The Way of the Bodhisattva
Indian Mahāyāna · Śāntideva
Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra, in Alexander Berzin’s translation, is published as Engaging in Bodhisattva Behavior.
Contents
Translations & sourcesEditions & translators
Read all ten chapters in Alexander Berzin’s translation, with a note on the translation. The source uses the title “Engaging in Bodhisattva Behavior.”
Edition & attribution
This is a brief introduction to the text, not a translation.
Introductions, reflection questions and added section headings are editorial material, separate from the attributed translation.
The opening image is AI-generated nature artwork created for Buddhist Atlas. It is an evocative companion, not a depiction of the text’s historical setting.
The linked publisher provides the text and its usage terms.
Connections
Guru Viking4
- Ep326: Enlightened Politics - Leigh Brasington
Reference checked in captions.
Source
- Ep232: Dzogchen Devotion - Joe Evans 2
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Source
- Ep224: American Dzogchenpa - Joe Evans
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Source
- Ep218: 21st Century Enlightenment - Leigh Brasington 3
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Source
People & teachers6
- Śāntideva
Author of the Bodhicaryāvatāra.
Source
- Donald Rothberg
Teaches on this text:
- James Baraz
Teaches on this text:
- Bodhisattva's Way Of Life #7: Enthusiasm, Zeal Or Heroic PerseveranceNames this text
- Bodhisattva's Way Of Life #6: Working With AngerNames this text
3 more connected teachings
- Jack Kornfield
Teaches on this text:
- Happiness And The Way Of The BodhisattvaNames this text
- The Way of the BodhisattvaNames this text
1 more connected teachings
- Way of the BodhisattvaNames this text
- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama
Teaches on this text:
- Shinzan Palma
Teaches on this text:
- The Great Way of the BodhisattvaNames this text
Traditions & history16
- Mahāyāna movements
The bodhisattva path that this work develops.
Source
- Early transmission to Tibet
Reception context: the text’s continuing place in Tibetan study.
Source
- Tibetan traditions
Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to Tibetan traditions.
- Nyingma
Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to Nyingma.
- Kagyu
Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to Kagyu.
- Karma Kagyu
Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to Karma Kagyu.
- Drukpa Kagyu
Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to Drukpa Kagyu.
- Drikung Kagyu
Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to Drikung Kagyu.
- Shangpa Kagyu
Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to Shangpa Kagyu.
- Sakya
Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to Sakya.
- Gelug
Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to Gelug.
- Jonang
Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to Jonang.
- Kadam
Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to Kadam.
- Rimé
Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to Rimé.
- Triratna
Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to Triratna.
- Nālandā tradition
Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to Nālandā tradition.
Books2
- How Compassion Works: A Step-by-Step Guide to Cultivating Well-Being, Love, and Wisdom
A modern practice companion on cultivating compassion and wisdom.
Source
- Becoming Bodhisattvas
Pema Chödrön’s verse-by-verse commentary on Śāntideva’s Way of the Bodhisattva; previously No Time to Lose.
Source
Topics3
- Love, compassion & relationships
Explore Love, compassion & relationships across the Atlas.
- Emptiness & not-self
Explore Emptiness & not-self across the Atlas.
- Aversion & resistance
Explore Aversion & resistance across the Atlas.
Make yourself comfortable
About this textContext & reading guide
Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra is a treatise in verse on entering and sustaining the bodhisattva’s way of life.
It explores the aspiration to awakening, ethical care, patience, energy, meditative cultivation and wisdom.
Compassion is trained through examining habitual self-concern and the significance of others’ suffering. Its philosophical discussion connects that training with emptiness.
This is an Indian author’s teaching work, especially influential in Tibet, rather than a sūtra presented as spoken by the Buddha.