Shantideva

Shantideva was an eighth-century Buddhist monk at the monastic university of Nalanda in India, of whom the legend says that his fellow monks thought him idle and challenged him to recite, expecting to shame him, whereupon he delivered the Bodhicaryavatara, the guide to the bodhisattva’s way of life, and rose into the air as he reached the chapter on wisdom. The poem describes the awakening of the resolve to attain enlightenment for the sake of all beings, and the practice of the perfections, patience, effort, meditation and wisdom, that carry it out. The Dalai Lama calls it his favourite book, and Notre Dame’s Program of Liberal Studies assigns it in its second seminar.