Shantideva was an eighth-century Buddhist monk who taught at Nalanda University, which was in the present-day state of Bihar in Eastern India. According to legend, he recited How to Lead an Awakened Life to a huge assembly of students and scholars at the school, then rose into the air, flew from the lecture hall, and vanished into space, never to be seen again but leaving behind in his room a copy of the text. Jay L.

Garfield is the Doris Silbert Professor in the Humanities and professor of philosophy and Buddhist studies at Smith College and a visiting professor of Buddhist philosophy at Harvard Divinity School. His books include How to Lose Yourself: An Ancient Guide to Letting Go (Princeton), Losing Ourselves: Learning to Live without a Self (Princeton), and Buddhist Ethics: A Philosophical Exploration.