Study

Detailed discussions and research on Bodhicitta and Śāntideva's works

Study The Core Texts

This curated selection represents essential texts for understanding the concept of bodhicitta within the Indian and Tibetan Buddhist traditions. The resource serves as both a scholarly repository and pedagogical tool, with planned expansions scheduled for 2025 and 2026 to include additional critical texts and research materials. As of August 2025, this comprehensive resource presents extensive scholarship on Śāntideva's Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra and the Śikṣāsamuccaya, featuring both contemporary research and classical texts in multiple languages. The collection prioritizes the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra as the primary focus, with substantial coverage of the Śikṣāsamuccaya and supplementary materials on related works. Regular updates to the website will expand the coverage of the concept of bodhicitta with important texts such the Bhāvanākrama and Bodhisattvabhūmi, and others listed below.

The Mahāyāna Concept of Bodhicitta

Bodhicitta (Sanskrit: बोधिचित्त), commonly translated as the "awakening mind" or "enlightenment mind," represents the altruistic aspiration to attain complete buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings and stands as the foundational principle of Mahāyāna Buddhism. This concept fundamentally transformed Buddhist soteriology by shifting the spiritual ideal from individual liberation to universal salvation, making it perhaps the most distinctive development in Mahāyāna thought. Our comprehensive exploration traces bodhicitta's historical emergence from early Buddhist sources, examines its systematic development through Indian scriptural and scholastic traditions, and follows its transmission and distinctive elaboration across the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

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Bodhicaryāvatāra (བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྤྱོད་པ་ལ་འཇུག་པ།)

One of the most famous Buddhist texts of all time. Written by the ancient Indian Buddhist scholar and adept Śāntideva.

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Śikṣāsamuccaya (བསླབ་པ་ཀུན་ལས་བཏུས་པ།)

Śāntideva's only other major known text, A Compendium of Training, is like a companion to the Bodhicaryāvatāra and deals extensively with the motivation and practice of the bodhisattva.

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Bodhisattvabhūmi (རྣལ་འབྱོར་སྤྱོད་པའི་ས་ལས་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་ས།)

Ārya Asaṅga’s Bodhisattvabhūmi, or The Stages of a Bodhisattva, is the Mahāyāna tradition’s most comprehensive manual on the practice and training of bodhisattvas.

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Bodhicittavivaraṇa (བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ།)

A compendium of Mahāyāna theory and practice, intended for bodhisattvas, both monastic and lay, organized around the theme of bodhicitta. Traditionally ascribed to the great Nāgārjuna.

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Bhāvanākrama (བསྒོམ་པའི་རིམ་པ།)

Kamalaśīla's Stages of Meditation focuses on wisdom (prajñā) and sets forth the process of cultivating bodhicitta and then developing śamatha and vipaśyanā and progressing through the bodhisattva stages to buddhahood.

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Bodhipathapradīpa (བྱང་ཆུབ་ལམ་གྱི་སྒྲོན་མ།)

Atiśa Dīpaṃkara's The Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, emphasizing a gradual approach to training the bodhisattva, became a prototype for the genre of Tibetan religious literature known as lamrim, or stages of the path.

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Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva (རྒྱལ་སྲས་ལག་ལེན་སོ་བདུན་མ།)

Tokmé Zangpo's essential reading for all bodhisattva's-to-be.

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Seven Points of Mind Training Commentary (བློ་སྦྱོངས་དོན་བདུན་མ།)

Read Tokmé Zangpo's commentary on The Seven Points of Mind Training and other core texts in the lojong genre.

Mind Training Landing Page

Keeping the Flame of the Bodhicaryāvatāra Alive: From 9th-Century India to 19th-Century Tibet

Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra gave rise to a vibrant commentarial tradition in India and Tibet. In this section, we will learn more about 10 centuries of teachings focusing on teachings drawn from this text. This section is still being developed. We will keep you posted as we add new materials, articles, and resources.

The Indian Commentarial Tradition (9th-12th c.)

This essay offers a comprehensive overview of the Indian commentaries on the Bodhicaryāvatāra (BCA). It details thirteen commentaries composed by Indian authors, highlighting how the BCA was used both as a Mahāyāna practice manual and a debate manual.

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The Tibetan Commentarial Tradition: An Overview

This article provides a concise overview of the commentarial tradition surrounding Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra in Tibet. It traces the text's introduction to Tibet in the 8th century, highlighting its rapid translation and subsequent revisions. The study also outlines the development of Tibetan commentaries on the text.

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The Tibetan Commentarial Tradition (11th–19th c.)

This article by Gregory Forgues

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Tibetan Lineages and Lineage Prayers

Andreas Kretschmar, in his translation of Khenpo Kunpal's Drops of Nectar, a commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra that is widely used in traditional curricula and among lay Buddhists, lists the various teaching lineages associated with the Bodhicaryāvatāra that developed in Tibet.

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The Tibetan late 19th-Century Debates on the Bodhicaryāvatāra's Wisdom Chapter

Learn more about the debates regarding the meaning of the 9th chapter of Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra. Content coming soon. Please be patient.

The Ninth Chapter

Go to the landing page / hub page for the 9th chapter content and the debates about it.

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The Way of the Bodhisattva Illuminated: Stories and Recitation Guide

This collection presents exemplary Buddhist narratives illustrating key verses of Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra (The Way of the Bodhisattva). Each tale demonstrates profound Buddhist principles such as the importance of respecting all worthy beings, the rarity of human rebirth, and the transformative power of bodhicitta (the awakening mind). These morally instructive stories feature kings, merchants, animals, and divine beings to illuminate the path of the bodhisattva—one who dedicates themselves to achieving enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings. The tales consistently emphasize the superiority of spiritual wealth over material possessions and demonstrate how bodhisattvas transform adversity into opportunity for both their own spiritual development and that of others.

Tales of Engaging the Way of the Bodhisattva

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Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Narrative Commentary on the Way of the Bodhisattva

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Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Recitation Guide for The Way of the Bodhisattva

A Method for Reciting the Text Engaging in Bodhisattva Conducts: A Stream of Blessings, by Dam tshig rdo rje (Mkhan po chos rje)

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The Literature (Primary and Secondary sources)

The resources listed below have been tagged to show relationships between classical works and library items (i.e., recensions, translations, scholarship). Content coming soon. Please be patient.

Bodhicaryāvatāra

Delve deeper into Śāntideva's main work

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Source Texts

Canonical Sources (Texts and Translations)

Translations (by source language)

Translations (by target language)

Commentaries on Bodhicaryāvatāra

Discover the great commentarial tradition based on Śāntideva's work

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Commentaries (Original Texts)

Commentaries (Scholarship)

Translations of Commentaries

Contemporary Commentaries

Śikṣāsamuccaya

Know more about Śāntideva's Compendium of Training

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Source Texts

Canonical Sources (Texts and Translations)

Translations

Additional Resources

Look into discussions on the art of translation and explore resources compiled by scholars

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Bibliographies

Browse resources

Browse all published resources on the subjects of this site, including articles, dissertations, and media.

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The Library

The Library offers a complete list of all bibliographical resources relevant to the study of Śāntideva's works. Content coming soon. Please be patient.

Tsadra Compendium of Key Terms

This compendium of key terms is provided as a tool to better understand technical terminology used in the context of study and practice.

Scholastic Terminology (Abhidharma and Mahāyāna Traditions)

Discover the meaning of key scholastic terms used in the 9th Chapter and related commentaries.

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Mahāyāna Path Terminology

Discover the meaning of key Mahāyāna terms used when teaching the path of the bodhisattva.

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Resources (Study, Research, Teachings)

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Bibliography

The complete list

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Library

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The Other Doorways

Discover

Begin here. Discover the basics of bodhicitta, its meaning and purpose, and learn about the main concepts of the Mahayana path. Get to know the people and texts on this website, and find key resources for beginners.

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Explore

The understanding and practice of bodhicitta depends on the knowledge of the stories, key concepts, texts, and people associated with it. Explore bodhicitta, the desire to seek the ultimate happiness for all sentient beings.

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Practice

What use is a powerful medicine if one does not take it to cure the illness? say Buddhist masters. Learn how to put bodhicitta into practice in order to bring the highest good – perfect enlightenment – to all sentient beings.

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