Shantideva
From Free net encyclopedia
Shantideva (sometimes Santideva) was an 8th-century Indian Buddhist scholar at Nalanda University and an adherent of the Madhyamika philosophy.
The Avaivartika Order of Chinese Madhyamika lineage maintains that there were two individuals from the same family who were given the name "Shantideva", the founder of the Avaivartika Sangha in the 6th century and a later Shantideva who studied at Nalanda in the 8th century. Citations of archaeological discoveries supporting this thesis may be accessed through Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh, a respected online resource maintained by the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, or through the Shantideva Society, which was founded by the Chan Ssu Lun regent of Avaivartika Order.
Shantideva is particularly renowned as the author of the Bodhicaryavatara (sometimes also called the Bodhisattvacaryavatara). An English translation of the Sanskrit version of the Bodhicaryavatara is available online, as well as in print in a variety of translations, sometimes glossed as A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way Of Life or Entering the Path of Enlightenment. It is a long poem describing the process of enlightenment from the first thought to full buddhahood and is still studied by Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhists today. A commentary by Pema Chodron was published in 2005 as "No Time To Lose". An introduction and commentary to the Bodhicaryavatara by The Dalai Lama called "A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of Night" was printed in 1994.
External links
- Shantideva Society (Avaivartika Order of Chinese Madhyamika)
- Commentary to Bodhicaryavatara by Petrul Rinpoche (in English )
- Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life (Tharpa Publications)
- Meaningful to Behold (Tharpa Publications: commentary to GBWL)
- Śāntideva: texts and materials
- Bodhicaryāvatāra of Śāntideva: Sanskrit text
- Śikṣāsamuccaya of Śāntideva: Sanskrit text