This work contains the first complete English translation of the Sanskrit Bodhicaryavatara of the Buddhist poet Santideva. In this beautiful and moving classic of Mahayana Buddhism, Santideva, a monk living in Nalanda in the early eighth century A.D., describes the Bodhisattva Vow, the promise of heroic beings to strive for nirvana, but to postpone full entrance into the Realm of the Absolute until every other sentient creature also attains the bliss of Enlightenment. The Mind of the Bodhisattva is the real theme of Santideva’s work, and to him, as to any Mahayana adherent, it is a truly tremendous theme. It is like taking the Mind of Christ, as defined by orthodox Christianiyt, and trying to find out all that is contained within it. perhaps, in some ways, it is an even greater theme…for to understand the Mind of the Enlightenment Being, as defined by the Mahayana, is to understand all the myriad works of illusion through which we are said to be swept of karma, and it is to understand exactly how to escape from those terrible worlds, and it is to find out precisely what lies beyond them, and, in the end, it is to be what lies beyond them, and, in the end, it is to be what lies beyond them. It is not only to understand all things. It is to become oneself the Mind of the Boddhisttva,.. such is the theme which Santideva examines.
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