Philosopher
Śāntideva
fl. 680–760 CE
Also known as Shantideva, Santideva
Buddhist monk and poet whose Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life argues from the absence of a self to boundless care for others, and against the rationality of anger.
When happiness is dear to me and others equally, what is so special about me that I strive after happiness only for myself?
Very little is reliably known about Śāntideva. Tibetan historians describe him as a prince from what is now Gujarat and tell of his time as a monk at the monastic university of Nālandā, but royal origins were a stock motif of Buddhist saints’ lives. He lived between the late seventh and the mid-eighth century; the one firm clue is that Śāntarakṣita quoted him in a text written by 763.
His two works, the Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, a long philosophical poem, and the Training Anthology, a collection of scripture with his own commentary, may be the Buddhist tradition’s most important contribution to ethical theory. His metaphysics follows the Madhyamaka of Nāgārjuna, and his originality lies in how he drew from it conclusions about how to feel and live. Scholars still debate whether his ethics is best understood as a form of consequentialism. His writings were immensely influential in Tibet.
Key ideas
- The Awakening Mind (bodhicitta)
- The ideal is the bodhisattva’s resolve to become a Buddha and remain in the cycle of rebirth for the sake of others until all beings are freed from suffering. Śāntideva’s poem evokes this resolve and the six perfections that train it.
- Suffering without an owner
- Since there is no substantial self, my suffering has no stronger claim on me than anyone else’s. Suffering is bad simply because it is suffering, so we should work to remove others’ as we do our own.
- Anger rests on a mistake
- Everything, including the harm others do, arises from causes and conditions; nothing acts independently. Seeing this, we can respond to wrongdoing without anger, and wish to free the wrongdoer from the passions that drive them.
- Emptiness
- Following the Madhyamaka, nothing has an intrinsic nature: like a mirage, things exist and function, but not in the way they appear to. Seeing this lets us let go of attachment, even to our own bodies.
- Tradition
- Indian
- Region
- India
- Schools
- Madhyamaka
Influences
Where these links come from
- Śāntideva drew on Nāgārjuna. Source: Charles Goodman, Śāntideva, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Key works
- Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life (Bodhicaryāvatāra)
- Training Anthology (Śikṣāsamuccaya)