{"id":5194,"date":"2015-11-11T08:16:17","date_gmt":"2015-11-11T08:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/?p=5194"},"modified":"2015-11-11T08:16:17","modified_gmt":"2015-11-11T08:16:17","slug":"shantideva-buddhism-and-the-delight-of-solitude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2015\/11\/shantideva-buddhism-and-the-delight-of-solitude.html","title":{"rendered":"Shantideva: Buddhism and the delight of solitude"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I\u2019ve just completed teaching the\u00a0Bodhicary\u0101vat\u0101ra<\/em> (Guide to the Bodhisattva\u2019s Way of Life<\/em>) for the third time in my academic life, which probably makes this the 6th or 7th time I\u2019ve been through the text. Some of it is finally, maybe, starting to sink in.<\/p>\n

Vesna and Alan Wallace, whose translation I borrow from below<\/a>, tell us that it, \u201chas been the most widely read, cited, and practiced text in the whole of the Indo-Tibetan Buddhist<\/a> tradition\u201d and that it is widely cited in the works of the current Dalai Lama. My friend Amod Lele, whose PhD thesis focused on the text, writes in a recent scholarly article<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The Bodhicary\u0101vat\u0101ra is a poetic, beautiful and mostly accessible text. For\u00a0that reason it, or selections from it, often serve as an introduction to Mah\u0101y\u0101na and to Buddhist ethics. It is widely taught in first-year Buddhism<\/a> courses and excerpted in anthologies, some not even specifically about Buddhism\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is indeed poetic and highly evocative. I remind my students of Thich Nhat Hanh\u2019s commentary to the Heart Sutra<\/a>, which we cover earlier in the year along with the core text, letting them know that Shantideva\u2019s work brings this together with the terse and rich philosophy of Nagarjuna. As we discover in the text though, Shantideva is also an inheritor and commenter on Yogacara thought and is keenly aware of the teachings traced to the historical Buddha.<\/p>\n

In turn, his work is emblematic of \u2013 so I tell my students \u2013 half<\/em> of Tibetan Buddhism<\/a>. That is to say, his work represents a deeply powerful\u00a0scholarly<\/em> and monastic ideal that would make its way into Tibet. The other half of Tibetan Buddhism \u2013 the other wing<\/em>, so to speak \u2013 is Tantra (which we study this week). All of this simplifies things enormously, of course, but given the constraints of one semester to\u00a0introduce<\/em> students to the entirety of Buddhism, many shortcuts need to be found and \u2013 most unfortunately \u2013 corners cut. However, if you wish to dig deeper, I\u2019d recommend Geoffrey Samuel\u2019s monumental\u00a0Civilized Shamans: Buddhism in Tibetan Societies<\/a>.*<\/em><\/p>\n

Returning now to Shantideva and solitude; a few of the verses I found most meaningful in this latest reading were those on the pleasure \u2013 or, rather, contentment<\/em> \u2013 found in dwelling in seclusion in the forest. These all come from chapter 8, the perfection of meditation:<\/p>\n

\"buddha<\/a>
A Buddha in earth-touching mudra. Sukhothai, Thailand 2012, photo by the author.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

Verses 26-29<\/p>\n

Trees do not revile nor can they be pleased with effort.
\nWhen might I dwell with those whose company is a
\ndelight?<\/p>\n

After dwelling in an empty temple, at the foot of a tree, or in
\ncaves, when shall I set forth, unconcerned and not looking
\nback?<\/p>\n

When shall I dwell in unclaimed and naturally spacious
\nregions, wandering as I please and without a residence?<\/p>\n

When shall I dwell fearlessly, without protecting my body,
\nhaving a clay bowl as my only property and a garment
\nuseless to a thief?<\/p>\n

Verses 85-88<\/p>\n

Fearing sensual desires in this way, one should generate
\ndelight in solitude and in deserted woodlands
\ndevoid of strife and annoyances.<\/p>\n

The fortunate ones, caressed by silent and gentle forest
\nbreezes, pace on pleasant boulders, spacious like palaces,
\ncooled by sandalwood-like moon rays, and ponder how to
\nbenefit others.<\/p>\n

Dwelling here and there for as long as one likes, freed
\nfrom the exhaustion of guarding one\u2019s
\npossessions and free of care, one lives as one
\npleases in an empty dwelling, at the foot of a tree, or in a
\ncave.<\/p>\n

Living as one wishes, homeless, and not tied down by
\nanyone, one savors the joy of contentment, which is difficult
\neven for a king to find.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1240<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I don\u2019t think I should give much commentary on these, and instead urge the reader to contemplate them, perhaps reading them a few times in the space of a day or two. If you have the book, I\u2019d encourage thinking about how these verses fit in to the text as a whole. If you\u2019ve studied the history of Buddhism, I\u2019d encourage thought about how these fit into the tradition as it was shaped leading up to Shantideva.<\/p>\n

As a Montanan and avid hiker, one part that\u00a0especially resonates with me\u00a0was the notion of:\u00a0\u201cunclaimed and naturally spacious\u00a0regions, wandering as I please and without a residence\u201d (isn\u2019t that part of the Wilderness Act<\/a>?).<\/p>\n

* On Civilized Shamans<\/em>:\u00a0I first encountered this\u00a0text in 2004 and used it again in 2007 when I taught a University course in Tibetan Buddhism and even today I think it should rank in the top 10, if not 5 or 3, of textbooks covering the breadth and depth of Tibetan Buddhism.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve just completed teaching the\u00a0Bodhicary\u0101vat\u0101ra (Guide to the Bodhisattva\u2019s Way of Life) for the third time in my academic life, which probably makes this the 6th or 7th time I\u2019ve been through the text. Some of it is finally, maybe, starting to sink in. Vesna and Alan Wallace, whose translation I borrow from below, tell […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":5202,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,5,142,25],"tags":[516,200,525],"class_list":["post-5194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buddhism","category-buddhist-ethics","category-environment","category-tibetan-buddhism","tag-buddhist-ethics","tag-shantideva","tag-tibetan-buddhism"],"yoast_head":"\nShantideva: Buddhism and the delight of solitude<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I've just completed teaching the\u00a0Bodhicary\u0101vat\u0101ra (Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life) for the third time in my academic life, which probably makes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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