The Great Hum: A Commentary on Shantideva’s Way of the Bodhisattva

Dive into an ocean of Buddhist wisdom with this masterful immersion in Shantideva’s well-known guide to the boundless spirit of the bodhisattva.

Shantideva’s Way of the Bodhisattva (Bodhicaryavatara) is without a doubt one of the greatest masterpieces of Indian Buddhism and the single most influential text on Mahayana ethical theory. Since it was composed in the eighth century, it has continuously animated the living tradition--especially in Tibet, but now in the West as well--as more translations have become available. Its poetic evocations of the spirit of awakening allow readers to enter the mind of the bodhisattva.

Nineteenth-century master Minyak Kunzang Sonam composed what came to be the most extensive commentary in any language on Shantideva’s masterpiece. This commentary came to be known as the Great Hum because it fills the entirety of the third or hum volume of the author’s collected works. Citing hundreds of sutras, he shows how Shantideva’s verses are beautifully integrated within, and express, the Buddhist textual universe. In particular he ties Shantideva’s verses with the Anthology of Training, the thematic collection of scriptural citations also compiled by Shantideva, creating a detailed tapestry of Mahayana thought and practice. Kunzang Sonam’s commentary on the philosophically rich ninth ＂Wisdom＂ chapter was published previously as The Profound Reality of Interdependence, and this volume presents his commentary on the first eight chapters, detailing the generation of the spirit of awakening, the cultivation of positive qualities, and the practice of meditation. Embedded in the commentary is a fresh translation of Shantideva’s verses, making this an unparalleled guide to appreciating their layers of meaning and applying them in one’s practice and life.

Douglas Duckworth is a professor of religion at Temple University in Philadelphia. He received his PhD in religious studies (Indo-Tibetan Buddhism) from the University of Virginia in 2005, and he previously taught at Kathmandu University. He is the author of Mipam on Buddha-Nature: The Ground of the Nyingma Tradition (SUNY 2008), Jamgon Mipam: His Life and Teachings (Shambhala 2011), and Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy of Mind and Nature (Oxford 2019). He has translated Kunzang Sonam’s overview of the ninth chapter of Shantideva’s Way of the Bodhisattva, entitled The Profound Reality of Interdependence (Oxford 2019), and Botrul’s Distinguishing the Views and Philosophies: Illuminating Emptiness in a Twentieth-Century Tibetan Buddhist Classic (SUNY 2011). He is a coauthor of Dignaga’s Investigation of the Percept (Oxford 2016) and Knowing Illusion (2 vols., Oxford 2021). In addition to publishing numerous scholarly articles, Duckworth has coedited (with A. Velez and E. Harris) Buddhist Responses to Religious Diversity: Theravada and Tibetan Perspectives (Equinox 2020) and (with Jonathan Gold) Readings of Shantideva’s Guide to Bodhisattva Practice (Columbia 2019).

Minyak Kunzang Sonam, a.k.a. Tupten Chökyi Drakpa (1823-1905), hailed from eastern Tibet and was a prominent student of the celebrated Patrul Rinpoche (1808-87) and a great scholar in his own right. He was a truly nonsectarian figure, drawing on the wisdom of all the Tibetan Buddhist traditions. A translation of his commentary on Tokme Zangpo’s Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas was published as Uniting Wisdom and Compassion.