Śikshā-Samuccaya: A Compendium of Buddhist Doctrine

The main content of Śikshā-Samuccaya is organized as a comprehensive guide to Bodhisattva discipline and Mahāyāna ethical cultivation. It opens with the salutation to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and immediately frames the Dharma as a rare and salvific jewel that must be received with faith and reverence. The early chapters develop the duty of self-preservation, not as attachment to the self, but as the necessary basis for serving others and fulfilling the Bodhisattva vow. A substantial portion of the work is devoted to the avoidance of evil, showing that moral discipline, restraint, confession, and purification are indispensable for the path to enlightenment. The text then turns to the preservation of the person, care of enjoyments, purification from sin, the perfection of patience, and the perfection of strength, presenting the Bodhisattva path as a disciplined integration of wisdom, compassion, and ethical endurance. Later chapters praise forest seclusion, prepare the thought of enlightenment, introduce subjects of intent contemplation, and explain self-purification, purity in enjoyment and religious action, the increase of good conduct, worship, recollection of the Three Jewels, and the increase of holiness. Throughout these themes, Śāntideva constructs a vision of practice in which faith, bodhicitta, compassion, restraint, generosity, vows, and dedication of merit become mutually reinforcing elements of the Mahāyāna path.