The Way of the Bodhisattva
Selected quotes from The Way of the Bodhisattva (Bodhicharyavatara), composed by Shantideva, a Nalanda University monk and scholar, 8th century. Translated in verse from the Tibetan by the Padmakara Translation Group (Wulstan Fletcher), 1997. 1.18  May I be a guard for those who are protectorless,          A guide for those who journey on the road.          For those who wish to go across the water,          May I be a boat, a raft, a bridge. 1.19  May I be an isle for those who yearn for landfall,          And a lamp for those who long for light.          For those who need a resting place, a bed;          For all who need a servant, may I be their slave. 1.20  May I be the wishing jewel, the vase of plenty,          A word of power and the supreme healing;          May I be the tree of miracles,          And for every being the abundant cow. 1.21  Like the earth and the pervading elements,          Enduring as the sky itself endures,          For boundless multitudes of living beings,          May I be their ground and sustenance. 1.22  Thus for every thing that lives,          As far as are the limits of the sky,          May I provide their livelihood and nourishment          Until they pass beyond the bonds of suffering. 1.26  Today my life has given fruit.          This human state has now been well assumed.          Today I take my birth in Buddha's line,          And have become the Buddha's child and heir. 1.27  In every way, then, I will undertake          Activities befitting such a rank.          And I will do no act to mar          Or compromise this high and faultless lineage. 5.13  To cover all the earth with sheets of hide --          Where could such amounts of skin be found?          But simply wrap some leather round your feet,          And it's as if the whole earth had been covered! 5.14  Likewise we can never take          And turn aside the outer course of things.          But only seize and discipline the mind itself,             And what is there remaining to be curbed? 5.16  Recitations and austerities,          Long though they may prove to be,          If practiced with a distracted mind,          Are futile, so the Knower of the Truth has said. 5.18  And therefore I will seize          This mind of mine and guard it well.          What use to me so many harsh austerities?           But let me only discipline and guard my mind! 5.19  When in wild, unruly crowds          We move with care to shield our broken limbs,          Likewise when we live in evil company,         Our wounded minds we should not fail to guard. 5.48  When the urge arises in the mind          To feelings of desire or wrathful hate,          Do not act! Be silent, do not speak!          And like a log of wood be sure to stay. 5.71  Thus with free, untrammeled mind,          Put on an ever-smiling countenance.          Rid yourself of scowling, wrathful frowns          And be a true and honest friend to all. 5.72  Do not, acting inconsiderately,          Move furniture and chairs so noisily around.          Likewise do not open doors with violence.          Take pleasure in the practice of humility. 5.73  Herons, cats and burglars          Go silently and carefully;          This is how they gain what they intend.          And one who practices this path behaves likewise. 5.84  Therefore understand this well          And always labor for the benefit of beings.          The far-seeing masters of compassion          Permit, to this end, that which is proscribed. 7.1   Thus with patience I will bravely persevere.         Through zeal it is that I shall reach enlightenment.         If no wind blows, then nothing stirs,         And neither is there merit without perseverance. 7.2   Heroic perseverance means delight in virtue.         Its contrary may be defined as laziness:         An inclination for unwholesome ways,         Despondency, and self-contempt. 7.3   Complacent pleasure in the joys of idleness,         A craving for repose and sleep,         No qualms about the sorrows of samsara.         These are the source and nurse of laziness. 7.66  The elephant, tormented by the noonday sun,          Will dive into the waters of a lake,          And likewise I must plunge into this work          That I might bring it to completion.  8.7   If I long and crave for other beings         A veil is cast upon the perfect truth.         Wholesome disillusion melts away,         And finally there comes the sting of pain. 8.8   My thoughts are all for them         And by degrees my life is frittered by. 8.15  Therefore flee the company of childish people.          Greet them when you meet, with smiles           That keep on terms of pleasant courtesy,          While not inviting close familiarity. 8.16  Like bees that gather honey from the flowers,          Take only what is consonant with dhamma.          Treat them like first-time acquaintances,          Without encouraging a close relationship. 8.19  All that may be wished for will by nature fade to nothing. 8.25  In woodlands, haunt of stag and bird,          Among the trees where no dissension jars,          It's there I would keep pleasant company!          When might I be off to make my dwelling there? 8.26  When shall I depart to make my home          In cave or empty shrine or under spreading tree,          With, in my breast, a free, unfettered heart,          Which never turns to cast a backward glance? 8.27  There, with no befriending or begrudging,          I will stay alone in solitude,          Considered from the outset as already dead,          Thus, when I die, a source of pain to none. 8.31  This body, now so whole and integral,          This flesh and bone that life has knit together,          Will drift apart, disintegrate.          And how much more will friend depart from friend? 8.32  Alone we're born, alone we come into the world,          And when we die, alone we pass away.          For no one shares our fate, and none our suffering.          So what are they to me, such "friends"; and all their hindrances? 8.33  Like those who journey on the road,         Who halt and make a pause along the way,         Beings on the pathways of the world,         All halt, and pause, and take their birth. 8.102 And if there is no subject suffering,           Mine and another's pain -- how are they different?           Simply, then, since pain is pain, I will dispel it.           What grounds have you for all your strong distinctions? 8.104 "The sorrow felt in pity aggravates," you say,           "The pain already felt, so why engender it"           But can the sting of pity be compared           With all that other beings have to suffer? 8.105  And if through such a single pain            A multitude of sorrows can be remedied,            Such pain as this a living being            Strives to foster in himself and others. 8.107  Those whose minds are practiced in this way,            Whose happiness it is to soothe the pains of others,            Will venture in the hell of unremitting agony,            As swans swoop down upon a lotus lake. 8.129  All the joy the world contains            Has come through wishing happiness for others.            All the misery the world contains            Has come through wanting pleasure for oneself. 8.135  If this "I" is not relinquished wholly,            Sorrow likewise cannot be avoided.            For if he does not keep away from fire            A man cannot escape from being burned. 8.136  To free myself from harm            And others from their sufferings,            Let me give myself away,            And cherish others as I love myself. 8.137  "For I am now beneath the rule of others,"            Of this you may be certain, O my mind.            And now no longer shall you have a thought            That does not wish the benefit of beings. 8.139  "Therefore even Buddhahood reverts to the samsaric state.            So why," you ask, "pursue the bodhisattva path?"            As long as there is no cutting of the causal stream            There is no routing of illusory appearance. 9.2    Relative and absolute         These the two truths are declared to be.         The absolute is not within the reach of intellect,         For intellect is grounded in the relative. 9.34  When real and nonreal both          Are absent from before the mind,          Nothing else remains for mind to do          But rest in perfect peace, from concepts free. 9.70  "If", you ask, "the self does not exist,          How can acts be linked with their results?          If when the deed is done, the doer is no more,         Who is there to reap the karmic fruit?" 10.55  And now so long as space endures           As long as there are beings to be found,           May I continue likewise to remain          To drive away the sorrows of the world. 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