new Shantideva text

[Bodhicitta]

Not since Bendall's translation in 1922 of the Śikṣā-samuccaya has anyone bothered to render a new translation.  Charles Goodman has done that now.  He titles it The Training Anthology of Santideva, Oxford U. Press.

 

It has around 350 pages of sutra passages compiled to emphasize the practices and motives of the bodhisattva.  Shantideva gives a little commentary and connective tissue.

 

The Dalai Lama suggests studying this work along with the better known Guide to the Bodhisattva Path also by Shantideva.

 

Here is a little snip from the Vajra Flag Sutra on vows:

 

May all sentient beings move from their homes into pure and splendid Buddha fields, well endowed with good dwellings, the mansions where Noble Ones dwell, the unsurpassed, imperishable abodes of Buddhas. May all sentient beings live relying on the Buddhas. May all sentient beings have limitless visions of all the qualities of the Buddhas. May all sentient beings illuminate the whole universe with unobstructed splendor. May all sentient beings have healthy bodies, attaining the bodies of the Tathāgatas. May all sentient beings be completely free from disturbances, like Bhaiṣajyarāja. May all sentient beings be like efficacious medicine trees, having taken on the task of healing all living things. May all sentient beings destroy all sickness and pain, attaining the health of complete knowing. May all sentient beings become skilled in medicine, able to bring about through practical application of medicine whatever cures they intend to achieve.

 

Edited September 25, 2016 by Bodhicitta

[Bodhicitta]

Precious Lamp Dhāraṇī (Ratna-ulka-dhāraṇī) says:

 

Because of having faith in the Victorious Ones and their teachings,

And by having faith in the practice of the Buddha’s heirs,

Because of having faith in the highest Awakening,

The mind of a great person is born.

Faith, coming first, is the mother,

Giving birth to all abilities, protecting them and helping them to grow.

It drives away doubts and carries you over the flood;

Faith shows you the city of peace.

Faith makes the mind pure and clear;

Free from conceit, it is the root of respect.

Faith is a storehouse of wealth; it is your best foot.

Like a hand, it is the source of all good karma.

Faith leads to joy in giving

And brings delight in the teachings of the Victorious Ones.

Faith makes you distinguished in abilities and pristine awareness,

Shows you the state of a Buddha and helps you attain it.

It clarifies your faculties and makes them sharper.

The power of faith cannot be overcome.

It is the basis of eliminating the reactive emotions.

 

 

 

Excerpt From: Charles Goodman. The Training Anthology of Santideva.

[Bodhicitta]

[114] Then the bodhisattva Maitreya said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, those unwise bodhisattvas who will leave behind the highest teachings and take up lowly tasks will certainly be totally lacking in wisdom.” The Blessed One replied to the bodhisattva great being Maitreya as follows: “Thus it is, Maitreya; it is just as you say. Those bodhisattvas who will leave behind the highest teachings and take up lowly tasks will be totally lacking in wisdom. But also, I declare to you, and you should fully understand, that those bodhisattvas who have no spiritual practice, no meditative stability, no renunciation, no daily recitation, and no effort to acquire great learning, are not genuinely ordained in the religion of the Tathāgata. Maitreya, the religion of the Tathāgata is defined by meditation and renunciation, conditioned by pristine awareness, and defined by working hard at meditation practice and becoming absorbed in pristine awareness. It is not defined by work or by the actions of lay people. These are the actions of those who try hard to do things that don’t make sense, and who delight in cyclic existence—namely, work, and getting tangled up in worldly activities. A bodhisattva should not aspire to be like them.