Bodhisattva

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Key Term	bodhisattva
In Tibetan Script	བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ་
Wylie Tibetan Transliteration	byang chub sems dpa'
Devanagari Sanskrit Script	बोधिसत्त्व
Chinese Script	菩薩
Chinese Pinyin	pú sà
Japanese Transliteration	bosatsu
Alternate Spellings	bodhisatva
Term Type	Noun
Source Language	Sanskrit
Definitions
Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism	In Sanskrit, lit. “enlightenment being.” The etymology is uncertain, but the term is typically glossed to mean a “being (sattva) intent on achieving enlightenment (bodhi),” viz., a being who has resolved to become a buddha. See page 134.
Other Definitions	A practitioner on the path to Buddhahood, training in the practice of compassion and the six pāramitās, who has vowed to attain enlightenment for the sake of all beings. The Tibetan translation of this term means "hero of the enlightened mind." - Padmakara Translation Group in A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of Night (1994).

A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses.