging his Western students to study Dharma deeply, learn Tibetan, and spread these teachings, noting that concern for others' welfare rather than one's own is the fundamental distinction of the Mahāyāna path. +
''A Less Traveled Path'' brings to light unique textual evidence of an important transitional moment in Indian Buddhism. In this book, Daniel Stuart introduces the recently discovered Sanskrit manuscript of a third- or fourth-century Buddhist Sanskrit text, the ''Saddharmasmṛtyupasthānasūtra'', which sheds light on the so-called "Middle Period" of Indian Buddhism.
The book argues that meditative practice, rhetoric, and philosophy were intimately tied to one another when the ''Saddharmasmṛtyupasthānasūtra'' was redacted, and that it serves as an important historical touchstone for understanding the development of a Buddhist mind-centered metaphysics. The text offers perhaps the clearest available evidence for the process through which philosophical developments grew organically out of specific meditation practices rooted in the early canonical Buddhist tradition. It also evidences an emergent historical ideology of cosmic power, one that ties ethical conduct, contemplative knowledge, and literary practice to a spiritual goal of selfless cosmographical sovereignty. This development is historically significant because it marks a major shift in Indian Buddhist religious practice, which conditioned the emergence of fully developed Mahāyāna path schemes and power-oriented tantric ritual traditions in the centuries that followed the text's compilation.
The study includes a critical edition and translation of the text's second chapter based on the recently discovered manuscript, the first installment of a series of critical editions of the chapters of the ''Saddharmasmṛtyupasthānasūtra''. ([https://networks.h-net.org/node/6060/discussions/103462/new-booka-less-traveled-path-saddharmasm%E1%B9%9Btyupasth%C4%81nas%C5%ABtra-chapter Source Accessed Apr 8, 2022]) +
''A Less Traveled Path'' brings to light unique textual evidence of an important transitional moment in Indian Buddhism. In this book, Daniel Stuart introduces the recently discovered Sanskrit manuscript of a third- or fourth-century Buddhist Sanskrit text, the ''Saddharmasmṛtyupasthānasūtra'', which sheds light on the so-called "Middle Period" of Indian Buddhism.
The book argues that meditative practice, rhetoric, and philosophy were intimately tied to one another when the ''Saddharmasmṛtyupasthānasūtra'' was redacted, and that it serves as an important historical touchstone for understanding the development of a Buddhist mind-centered metaphysics. The text offers perhaps the clearest available evidence for the process through which philosophical developments grew organically out of specific meditation practices rooted in the early canonical Buddhist tradition. It also evidences an emergent historical ideology of cosmic power, one that ties ethical conduct, contemplative knowledge, and literary practice to a spiritual goal of selfless cosmographical sovereignty. This development is historically significant because it marks a major shift in Indian Buddhist religious practice, which conditioned the emergence of fully developed Mahāyāna path schemes and power-oriented tantric ritual traditions in the centuries that followed the text's compilation.
The study includes a critical edition and translation of the text's second chapter based on the recently discovered manuscript, the first installment of a series of critical editions of the chapters of the ''Saddharmasmṛtyupasthānasūtra''. ([https://networks.h-net.org/node/6060/discussions/103462/new-booka-less-traveled-path-saddharmasm%E1%B9%9Btyupasth%C4%81nas%C5%ABtra-chapter Source Accessed Apr 8, 2022]) +
'''Abstract'''
This dissertation is a study of a third/fourth-century Buddhist Sanskrit text, the ''Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna(sūtra)'', which reveals a unique literary culture at an important transitional moment in the religious and philosophical life of early Northwest Indian Buddhists. I argue that meditative practice, rhetoric, and philosophy were intimately tied to one another when the ''Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna(sūtra)'' was redacted, and that the text serves as an important yet unnoticed historical touchstone for an understanding of the development of a Buddhist mind-centered metaphysics. The study suggests that such philosophical developments grew organically out of specific meditation practices rooted in the early canonical Buddhist tradition, and that the ''Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna(sūtra)'' offers perhaps the clearest evidence available attesting to this process. Further, the text evidences an emergent historical ideology of cosmic power, one that ties ethical conduct, contemplative knowledge, and literary practice to a spiritual goal of selfless cosmographical sovereignty. This development is historically significant because it marks a major shift in Indian Buddhist religious practice, which conditioned the emergence of fully developed Mahāyāna path schemes and power-oriented tantric ritual traditions in the centuries that followed the text's compilation. As part of this study, I critically edit and translate the second chapter of the ''Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna(sūtra)'' based on a recently discovered codex unicus. +
A selection from a classical Mahāyāna liturgy from the first four chapters in the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra'' meant to be performed once as a rite of passage and repeatedly as a rite of affirmation. +
A Mahāyānist Criticism of Arthaśāstra: The Chapter on Royal Ethics in the Bodhisattva-gocaropāya-viṣaya-vikurvaṇa-nirdeśa-sūtra +
This article examines the sixth chapter of the Tibetan translation of the ''Bodhisattvagocaropāyaviṣayavikurvaṇanirdeśasūtra'' (BGUVVNS)—the chapter on ''rājanīti'' (royal statecraft)—comparing it against the two extant Chinese translations (by Guṇabhadra and Bodhiruci) and situating it within the broader Indian ''arthaśāstra'' tradition. In this chapter, the lay teacher Satyaka Nirgranthaputra instructs King Caṇḍapradyota on the duties of a righteous king: taxation, classification of crimes, punishment, warfare, and the scriptural basis for rule. Zimmermann notes that this chapter is absent from Guṇabhadra's earlier fifth-century translation, raising the possibility that it was a later interpolation into the sūtra, though he cautions that this cannot be treated as certain, since the reasons for a translator's omission of material can vary.
The core of the article traces how the BGUVVNS explicitly criticizes ''arthaśāstra'' literature (exemplified by Kauṭalya's ''Arthaśāstra'') as a "counterfeit" of the true dharma, composed by corrupt people in the degenerate age, and replaces its Machiavellian pragmatism with a Buddhist-inflected model grounded in conscientiousness (''apramāda'') and compassion (''karuṇā''). Zimmermann shows that the sūtra nonetheless preserves core structures of traditional ''rājadharma''—taxation, punishment, and warfare remain necessary royal functions—while modifying them in two key ways: it categorically prohibits capital punishment and mutilation (on the grounds of their irreversibility and the reformative aim of punishment, likened to medical treatment), and it requires the king to cultivate compassion when waging war, including the aspiration to capture enemy soldiers alive rather than kill them.
Zimmermann argues that this reflects a "harmonizing" approach (following Lingat's typology) that integrates ''rājadharma'' and ''mokṣadharma'' rather than treating them as opposed, in contrast to the more rigorist position later articulated by Candrakīrti, who saw the king's political duties as fundamentally incompatible with Buddhist ethics. He concludes that the sūtra's compromise is driven by practicability: renouncing capital punishment and mutilation while retaining warfare and other coercive measures allowed a Buddhist king to fulfill his traditional political role without direct violation of core Buddhist precepts, even as this concession allowed elements of kṣatriya warrior ethics (such as the injunction against retreat in battle) to enter into Buddhist moral teaching largely unchallenged.
No abstract given. Here are the first relevant paragraphs:
At times like these, when society is polarized and people feel insecure emotionally and financially, we long for connection with others—to know that we’re in this together and that we will take care of one another. Despite this longing, our self-centered mind interferes and keeps us separated.
In order to break down the walls of fear and alienation, we can practice what are called the seven cause-and-effect instructions to develop bodhichitta, the aspiration to attain buddhahood in order to benefit others. This meditation practice helps us see we’ve always been connected to others and that we can open our hearts with love, compassion, and altruism. +
This text, ''A Method for Reciting the Text "Engaging in Bodhisattva Conducts: A Stream of Blessings"'', authored by Dam tshig rdo rje (Mkhan po chos rje), presents a structured approach for reciting Śāntideva's classic Mahāyāna text ''The Way of the Bodhisattva'' (''Bodhicaryāvatāra''). The method includes preliminary visualizations, prayers, and mental preparations, followed by instructions for the actual recitation practice. The author provides guidance on visualizing Śāntideva, performing ritual offerings, inviting divine witnesses, and engaging with the text's meaning. The document explains the significance of each chapter of the original work and concludes with dedication prayers to direct the merit generated from this practice. This recitation method aims to help practitioners deeply connect with the text's teachings on bodhicitta (the awakening mind) and bodhisattva conduct while accumulating spiritual merit. +
A snapshot of the present state of academic investigation into the nature of Buddhist Ethics, including contributions from leading figures in the study of Buddhist philosophy. +
Article by Otgon Borjigin discussing a fragment of the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra'' in Mongolian from Dunhuang. Published in ''China Tibetology'' 2 (2019): 55–63. +
A New Hat for Hārītī: On "Giving" Children for Their Protection to Buddhist Monks and Nuns in Early India +
No matter where one looks in Buddhist monastic literature there are indications that the monks who wrote it were concerned in a variety of ways with safe childbirth and sick children, and had devised a number of practices to deal with both. Several examples are given here, but the main focus is on a practice for which the converted demonness Hārītī is presented as the model. Although she is said to be the protector of children in the secondary literature, in an important account that has been largely overlooked but can be shown to have circulated in India, Hārītī herself is said to have given her own children to the monastic community when they were in need of protection. Buddhist monks and nuns are represented as the real protectors of children. Detailed instructions are provided for sending threatened children to monks and nuns and how the children should be treated. ([https://academic.oup.com/book/12470/chapter-abstract/162104752?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false Source Accessed Sep 8, 2026]) +
An updated translation of the ''Bhadracarī''. Part I provides a detailed introduction to the text. Part II is a new translation of the Sanskrit ''Bhadracarī'' with notes and comparative comments. +
In a previous study, I re-edited a Chinese fragment BD14741/I preserved in the National Library of China and compared it with Tibetan and Dharmarakṣa's translation of the ''Bhadrakalpika-sūtra (BKS)'', demonstrating the fragment robustly part of a lost translation of ''BKS''.[1] This work is necessary given the inadequacy of evidence offered and transcription mistakes made by former research.[2]
In addition to the fragment mentioned above, we have been fortunate to be able to identify a second new fragment of the lost translation in the collection of the Taito City Calligraphy Museum (台東区立書道博物館) in Tokyo.
According to ''Chu Sanzang Jiji'' (出三藏記集), as well as other catalogues, the ''BKS'' had been translated twice (if Buddhanāma-sūtras and T.649 *''Sarvadharmanaya[viniścaya]-nirdeśa-sūtra'' 觀察諸法行經3 are not included); the first version by Dharmarakṣa (3rd–4th century) and the second by Kumārajīva (344–411?[4]). While the Dharmarakṣa's translation has been preserved to this day, as far back as the beginning of the 6th century ''Chu Sanzang Ji Ji'' recorded that the Kumārajīva's translation had disappeared.[5]
Therefore considering the translation of Kumārajīva is on record as being lost, both of the identified fragment SH.152-6 and BD14741/I probably belong to the lost translation of Kumārajīva. Furthermore, I will provide some internal evidence in this paper to support this hypothesis. (Li, preliminary remarks, 417) +
This essay analyzes the image of the bodhisattva descending into the hell realms to work for the benefit of its denizens. It argues that taking this 'mythological' image seriously helps us to better understand Mahayana value theory. +
This paper to points out some of the Mahāyānic concepts as recorded in the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra'' of Śāntideva. +
