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Śāntideva's instructions on cultivating discipline are spread across chapters four and five in the Bodhicaryāvatāra and his presentation is concerned with the development of a strong foundation of ethical conduct, as it relates to the maintenance of the bodhisattva vow. In Buddhism appropriate behavior is often framed within the context of the two opposing polarities of those actions, or activities, that a practitioner should adopt and put into practice, and those which they should avoid or reject.
The instructions for the implementation of these, in terms of maintenance of the vow, is divided into the three crucial aspects of carefulness (bag yod), mindfulness (dran pa), and vigilant introspection (shes bzhin). Patrul Rinpoche defines these three in the following ways:
The first involves a sincere interest in acting appropriately and the development of an implicit understanding of the benefits of virtuous conduct, as well as the significant perils associated with those actions that should be rejected. Śāntideva begins by imploring us to be careful due to the precariousness of our current situation and the seemingly insurmountable difficulties that would face us if our actions lead us to the suffering of the lower realms, all of which serve as warning of the dangers presented by the disturbing emotions.
This is why Lord Buddha has declared That like a turtle that perchance can place Its head within a yoke adrift upon the mighty sea This human birth is difficult to find!
Page(s) 56
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་ཉིད་ཕྱིར་ན་བཅོམ་ལྡན་གྱིས། །
རྒྱ་མཚོ་ཆེར་གཡེངས་གཉའ་ཤིང་གི ། བུ་གར་རུས་སྦལ་མགྲིན་ཆུད་ལྟར། །
མི་ཉིད་ཤིན་ཏུ་ཐོབ་དཀར་གསུངས། །de nyid phyir na bcom ldan gyis/_/
rgya mtsho cher g.yengs gnya' shing gi_/ bu gar rus sbal mgrin chud ltar/_/
mi nyid shin tu thob dkar gsungs/_/O my enemy, afflictive passion,
Endless and beginningless companion!
No other enemy indeed
Is able to endure so long![p.58]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) 57
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.
Thus the need to keep an attentive watch on the mind, from which all actions of body and speech derive. As Śāntideva states,
All you who would protect your minds, Maintain your mindfulness and introspection; Guard them both, at cost of life and limb, I join my hands, beseeching you.
Page(s) 64
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.
སེམས་བསྲུང་འདོད་པ་རྣམས་ལ་ནི། །
དྲན་པ་དང་ནི་ཤེས་བཞིན་དག ། སྲོག་ལ་བབ་ཀྱང་སྲུངས་ཤིག་ཅེས། །
བདག་ནི་དེ་ལྟར་ཐལ་མོ་སྦྱར། །sems bsrung 'dod pa rnams la ni/_/
dran pa dang ni shes bzhin dag_/ srog la bab kyang srungs shig ces/_/
bdag ni de ltar thal mo sbyar/_/Examining again and yet again The state and actions of your body and your mind— This alone defines in brief The maintenance of watchful introspection.
Page(s) 76
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.
ལུས་དང་སེམས་ཀྱི་གནས་སྐབས་ལ། །
ཡང་དང་ཡང་དུ་བརྟག་བྱ་བ། ། དེ་ཉིད་ཁོ་ན་མདོར་ན་ནི། །
ཤེས་བཞིན་བསྲུང་བའི་མཚན་ཉིད་དོ། །lus dang sems kyi gnas skabs la/_/
yang dang yang du brtag bya ba/_/ de nyid kho na mdor na ni/_/
shes bzhin bsrung ba'i mtshan nyid do/_/As Jay Garfield explains,
