Toh 44-26Chapter 26: The Teaching on the Bodhisattva's Practice
Pāli / Sanskrit:byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa bstan pa'i le'u/
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Commentary on the Sutra of Bodhisattva Practice — Chapter 26
Background
This Chapter 26 belongs to a great sutra in the Northern Canon, where the Buddha teaches the path of practice of the bodhisattvas. In the Northern Tibetan Mahayana tradition, bodhisattvas are those who willingly defer individual nirvana in order to teach sentient beings, bearing the aspiration to liberate immeasurable beings. This chapter especially emphasizes the concrete methods of practice for those following the bodhisattva path, not merely the six perfections or an individual Dharma gateway, but the whole practical discipline of the bodhisattva path (bodhisattvacarya).
In the context of the Kangyur — the Tibetan Buddhist canon compiled and translated from Sanskrit around the eighth to ninth centuries — this chapter represents the transmission of the Buddhadharma from the East into Tibet. Tibetan schools such as Gelug, Kagyu, Sakya, and Nyingma all regard this bodhisattva practice as a foundation of the path of cultivation.
Main Content
This chapter on the Dharma of bodhisattva practice presents a comprehensive way of practicing in the Mahayana spirit. Its focus is bodhicitta — this supreme aspiration is regarded as the basis of all practice. The bodhisattva gives rise to the aspiration with a pure and excellent heart: “I shall become a buddha in order to liberate all sentient beings from suffering.”
The sutra teaches that bodhisattva practice includes the six paramitas: generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, meditation, and wisdom. Each perfection is not separate, but mutually related and interconnected. The bodhisattva cultivates these virtues not only for himself or herself, but for all sentient beings. Generosity is not bound up with the thought, “I give; this is merit,” but is giving without mental fixation, without attachment to the threefold conceptualization of giver, gift, and recipient.
What is especially notable is that the sutra emphasizes skillful means (upaya — called thabs in Tibetan). The bodhisattva does not mechanically apply a single method of practice, but adapts to the circumstances and capacities of each sentient being.
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