The Excellence of Bodhicitta
HOMAGE TO ALL BUDDHAS AND BODHISATTVAS.
To those who go in bliss, and the dharmakaya they possess, and all their heirs,
To all those worthy of respect, I reverently bow.
According to the scriptures, I shall now briefly describe
The practice of the Bodhisattva discipline.Here I shall say nothing that has not been said before,
And in the art of prosody I have no skill.
I therefore have no thought that this might be of benefit to others;
I wrote it only to habituate my mind.My faith will thus be strengthened for a little while,
That I might grow accustomed to this virtuous way.
But others who now chance upon my words
May profit also, equal to myself in fortune.
The Bodhicharyavatara was written by Shantideva, a famous scholar and yogi of India in the 8th century. Shantideva was a prince who became a monk and studied in the legendary Nalanda university. He was always very devoted to Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom.
This is the story of Shantideva, and how the Bodhicharyavatara came to be, as told by Rinpoche.
In this video, Ringu Tulku Rinpoche introduces the Online Study Group and the object of the study, Shantideva’s Bodhicharyavatara—a core textbook in a traditional Shedra and one of the most important texts to study on the Buddhist path.