Khenpo Shenga's (1871-1927) annotated commentaries form the core of the present curriculum in many Buddhist colleges throughout the Himalayan region. It is said that he was able to teach texts such as Bodhicharyavatara entirely from memory.

Entering the Way of the Bodhisattvas (Bodhicharyavatara) is the most respected and well know text that teaches how to train the mind of a bodhisattva. This text focuses on bodhichitta, 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. 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 of the root text used in this commentary, 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.

Annotated Commentary Shantideva's Entering the Way of the Bodhisattvas, Khenpo Shenga, Jeweled Lotus Publishing, Paperback, 388 pages, $17.00

Khenpo Shenga, Shenpen Ch�kyi Nangwa (1871-1927). The renowned scholar and adept Khenpo Shenga was the reincarnation of Gyals� Shenpen Thaye, an influential Nyingma master of the early 19th century associated with the Longchen Nyingthik teachings and Dzogchen monastery. His predecessor's works greatly impacted Nyingma study and practice. Shenpen Thaye founded Dzogchen Monastery's Sri Singha Monastic College, a famed center of Nyingma scholarship. He helped establish an emphasis on monastic discipline within the Nyingma, which has historically been less grounded in monasticism than Tibet's other three lineages. He also gathered the Kama teachings, the Nyingma lineage's canonical scriptures, into one collection. Khenpo Shenga followed in his predecessor's footsteps by further strengthening the Nyingmapa traditions of scholarship and monastic discipline. Khenpo Shenga's main achievement was the large body of commentarial literature he composed. His most important works concern the Thirteen Great Treatises, texts composed by Indian Buddhist masters concerning core Buddhist topics, from the Vinaya to Madhyamaka. These treatises comprise the main curriculum of Nyingma monastic colleges. Khenpo Shenga's commentaries on these texts remain amongst the most widely studied texts in these institutions.

Gerry Wiener is a software engineer working at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. He began his Buddhist studies with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1971 and studied under Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche until his parinirvana in 1987. Gerry received teachings from His Holiness, the 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje in 1974 and in 1980 during the times His Holiness was visiting the United States. Gerry has continued his Tibetan Buddhist studies under Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche focusing on Tibetan translation