The Great Hum

“A lucid and inspiring translation of a major commentary on the Way of the Bodhisattva by one of the great luminaries of the nineteenth century.”–Matthieu Ricard, author of The Enlightened Vagabond“I rejoice again and again that the famous commentary of the Way of the Bodhisattva known as the Great Hum has been translated into English and is available to great scholars, East and West, around the world. Kunzang Sönam received teachings on the Way of the Bodhisattva from Patrul Rinpoché many times, and there are unsurpassed benefits for those who read this.”–Tudeng Nima (Alak Zenkar Rinpoché)“Santideva’s Way of the Bodhisattva is venerated by teachers of all the Tibetan schools, and many scholars have written commentaries on it. When I received teachings on the Way of the Bodhisattva from Khunu Rinpoché, he often mentioned the excellent commentary by Minyak Kunzang Sönam, a disciple of Jamyang Khyentsé Wangpo. I welcome this translation of that text into English.”

–His Holiness the Dalai Lama

“This volume provides an easily accessible way for any of us, no matter our level of practice or study, to immerse ourselves in Santideva’s precious teachings. You can read this from cover to cover or, as I often suggest, just open it to any page and start reading a few paragraphs. This is scholarship at its best: a thoroughly researched and highly readable book.”

–Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse

Douglas Duckworth is a professor of religion at Temple University in Philadelphia. He received his PhD in religious studies (Indo-Tibetan Buddhism) from the University of Virginia in 2005, and he previously taught at Kathmandu University. He is the author of Mipam on Buddha-Nature: The Ground of the Nyingma Tradition (SUNY 2008), Jamgon Mipam: His Life and Teachings (Shambhala 2011), and Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy of Mind and Nature (Oxford 2019). He has translated Kunzang Sonam’s overview of the ninth chapter of Shantideva’s Way of the Bodhisattva, entitled The Profound Reality of Interdependence (Oxford 2019), and Botrul’s Distinguishing the Views and Philosophies: Illuminating Emptiness in a Twentieth-Century Tibetan Buddhist Classic (SUNY 2011). He is a coauthor of Dignaga’s Investigation of the Percept (Oxford 2016) and Knowing Illusion (2 vols., Oxford 2021). In addition to publishing numerous scholarly articles, Duckworth has coedited (with A. Velez and E. Harris) Buddhist Responses to Religious Diversity: Theravada and Tibetan Perspectives (Equinox 2020) and (with Jonathan Gold) Readings of Shantideva’s Guide to Bodhisattva Practice (Columbia 2019).

Minyak Kunzang Sonam, a.k.a. Tupten Chökyi Drakpa (1823-1905), hailed from eastern Tibet and was a prominent student of the celebrated Patrul Rinpoche (1808-87) and a great scholar in his own right. He was a truly nonsectarian figure, drawing on the wisdom of all the Tibetan Buddhist traditions. A translation of his commentary on Tokme Zangpo’s Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas was published as Uniting Wisdom and Compassion.