The Great Hum

"The text translated below is by the nineteenth-century Tibetan Buddhist monk Kunzang Sèonam (a.k.a. Minyak Kunsèo and Tupten Chèokyi Drakpa). It is a commentary on âSåantideva's masterwork the Way of the Bodhisattva, showing how the verses of this text are embedded in a vast Buddhist literature. Kunzang Sèonam's text is nothing less than a comprehensive introduction to the Mahåayåana. He not only explains âSåantideva's verses but shows their connection to a network of many other texts, drawing on his teacher's words and citing hundreds of såutras to show how the verses are beautifully integrated within, and express, a Buddhist textual universe. The extensive commentary translated here covers the first eight chapters of âSåantideva's text and fills the entire third volume (håuòm) of Kunzang Sèonam's collected works. Kunzang Sèonam wrote two other commentaries on the Way of the Bodhisattva, a commentary on the words of the ninth chapter, "Wisdom," and an overview of this chapter that is an introduction to Pråasaçngika Madhyamaka philosophy, which I translated in The Profound Reality of Interdependence. Kunzang Sèonam was a student of Paltrul Rinpochâe, who revived the study and practice of the Way of the Bodhisattva in eastern Tibet in the nineteenth century. His text exemplifies a rich tradition of Buddhist scholarship and practical instruction"--