Within the vast exegetical tradition surrounding Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra, certain commentaries have come to function as touchstones for both philosophical understanding and practical application. At the heart of the Indian lineage stands Prajñākaramati’s Pañjikā, often regarded as the most important and widely studied classical commentary. It offers detailed explanations of the text’s philosophical points and practices, and later traditions repeatedly return to it as a standard of interpretation. Alongside it, Vibhūticandra’s commentary is also recognized as a significant early Indian contribution, providing alternative readings that broaden the interpretive field without breaking from the core intent of the root text.

As the work took root in Tibet, new layers of interpretation emerged that wove Śāntideva’s verses into the fabric of Tibetan scholastic and contemplative life. Khenpo Kunpal’s commentary became especially prominent, extensively used in the Nyingma tradition as a vehicle for systematic study. Patrul Rinpoche’s teachings, though often preserved as oral instructions rather than a single formal treatise, have deeply shaped the Dzogchen lineage’s way of embodying the Bodhicaryāvatāra’s spirit. Gyalse Thogme Sangpo’s writings, while not a direct line-by-line commentary, draw so thoroughly on Śāntideva’s themes that they function as a kind of living exegesis, illuminating the text through related contemplative instructions.

In more recent generations, a number of teachers have offered explanations that make Śāntideva’s path accessible to contemporary practitioners while remaining rooted in the classical tradition. The teachings of the 14th Dalai Lama stand out in this regard, presenting the Bodhicaryāvatāra through a blend of rigorous analysis and practical guidance. Khenpo Nagarjuna’s commentary likewise represents an important contemporary Tibetan engagement with the text, continuing the scholastic thread in a modern idiom. Within the Gelug tradition, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso’s Meaningful to Behold has become an influential modern commentary, presenting the work as a complete path of training in bodhicitta and wisdom.

Taken together, these commentarial streams reveal not only a hierarchy of textual authority but also a living conversation across centuries. Prajñākaramati’s Pañjikā serves as a foundational lens through which many later interpretations are refracted, while Tibetan scholars and masters translate that heritage into distinct pedagogical and contemplative styles. The Indian and Tibetan commentaries, classical and modern, thus form a single tapestry: precise philosophical analysis on the one hand, and on the other, guidance for transforming the Bodhicaryāvatāra from a revered book into a path walked step by step.