.
Shantideva was
really
a good example of
a great scholar
and, at the same time,
a great meditation master.
Shantideva was a great
practitioner of the Mahayana
and also the Vajrayana.
He was in Nalanda,
in India.
He was a very learned
and great realized master.
He learned
The Way of the Bodhisattva practice
from many teachers in India.
He was humble,
what we normally call a "hidden yogi."
He would not expose
his wisdom,
knowledge, or experience to others.
So, it looked like
he was a very ordinary monk
in Nalanda,
and a little bit lazy.
He would eat
and then go to his room,
and it looked like he was sleeping.
When they rang
the bell for food,
he would go and eat a lot,
then go back to his room and sleep.
It looked like he was not really
studying or practicing.
But at that time,
what he was doing was trying to transform
all the afflictions,
destructive emotions,
including sleeping and laziness.
Everything would transform into
loving-kindness, compassion,
bodhichitta, and emptiness.
So he was practicing that.
Then, at the Nalanda Monastery,
there is a “discipline master.”
Sometimes they check to see
what the monks are doing —
studying, contemplating, and meditating, or not.
These discipline masters always saw
that Shantideva was sleeping.
They all said, “What should we do?
Should we talk to him,
or should we leave it as it is?”
Then the abbot said,
“Okay, leave it as it is for a while.”
So, they just left it as it was,
but then it was affecting other monks.
They looked at Shantideva and thought,
“Oh, he is sleeping. Maybe I should sleep,
and not do any studying.”
It was affecting other monks' discipline.
Then,
the discipline masters said,
“Maybe we should ask him
to teach all the monks.
If he agrees,
we know that he is not studying,
not doing anything,
so he will leave the monastery.
We will try that.”
All the discipline masters got together
and asked the abbot.
The abbot said,
“Okay, you can do that.”
The abbot knew that Shantideva
was a realized master,
but the abbot also knew that by doing that,
it would help get Shantideva to teach.
Otherwise, he would not want to,
because he was a hidden yogi.
And all the discipline masters asked him,
“Could you teach
all the other monks?”
Shantideva said, “Yes.”
The discipline masters were laughing.
They thought he knew nothing.
Then, they said,
“Okay, we will prepare
a very nice dharma throne,
and we will make a very good
advertisement. We will call all the monks
and do a big ceremony.
He will be shy
and leave the monastery.
It will be good for all of us.”
So they did all the preparations
and welcomed Shantideva.
Shantideva went up onto the throne.
Some monks, when they came there,
saw that he was on it,
but they didn't know how he got there.
The throne was so high
it had to have stairs
especially for it,
but it was almost like he flew
and arrived upon the throne.
Some monks saw that.
Then, he taught The Way of the Bodhisattva.
All the monks were very surprised
about how he could teach
that wonderful teaching.
So then, he taught chapters 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.
More monks and even abbots came —
everybody came and listened to his teaching.
Around chapter 9,
he levitated.
He levitated from the throne.
There is a particular sentence
and his body disappeared.
Only his voice
taught the rest of chapter 9
and chapter 10,
and then he was gone.
Then the discipline masters had a lot of regret:
“I think we chased off
a great realized monk.”