Thongdrol

The teaching is on Shantideva’s ‘A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life’ (Tibetan: Choejug) by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

The Bodhicharyavatara (The Guide) of the eighth-century Indian master Shantideva is one of the great works of Buddhist literature. It has been translated into Western languages at least a dozen times in this century and is already well-known to many students of Buddhism in its venerable translation by Stephen Batchelor, published by the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives as A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life. Though Batchelor’s work will not soon be eclipsed as one of the best translations of Tibetan material available, these two new translations are significant contributions, both stylistically and methodologically.

Shantideva’s masterpiece shows the way to transcend the limitations of selfishness and realize the boundless compassion of the Bodhisattva, whose only concern is the benefit of others. As the Padmakara translation notes, one of the greatest exemplars of the Bodhisattva’s way is His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who credits The Guide as his chief inspiration.

The teaching is on Shantideva’s ‘A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life’ (Tibetan: Choejug) by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

The Bodhicharyavatara (The Guide) of the eighth-century Indian master Shantideva is one of the great works of Buddhist literature. It has been translated into Western languages at least a dozen times in this century and is already well-known to many students of Buddhism in its venerable translation by Stephen Batchelor, published by the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives as A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life. Though Batchelor’s work will not soon be eclipsed as one of the best translations of Tibetan material available, these two new translations are significant contributions, both stylistically and methodologically.

Shantideva’s masterpiece shows the way to transcend the limitations of selfishness and realize the boundless compassion of the Bodhisattva, whose only concern is the benefit of others. As the Padmakara translation notes, one of the greatest exemplars of the Bodhisattva’s way is His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who credits The Guide as his chief inspiration.

The teaching is on Shantideva’s ‘A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life’ (Tibetan: Choejug) by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

The Bodhicharyavatara (The Guide) of the eighth-century Indian master Shantideva is one of the great works of Buddhist literature. It has been translated into Western languages at least a dozen times in this century and is already well-known to many students of Buddhism in its venerable translation by Stephen Batchelor, published by the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives as A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life. Though Batchelor’s work will not soon be eclipsed as one of the best translations of Tibetan material available, these two new translations are significant contributions, both stylistically and methodologically.

Shantideva’s masterpiece shows the way to transcend the limitations of selfishness and realize the boundless compassion of the Bodhisattva, whose only concern is the benefit of others. As the Padmakara translation notes, one of the greatest exemplars of the Bodhisattva’s way is His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who credits The Guide as his chief inspiration.

The teaching is on Shantideva’s ‘A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life’ (Tibetan: Choejug) by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

The Bodhicharyavatara (The Guide) of the eighth-century Indian master Shantideva is one of the great works of Buddhist literature. It has been translated into Western languages at least a dozen times in this century and is already well-known to many students of Buddhism in its venerable translation by Stephen Batchelor, published by the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives as A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life. Though Batchelor’s work will not soon be eclipsed as one of the best translations of Tibetan material available, these two new translations are significant contributions, both stylistically and methodologically.

Shantideva’s masterpiece shows the way to transcend the limitations of selfishness and realize the boundless compassion of the Bodhisattva, whose only concern is the benefit of others. As the Padmakara translation notes, one of the greatest exemplars of the Bodhisattva’s way is His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who credits The Guide as his chief inspiration.

The teaching is on Shantideva’s ‘A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life’ (Tibetan: Choejug) by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

The Bodhicharyavatara (The Guide) of the eighth-century Indian master Shantideva is one of the great works of Buddhist literature. It has been translated into Western languages at least a dozen times in this century and is already well-known to many students of Buddhism in its venerable translation by Stephen Batchelor, published by the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives as A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life. Though Batchelor’s work will not soon be eclipsed as one of the best translations of Tibetan material available, these two new translations are significant contributions, both stylistically and methodologically.

Shantideva’s masterpiece shows the way to transcend the limitations of selfishness and realize the boundless compassion of the Bodhisattva, whose only concern is the benefit of others. As the Padmakara translation notes, one of the greatest exemplars of the Bodhisattva’s way is His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who credits The Guide as his chief inspiration.

Choejug སྤྱོད་འཇུག་ཆེན་མོ། Ep 1 by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

The teaching is on Shantideva’s ‘A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life’ (Tibetan: Choejug) by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

The Bodhicharyavatara (The Guide) of the eighth-century Indian master Shantideva is one of the great works of Buddhist literature. It has been translated into Western languages at least a dozen times in this century and is already well-known to many students of Buddhism in its venerable translation by Stephen Batchelor, published by the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives as A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life. Though Batchelor’s work will not soon be eclipsed as one of the best translations of Tibetan material available, these two new translations are significant contributions, both stylistically and methodologically.

Shantideva’s masterpiece shows the way to transcend the limitations of selfishness and realize the boundless compassion of the Bodhisattva, whose only concern is the benefit of others. As the Padmakara translation notes, one of the greatest exemplars of the Bodhisattva’s way is His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who credits The Guide as his chief inspiration.

The Heart Sutra(བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་མ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པའི་སྙིང་པོ) is the most widely known sutra of the Mahayana tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. It is part of the Prajnaparamita Sutras, which is a collection of about 40 sutras composed between 100 BCE and 500 CE. The Heart Sutra is a presentation of profound wisdom on the nature of emptiness. 

The Sutra famously states, "Form is emptiness (śūnyatā), emptiness is form." It is a condensed exposé on the Buddhist Mahayana teaching of the Two Truths doctrine, which says that ultimately all phenomena are sunyata, empty of an unchanging essence. This emptiness is a 'characteristic' of all phenomena, and not a transcendent reality, but also "empty" of essence of its own. Specifically, it is a response to Sarvastivada's teachings that "phenomena" or its constituents are real. It has been called "the most frequently used and recited text in the entire Mahayana Buddhist tradition." The text has been translated into English dozens of times from Chinese, Sanskrit, and Tibetan as well as other source languages. 

Khenpo Karma Tseten is a scholar and a dharma teacher based in Rumtek Shedra, Sikkim