This book is the first translation of the oldest known copy of the Bodhisattvacaryavatara. The Dunhuang Bodhisattvacaryavatara manuscripts are over 1000 years old. Three manuscripts were examined, each written in a different hand, minor spelling corrections were made, and then the manuscripts were combined into one complete text. The combined manuscript has nine chapters and approximately 700 stanzas or shlokas. The Tibetan text is included with this translation.

The Bodhisattvacaryavatara is the most respected, and well know, text that teaches how to train the mind of a bodhisattva. This text focuses on bodhicitta, mindfulness, attentiveness and the six paramitas. It is an important and foundational text for anyone interested in training their mind following the Buddhist Mahayana tradition. Chapters one through seven focus on relative bodhichitta while chapter eight focuses on absolute bodhicitta. This book teaches how to live in this world in an ethical and moral way that brings happiness and contentment to both self and others.

The author, Shantideva, was born in the south of India sometime around the early part of the 8th century and became one of the great scholar practitioners of Nalanda University. This first version of the text was translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan in the late 8th century by the great Nyingmapa translator, Kawa Peltsek together with the Indian pandit, Sarvajnadeva.

Bodhisattvacaryavatara: Entering the Way of the Bodhisattvas, Shantideva, Khenpo Gawang Rinpoche and Garry Wiener ( Translators) Jeweled Lotus Publishing, 339 pages, $15.00

Khenpo Gawang Rinpoche is the founder and spiritual director of Pema Karpo Meditation Center in Memphis, Tennessee. Having completed thirty years as a monk, fourteen years of teaching experience, and nine years of study at the Buddhist University of Namdroling Monastery in South India, he holds a Khenpo degree, the Buddhist equivalent of a PhD. Gawang Rinpoche came to the United States in 2004 at the invitation of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche and Shambhala International. He proudly became an American citizen in 2012. Rinpoche is the author of Your Mind Is Your Teacher (Shambhala Publications) and The Sadhana of Shakyamuni Buddha (Jeweled Lotus Publications). He co-translated with Gerry Wiener the text, The Excellent Path to Enlightenment by Longchenpa which is available through Amazon.

CONTENTS: Bodhisattvacaryavatara
Acknowledgements	vi
Translation Notes	vii
Short Biography of Shantideva	ix
Different Editions of the Bodhisattvacaryavatara	xi
Translator Kawa Peltsek and the First Version	xii
A Brief Summary of the Content of the Chapters	xiii
Homage	3
Chapter One: An Explanation of the Benefits of Bodhichitta	5
Chapter Two: Completely Holding Bodhichitta	21
Chapter Three: The Teaching on Heedfulness	63
Chapter Four: Protecting Attentiveness	85
Chapter Five: The Teaching on Patience	125
Chapter Six: The Teaching on Exertion	179
Chapter Seven: The Teaching on Samadhi	217
Chapter Eight: The Teaching on Prajna	243
Chapter Nine: Dedication	283
Glossary	315