“Guard beings as you would your very body; Support others with all possible factors; Support [living beings] with your whole nature Attend to them with everything you have. Protect them as you would your own body. and protect them like your own body.” — Nāgārjuna, A Commentary to the Awakening Mind, Thubten Jinpa, trans.

Definitions

Bodhisattva
བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ་
byang chub sems dpa’
A hero with respect to contemplating enlightenment; one intent on full enlightenment (Hopkins)

Bodhicitta
བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས་
byang chub kyi sems
Aspiration for awakening; aspiration to enlightenment; awakening mind; bodhicitta; mind of awakening; mind of enlightenment; mind set on awakening; semen; spirit of enlightenment; thought of awakening (84000 Glossary)

Texts, Aspirational Prayers, Dedications

Contemporary Scholarship

Gold, Jonathan C., and Douglas S. Duckworth. 2019. Readings of Santideva’s Guide to Bodhisattva Practice. Columbia University Press. JABL

Lele, Amod. 2015. “The metaphysical basis of Santideva’s ethics.” Journal of Buddhist Ethics,  22 (2015): 249+.  Gale Academic OneFile.

Tibetan Sources

Thirty Seven-fold Practice of a Bodhisattva
Gyelse Tokme Zangpo (1295 – 1369)
rgyal sras lag len so bdun ma
རྒྱལ་སྲས་ལག་ལེན་སོ་བདུན་མ།
Tibetan

  • Rgyal-sras Thogs-med-dpal Bzang-po-dpal (Gyalse Tokme Zangpo) and Adam Pearcy, trans. 2006. The Thirty-Seven Practices of All the Bodhisattvas. Lotsawa House. (lotsawahouse.org)
  • Rgyal-sras Thogs-med-dpal Bzang-po-dpal (Gyelsay Togmay Zangpo), Ruth Sonam, trans, and Thubten Chodron, commentary. 2009. The Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas. Published for Free Distribution. (thubtenchodron.org)

The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment
Tsongkhapa Lobzang Drakpa (1357-1419)
lam rim chen mo
ལམ་རིམ་ཆེན་མོ་ 

  • Tsong-kha-pa Blo-bzang-grags-pa and Lamrim Translation Committee. 2002. The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment. Vol.2.  Snow Lion Publications. JABL (archive.org)
  • Lamrim Subject Guide

Lojong Literature

  • Thupten Jinpa. 2006. Mind Training: The Great Collection. Wisdom Publications w/ Institute of Tibetan Classics. JABL
  • Lojong Subject Guide

Indian Sources

Indian Sources includes:

Aśvaghoṣa/Mātṛceṭa  |  Nāgārjuna  |  Āryadeva  |  Āryaśūra  |  Candrakīrti  |  Candragomin  |  Maitreyanātha  |  Asaṅga  |  Śāntideva  |  Kamalaśīla  |  Atīśa

 

Sutra/Canonical Sources

Daśabhūmika Sūtra
The Ten Bhūmis
ས་བཅུ་པའི་མདོ་
sa bcu pa’i mdo

Roberts, Peter Alan. 2023. The Ten Bhūmis Chapter from the Mahāvaipulya Sūtra “A Multitude of Buddhas.” 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. read.84000.co 

Āvataṃsaka Sūtra
A Multitude of Buddhas
སངས་རྒྱས་ཕལ་པོ་ཆེ།།
sangs rgyas phal po che
Tibetan

Cleary, Thomas. 1993. The Flower Ornament Scripture. Shambhala. JABL (internetarchive.org

Ratnamegha Sūtra
The Jewel Cloud
དཀོན་མཆོག་སྤྲིན་གྱི་མདོ་
dkon mchog sprin gyi mdo
Tibetan

Dharmachakra Translation Committee. 2023. The Jewel Cloud. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. read.84000.co 

Suvarṇaprabhāsa Sūtra
Golden Light Sutra
གསེར་འོད་དམ་པའི་མདོ
gser ‘od dam pa’i mdo

Emmerick, Ronald Eric. 1996. The Sūtra of Golden Light. Pali Text Society. JABL (fpmt.org )

Ārya Sanghāta Sūtra
འཕགས་པ་ཟུང་གི་མདོའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་གྲངས།
‘phags pa zung mdo’i chos kyi rnam grangs
Tibetan

Finnegan, Damchö Diana. 2006. The Ārya Sanghātasūtra Dharmaparyāya. sanghatasutra.net 

Media

Tenzin Gyatso, Dalai Lama XIV

Bodhichitta, October 4, 2009, New York. (YouTube)

Middling Stages of Meditation by Kamalasila, Hotel Ashoka, New Delhi, March 22-24, 2008 (YouTube)

Shantideva’s Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life and Kamalashila’s Middling Stages of Meditation in Madison, Wisconsin July 20-23, 2008.

Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, Lehigh University, July 10-15, 2008.

  • Day 3 pm Bodhicitta and Six Perfections (YouTube)
  • Day 4 am (YouTube)