Shantideva's Guide to Awakening: A Commentary on the Bodhicharyavatara

by Yeshe Tobden, Fiorella Rizzi (Editor), Manu Bazzano (Translator), Sarita Doveton (Translator), Dalai Lama (Foreword by)

Overview

The most comprehensive modern commentary on Shantideva’s master work.

One of the great classics of Buddhist literature, the Bodhicharyavatara, or Way of the Bodhisattva, is required reading for understanding Tibetan Buddhism. Presented in the form of a personal meditation in verse, Shantideva, the seventh-century Buddhist master, outlines the path of the bodhisattvas—those who renounce the peace of their own liberation, vowing instead to attain enlightenment for the sake of all others. The Dalai Lama once remarked that his own understanding of the bodhisattva path is based entirely upon this text.

Expounded by an accomplished scholar and deeply realized meditator, Shantideva's Guide to Awakening is a resource for a lifetime of study. Chapter by chapter and verse by verse, Geshe Yeshe Tobden maps the Bodhicharyavatara in clear and insightful language, helping us to deepen our understanding of its teachings and apply them to our lives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781614294306
Publisher:	Wisdom Publications MA
Publication date:	07/18/2017
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	328,816
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Geshe Yeshe Tobden was born in 1926 to a family of wealthy farmers in Ngadra, a village one day's walk south of Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and became a monk at age twelve. After the Chinese invasion of his homeland in 1959, he was arrested, but escaped, and spent two years crossing the Tibetan Plateau on foot until reaching the border with India. He completed his geshe studies in India, and spent several years teaching at the university in Varanasi. When he was forty-four, he told the Dalai Lama of his desire to live out his days in meditation retreat, for, from his boyhood, he had deeply desired the realization of reununciation, bodhichitta, and emptiness. Released from his duties at the university, he made his main residence a one-room hut above McLeod Ganj, the town in India where the Dalai Lama lives. There he lived for the remainder of his life, apart from a few teaching tours abroad, notably to fledgling Buddhist centers in Italy where these teachings were delivered. Geshe Yeshe Tobden passed away in McLeod Ganj in 1999.

Fiorella Rizzi has been a student of Buddhism since 1980, when she met the late Geshe Yeshe Tobden. Since 1997, she has been translating and editing texts on Buddhist philosophy and practice and is the founder of the nonprofit cultural association La Ruota del Dharma. She lives in Pomaia, Italy.

Table of Contents

Foreword His Holiness the Dalai Lama ix

Editor's Preface xi

Annotated Table of Contents xix

Introduction 1

1 The Benefits of the Awakening Mind 17

2 The Disclosure of Evil 35

3 Full Acceptance of the Awakening Mind 63

4 Conscientiousness 77

5 Discriminating Alertness 95

6 Patience 135

7 Enthusiastic Effort 177

8 Concentration 201

9 Wisdom 239

10 Dedication 353

Geshe Yeshe Tobden's Dedication 365

Appendix: Key Points of the Ninth Chapter 367

Glossary 383

Editorial Reviews

Geshe Yeshe Tobden has that rare distinction not only of being qualified as a scholar but also of having spent many years in meditation in the mountains. As a result, his explanation has the special flavor of heartfelt personal experience.

Dalai Lama

Geshe Yeshe Tobden has not only mastered the subjects of philosophy, logic, wisdom, metaphysics, and discipline, his presentation shows that he also has experiential understanding. His combination of knowledge and experience is greatly needed today.

Gelek Rimpoche

"...this outstanding volume provides a Mahayana road map for self-cultivation, adhering closely to Shantideva’s chapters yet drawing deeply from Geshe Tobden’s own profound training and experiences."

Buddhadharma