Quotation
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“To cover all the earth with sheets of leather — where could such amounts of skin be found? But with the leather soles of just my shoes it is as though I cover all the earth!”
Śāntideva · Mahāyāna Buddhism · Medieval · c. 8th century
What does it mean?
The usual reading takes the verse as a lesson about where protection has to be fitted. Covering the whole earth with leather would keep the feet safe from thorns, and there is not enough leather to do it. A little leather on the soles does the same work by changing the walker rather than the ground. A competing reading hears a retreat from the world, as if other people's suffering could be ignored once one's own mind is shod. The chapter is about guarding awareness. The verses that follow say the same of the mind: outer irritants cannot all be suppressed, so the mind is what has to be trained. This is verse 5.13. It is not the patience verse in chapter 6, and it is not the joy verse in chapter 8.
Did Śāntideva really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. Verse 5.13 in the Padmakara Translation Group's English of the Bodhicaryavatara, The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006), in the chapter on guarding awareness. The Sanskrit is the source. This wording is a translation, and it is not verse 6.10 or verse 8.129.
Where it comes from
Bodhicaryāvatāra 5.13, the chapter on guarding awareness, Padmakara Translation Group, The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Approximate date: c. 8th century.
How to use it
A commuter in Leeds who tries to make every carriage, every queue, and every headline harmless before setting out is covering the earth. The verse suggests a smaller piece of leather: one trained response that travels with the person. It does not say the thorns are imaginary, and it does not say a pavement that is actually dangerous should be left unfixed. It says the plan of removing every irritant first will not finish.
A mindset reading
The picture is almost comic, and the comedy is the argument. If the verse becomes an excuse to stop caring about conditions other people cannot walk away from, it has been turned against the chapter, which is training a bodhisattva, not a private comfort. Guard the mind, and keep the world in view.
Understand the philosophy
Chapter 5 of the Bodhicaryavatara is the guarding of awareness. Verse 5.13 is the leather-soles comparison, in the Padmakara Translation Group's 2006 English. The key image is the shoe, not a paved planet. Verse 6.10, already in this library, is about remedy and unhappiness. Verse 8.129 is about joy and the wish for others' happiness. This card is the third verse, and it is a translation.
- mind
- resilience
- self
FAQ
What does it mean?
The usual reading takes the verse as a lesson about where protection has to be fitted. Covering the whole earth with leather would keep the feet safe from thorns, and there is not enough leather to do it. A little leather on the soles does the same work by changing the walker rather than the ground. A competing reading hears a retreat from the world, as if other people's suffering could be ignored once one's own mind is shod. The chapter is about guarding awareness. The verses that follow say the same of the mind: outer irritants cannot all be suppressed, so the mind is what has to be trained. This is verse 5.13. It is not the patience verse in chapter 6, and it is not the joy verse in chapter 8.
Did Śāntideva really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. Verse 5.13 in the Padmakara Translation Group's English of the Bodhicaryavatara, The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006), in the chapter on guarding awareness. The Sanskrit is the source. This wording is a translation, and it is not verse 6.10 or verse 8.129.
Which work is it in?
Bodhicaryāvatāra 5.13, the chapter on guarding awareness, Padmakara Translation Group, The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006) Approximate date: c. 8th century.