Shantideva

Eighth-century Indian Mahayana Buddhist monk-scholar at the great university of Nalanda and author of the Bodhicaryavatara (The Way of the Bodhisattva), the most widely-studied text on the bodhisattva path in Tibetan Buddhism. The traditional account holds that Shantideva appeared lazy and ordinary at Nalanda — eating, sleeping, defecating, and seeming to do little else — until challenged to recite teachings before the assembly, at which point he composed the Bodhicaryavatara extemporaneously, rising into the air as he reached the final chapter on emptiness, his voice growing more distant until it could no longer be heard. The Dalai Lama has called the Bodhicaryavatara the most important book on the bodhisattva path ever written.