The classic treatise, the Bodhicaryavatara by Shantideva was written 700 A.D. in Sanskrit, nowadays often translated as “A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life”. It is the most widely read, practiced, and cited text in the whole Tibetan Buddhist tradition. H.H. the Dalai Lama says that this text is the primary source of most of the Tibetan Buddhist literature on the cultivation of altruism and that it teaches the complete Mahayana path to enlightenment.
Shantideva, a Buddhist monk at Nalanda Monastic University in India, where he also composed this text, is one of the most renowned and esteemed figures in the entire history of Mahayana Buddhism.
The Bodhicaryavatara has ten chapters dedicated to the development of bodhicitta (the mind of enlightenment) through the practice of the six perfections (Skt. Pāramitās).
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Monday Course – Bodhicaryavatara
