We thought it would be very helpful to create a collection of all the teachings and translations that Geshe Michael has done on Master Shantideva’s The Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life. So what you’ll fiind here are the links to all the courses Geshe Michael has taught on this text. In addition, we’ve also made two PDF collections by combining all of the course materials and transcripts. The links to download those are at the bottom of the page.
Geshe Michael Began teaching The Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life in 1997 with the following three ACI courses:
Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, Part One (ACI Course X)
Download all audio and course materials (.zip)
This Course is the first in a three part series based upon A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life (Bodhisattvacharya Avatara) by Master Shantideva (700 AD), and the commentary Entry Point for Children of the Victorious Buddhas (Gyalse Juk-ngok) by Gyaltsab Je (1364-1432). Master Shantideva’s work is considered the best book ever written to learn how to live as a bodhisattva, and this is one of the most famous commentaries ever written; it has been translated into English for the first time for this course.
Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, Part Two (ACI Course XI)
Download all audio and course materials (.zip)
This Course is the second in a three part series based upon A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life (Bodhisattvacharya Avatara) by Master Shantideva (700 AD), and the commentary Entry Point for Children of the Victorious Buddhas (Gyalse Juk-ngok) by Gyaltsab Je (1364-1432).
Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, Part Three (ACI Course XII)
Download all audio and course materials (.zip)
This Course is the second in a three part series based upon A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life (Bodhisattvacharya Avatara) by Master Shantideva (700 AD), and the commentary Entry Point for Children of the Victorious Buddhas (Gyalse Juk-ngok) by Gyaltsab Je (1364-1432).
Geshe Michael didn’t have time to teach the final chapter of The Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life in the ACI Courses listed above, so he continued with this teaching during his three-year retreat in 2002:
Ripples of Light: Master Shantideva’s Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, The Chapter on Dedication
Download all audio and course materials (.zip)
This course presents the entire final chapter on “dedicating the power of good deeds” (Chapter Ten) from The Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, by Master Shantideva (c. 700 AD). This last chapter of the great Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life teaches us, in the form of a beautiful prayer of dedication, what to do with our good mental seeds.
Geshe Michael then continued on teaching The Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life in 2004, diving deeper into the sections on Patience and Exchanging Self and Others, with these two ACI In-Depth courses:
ACI In-Depth Course 2: Master Shantideva’s Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, The Chapter on Killing Anger
Download all audio and course materials (.zip)
This second course of the ACI In-Depth Course Series presents the entire chapter on “the art of not getting angry,” or the chapter on patience (Chapter Six) from The Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life by Master Shantideva (c. 700 AD). This course is meant to give much more detail on this subject than the related original ACI course, Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, Part Two (ACI Course XI), which covered somewhat less than half of this important chapter.
ACI In-Depth Course 3: Master Shantideva’s Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, Exchanging Self and Others
Download all audio and course materials (.zip)
This third course of the ACI In-Depth Course Series presents the entire section on the practice of exchanging ourselves and others, which is a large part of the chapter on meditation (Chapter Eight) from The Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life (Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra), by Master Shantideva (c. 700 AD). This course is meant to give much more detail on this subject than the related original ACI course, Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, Part Two (ACI Course XI), which covered only about half of this section on exchanging ourselves and others.
Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life: A Compendium
We combined all the translations, answer keys, and student notes into a single PDF file of just under 1500 pages. To make it even more convenient for you we also bookmarked each section, so please make sure to select that option in your PDF viewer. Should be listed as either “bookmarks” or “table of contents”, depending on which PDF viewer you use.
Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life: A Collection of Transcripts
We combined all the transcripts we currently have available into a single PDF file of just over 1000 pages. To make it even more convenient for you we also bookmarked each section, so please make sure to select that option in your PDF viewer. Should be listed as either “bookmarks” or “table of contents”, depending on which PDF viewer you use.
