Bodhi, Budhicitta and Bodhisattva

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

About the Book The book titled Bodhi, Bodhicitta and Bodhisattva contains the brief of meaning, definition, division, analogy, attributes and description of Bodhi, Bodhicitta and Bodhisattva. Among these three terms, Bodhi (Enlightenment) has been presented as the goal of a being, Bodhicitta (Mind of Enlightenment) as its cause and Bodhisattva (Enlightened Being) as the being who attains the goal. Several authentic sources were consulted to get information for the book.

About the Author Born in a middle class family in West Bengal, Professor (Dr.) Sanjib Kumar Das was educated at Chandpara Nimna Buniyadi Vidyalaya (Amtala) and then in Gobardanga Khantura High School. Meanwhile, due to some family problems, he fled away from his home and worked as a waiter in several hotels and sweet shops for about two years in Kolkata. Later, he went to Darjeeling and took shelter in a Buddhist Monastery where he also worked as a helper of mason for about a year. In 1996, he was admitted in its branch school where he studied upto standard VIII. Subsequently, he was sent to Varanasi in 1989 in order to get admission in the CIHTS, Sarnath for higher studies. Getting admission, he obtained M.A., pursuing upon Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan Language and other modern subjects.

In 1998, he was awarded with the Kashi Naresh Gold Medal for being the best student of 1998. After completing M.A... he started doing his Ph.D. which he completed in 2002. In 1999, he was invited to Taiwan where he stayed for about five months working as a translator. In 2002, he got a temporary job in the Translation Department in the CIHTS, Sarnath and simultaneously a permanent in CIBS, Leh where he worked for about six years. In 2008, he got a new job in Visva Bharati, Santiniketan where he is working now on the post of Professor in the Department of Indo-Tibetan Studies. In 2002, he was awarded with the Bharat Siksa Puraskar. Prof. Das translated, edited, restored, compiled and composed more than twenty-five books which have been published by different universities, institutions and publishers in India. Similarly, more than thirty research papers are published in different national and international journals as well as Bengali translations of more than hundred articles on Buddhist Studies are uploaded in a website (studybuddhism.com). He also completed three Translation Projects sponsored by FMT (USA) and 84000 (USA). Apart from translation, compilation, restoration and editing work, Dr. Das attended numbers of local, national and international seminars, and presented papers.

Introduction Not by nature, rather in general, man is considered the most sensible, rational, and intellectual being among all. Although he wishes to keep himself away from the domain of suffering and to experience joy and happiness instead, he ends up treading on it, destroying it as if it were his enemy, due to his ignorance, his disturbing emotion in parucular. Santideva says in Bodhicaryavatara:

Although having the mind that wishes to shun suffering.

They rush headlong into suffering itself. Although wishing for happiness, yet out of close- mindedness, They destroy their own happiness as if it were an enemy. (1.28)

Here, a question arises as to how close-mindedness can cause one to experience suffering and problems. Buddhism says that close-mindedness, also called ignorance or naivety, causes one to have strong self-cherishing attitude and the he ends up considering others less important than oneself. This sort of biased thought gives birth to attachment to oneself and hatred towards others, causing one to act in a destructive manner. This kind of attitude of far and near viil is rooted in oneself and produces six-fold subtle-increasers (anusaya). These subtle-increasers then push down the beings to a miserable samsara for experiencing sufferings. Bodhicaryavatara states: All whosoever who are happy in the world Are (so) through the wish for the happiness of others, While all whosoever who are miserable in the world Are (so) through the wish for the happiness of themselves. (8.129)

Now another question arises here, how can such problems be solved? i.e., how can the suffering and its causes be overcome, happiness and its causes be gained, and what is the nature of its goal? This small book titled "Bodhi, Bodhicitta, and Bodhisattva" puts forward the answers to these questions in brief. Among the main three words 'Bodhi, Bodhicitta, and Bodhisattva' that make up the title of this small book, "Bodhi" is the goal of a practitioner, development of "Bodhicitta" is the way to reach the goal, and "Bodhisattva" is the one who develops such Bodhicitta and achieves the goal.

As the author, a thing to be clarified here is that this book has not been written in order to demonstrate my knowledge or greatness. I was collecting some material from authentic sources two years back for an article to be published in a journal. After consultation with the proper sources, the article was published last year. When I looked at the collected material, inspiration struck me. If these materials were utilized properly, a book could easily be written for the readers and researchers, because there was ample matter and the message was important. Accordingly, work started with fresh energy for elaborating the themes and sub-themes of the book.

**Contents and Sample Pages**