In this article the author offers her initial findings from her research on translations in the West of the Bodhicaryāvatāra, an 8th century Buddhist treatise by Śāntideva. The orientation of the study falls within the field of descriptive translation studies and presents a descriptive analysis of some of the translations from Sanskrit and Tibetan and their socio-cultural function. The author’s particular interest in Western translations of the Bodhicaryāvatāra arose from a significant publishing event; this being the appearance of seven translations of this text in the space of just five years: two in French, two in Spanish and three in English. This Buddhist treatise, which enjoys a privileged position in Mahāyāna Buddhism, particularly in the Tibetian tradition, has never awoken such curiosity in the West since it was first translated by La Vallée-Poussin.