Paramārthabodhicitta

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Definitions
Key Term	paramārthabodhicitta
Hover Popup Choices	ultimate bodhicitta; absolute mind of enlightenment; superfactual bodhicitta
In Tibetan Script	དོན་དམ་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས་
Wylie Tibetan Transliteration	don dam byang chub kyi sems
Devanagari Sanskrit Script	परमार्थबोधिचित्त
Romanized Sanskrit	paramārthabodhicitta
Tibetan Phonetic Rendering	döndam changchub kyi sem
Chinese Script	勝義菩提心
Chinese Pinyin	shèngyì pútíxīn
Japanese Transliteration	shōgi bodaishin
Korean Script	sŭngŭi porisim
English Standard	ultimate bodhicitta
Alternate Spellings	don dam sems bskyed; ultimate mind of enlightenment; དོན་དམ་བྱང་སེམས་
Term Type	Noun
Source Language	Sanskrit
Basic Meaning	The direct realization of the ultimate nature of reality.
Has the Sense of	(paramārthabodhicitta, don dam sems bskyed) Ultimate bodhicitta refers to a single-pointed direct realization of emptiness in a state of meditative equipoise. It is an exalted wisdom directly realizing the ultimate nature of things, a wisdom that is free from all conceptual elaborations or dualistic appearances. This is not the bodhicitta that we generally think of—the aspirational wish to attain enlightenment to be of maximum benefit towards the welfare of all beings—but instead refers to wisdom fully concentrated on emptiness.
NEW: Context Descriptions (Glossary-DefinitionTsadra)	Mahāyāna (Indo-Tibetan): In the general Mahāyāna context, paramārthabodhicitta དོན་དམ་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས་ is distinguished from conventional bodhicitta (saṃvṛtibodhicitta). While conventional bodhicitta consists of the aspiration to attain enlightenment and the application of the perfections, ultimate bodhicitta is the wisdom that directly realizes emptiness (śūnyatā). It is often described as being free from all conceptual elaborations (niṣprapañca) and is the actual state of wisdom that sees phenomena as they truly are. The transition from conventional to ultimate bodhicitta typically occurs at the path of vision (darśanamārga), marking the attainment of the first bodhisattva bhūmi. Pramāṇa (Indo-Tibetan): Within the framework of valid cognition, ultimate bodhicitta is identified with the superfactual (don dam) level of reality. It is a non-dualistic awareness that transcends the subject-object bifurcation (grāhyagrāhakavikalpa) inherent in conventional, dualistic consciousness. In this context, it is often described as superfactual truth (paramārthasatya) as experienced by the noble beings (āryas) in meditative equipoise. Vajrayāna (Indo-Tibetan): In the Vajrayāna or Secret Mantra traditions, ultimate bodhicitta is associated with the realization of the inseparable union of emptiness and bliss. It is sometimes equated with the white bindu or "seed" of enlightenment that is cultivated through specific yogic practices involving the subtle body's channels, winds, and drops. In the context of the four empowerments, ultimate bodhicitta is specifically pointed out in the fourth empowerment as the actual, factual wisdom that is the innate nature of mind. Dzogchen/Mahāmudrā (Indo-Tibetan): Within these traditions, ultimate bodhicitta is frequently used as a synonym for the "essence of mind" (sems kyi ngo bo) or the "primordial state" (rigpa). It refers to the naturally arising, uncreated wisdom that is the fundamental basis of both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. Here, it is described as "alpha purity" (ka dag), meaning the purity that has been present in the mind from the very beginning, untouched by adventitious defilements.
NEW: Glossary-PopUpBeginnerDefinition	The direct realization of the true nature of reality, specifically emptiness, as an essential part of the path to enlightenment for the sake of all beings.
NEW: Glossary-PopUpScholarDefinition	One of the two primary divisions of bodhicitta, referring to the non-conceptual wisdom that directly realizes the ultimate nature of phenomena (dharmatā) or emptiness (śūnyatā). Unlike conventional bodhicitta, which involves aspirational and engaging states of mind, ultimate bodhicitta is identical to the realization achieved on the path of seeing and beyond.
NEW: Glossary-DefinitionBodhicittaWiki	Paramārthabodhicitta is the wisdom aspect of the bodhisattva's path, representing the direct realization of emptiness (śūnyatā) that is inseparable from the great compassion (mahākaruṇā) of conventional bodhicitta. It is the generative cause that allows a bodhisattva to overcome cognitive obscurations (jñeyāvaraṇa) and eventually achieve the state of a Buddha. On the bodhisattva path, it is primarily cultivated during meditative equipoise, where the practitioner rests in the non-conceptual recognition of the nature of reality. It is considered "ultimate" because it refers to the final, unchanging truth of phenomena, whereas conventional bodhicitta is a necessary but provisional method used to reach this realization.
NEW: Glossary-DefinitionLotsawas	ultimate bodhicitta; absolute mind of enlightenment; superfactual bodhicitta
Dung dkar Tshig mdzod Chen mo	བདག་གཞན་མཉམ་བརྗེའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས་དེ་ལ་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ལྟ་བས་རྒྱས་ཐེབས་པ་ལ་ཟེར།