The Way of the Bodhisattva (Bodhicaryavatara)

Introduction

A Sanskrit poem in verse, traditionally ascribed to Shantideva, a monk at the monastery of Nalanda; the version handed down in Tibet has ten chapters, while an older version found at Dunhuang is shorter. It describes the arising of bodhicitta, the resolve to attain awakening for the sake of all beings, and the perfections of a bodhisattva, among them patience, effort, meditation and wisdom. Chapter eight teaches the “exchange of self and other”; chapter nine, the most demanding, defends the Madhyamaka philosophy of emptiness against other Buddhist and non-Buddhist schools. The text is among the most widely read works of Tibetan Buddhism, and the Dalai Lama has often taught it.

Connections

Builds on

• Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way (Mulamadhyamakakarika)c. 200 · Nagarjuna

Taken up in

• Lamp for the Path to Enlightenmentc. 1042 · Atisha