Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Chapter 5: Engaging in the bodhisattva deeds

Verses 100-106

The qualities of bodhisattvas and how they train in all actions of body, speech, and mind to attain full awakening. Part of the series of talks on Aryadeva’s Four Hundred Stanzas on the Middle Way.

  • The importance of intention in all activities, as it determines whether an activity is virtuous or non-virtuous
  • How the causes of buddhahood are in the Buddha, in the teachings he gave on how to practice virtue and abandon non-virtue
  • The many ways in which buddhas benefit sentient beings
  • How we can use the poetic language in the stanzas to inspire and transform our thoughts and actions right now
  • The difference between the merit created by an arya bodhisattva and an ordinary person

14 Aryadeva’s 400 Stanzas: Verses 100-106 (download)

Venerable Thubten Chodron

Venerable Chodron emphasizes the practical application of Buddha’s teachings in our daily lives and is especially skilled at explaining them in ways easily understood and practiced by Westerners. She is well known for her warm, humorous, and lucid teachings. She was ordained as a Buddhist nun in 1977 by Kyabje Ling Rinpoche in Dharamsala, India, and in 1986 she received bhikshuni (full) ordination in Taiwan. Read her full bio.