Bodhicharyavatara (Skt. Bodhicaryāvatāra) or Bodhisattvacharyavatara (Skt. Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra; Tib. བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྤྱོད་པ་ལ་འཇུག་པ་, Wyl. byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa) or Introduction to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life - Shantideva's classic guide to the Mahayana path. Khenpo Namdrol said: Concerning the study of the Bodhicharyavatara, my teacher Khenpo Tsöndrü told me that though the meaning of the text is not difficult to understand, applying the teachings to one’s mind is far more difficult. The purpose of the Dharma is to transform the mind, to free us from our attachment to worldly concerns. Among all treatises and texts, Shantideva’s Bodhicharyavatara and Paltrul Rinpoche’s Words of My Perfect Teacher are the most powerful texts that serve this purpose. (Read more...)