Śāntideva

Śāntideva was an Indian Buddhist monk, poet and philosopher of the Madhyamaka school, active in the early eighth century and associated with the monastic university of Nālandā. His Way of the Bodhisattva (Bodhicaryāvatāra) is a poem in ten chapters tracing the path of someone who resolves to become a buddha for the sake of all beings. It moves from the arousing of the awakening mind (bodhicitta) through generosity, patience, effort and meditation to the wisdom that sees all things as empty of fixed nature. Its chapters on anger and on exchanging oneself for others are among the most widely read passages in Tibetan Buddhism, where the poem remains a standard teaching text. His other surviving work, the Training Anthology (Śikṣāsamuccaya), gathers passages from Mahāyāna sūtras on the bodhisattva's discipline.

Key ideas

• Suffering is bad whoever has it, and there is no real owner of experiences, so there is no good reason to remove only one's own pain.
• Anger destroys merit and peace of mind; an enemy who harms us offers a rare chance to practise patience.
• By exchanging self and other, one trains to treat others' happiness and suffering as one's own.
• All things, the self included, are empty of intrinsic nature, as Madhyamaka teaches.

Major works

• The Way of the Bodhisattva (Bodhicaryāvatāra, early 8th century)
• Training Anthology (Śikṣāsamuccaya, early 8th century)

In the Book corner

• The Way of the Bodhisattva c. 8th century CE · Intermediate
  A verse guide to the bodhisattva path by Śāntideva, traditionally a monk at the monastic university of Nālandā. Its ten chapters move…

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