Readings of Santideva's Guide to bodhisattva practice : (Bodhicaryāvatāra) /

Tibetan tradition holds that as 8th-century Indian Buddhist scholar Śāntideva uttered the final stanzas of his Bodhicaryāvatāra (here translated Guide to Bodhisattva Practice), he floated off his cushion and disappeared into the sky--so transcendent were the Guide's Mahāyāna Buddhist teachings. Today, though Śāntideva's Guide is a mainstay of world literature and of Buddhism courses in US universities, there are few scholarly resources to guide its readers. Gold (Princeton) and Duckworth (Temple Univ.) admirably fill that gap by offering 15 "assessments of what [readers] might want to know" as they encounter this Buddhist masterwork. The contributors of the 14 essays look at the Guide through multiple lenses: ethics, phenomenology, embodiment studies, ritual theory, literary criticism. Several essays offer expert cross-cultural analyses. For example, in chapter 5 Janet Gyatso draws on a 14th-century Japanese dramatist to discuss how to "see [oneself] through others' eyes." This is an exemplary essay, as is Amber Carpenter's application of Greco-Roman protreptic literature. Specialists in Tibetan Buddhism will appreciate Thupten Jinpa's erudite treatment of lojong training. An appendix offering "advice for students and teachers" on Western-language translations ensures a wide audience for this volume. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers. --Laura Harrington, Boston University