Bodhicitta
| Key Term | bodhicitta |
|---|---|
| Hover Popup Choices | thought of awakening; mind of enlightenment; mind of awakening; awakening mind |
| In Tibetan Script | བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས། |
| Wylie Tibetan Transliteration | byang chub sems |
| Devanagari Sanskrit Script | बोधिचित्त |
| Romanized Sanskrit | bodhicitta |
| Tibetan Phonetic Rendering | jangchubsem |
| Sanskrit Phonetic Rendering | bodhicitta |
| Chinese Script | 菩提心 |
| Chinese Pinyin | pútí xīn |
| English Standard | mind of enlightenment |
| Richard Barron's English Term | awakened mind |
| Jeffrey Hopkin's English Term | mind of enlightenment |
| Gyurme Dorje's English Term | enlightened mind; enlightened attitude |
| Alternate Spellings | རྫོགས་པའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས། |
| Term Type | Noun |
| Source Language | Sanskrit |
| Basic Meaning | The altruistic thought to seek enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. It is said to have two aspects: compassion aimed at sentient beings and their problems and the wisdom of enlightenment as the solution. |
| Has the Sense of | As this is the desire to achieve and help achieve the state of enlightenment for all sentient beings, it is called the thought or mind of awakening or enlightenment. |
| Simon's Dharma Corner Explanation |
The term bodhicitta has been translated as the mind of enlightenment or the awakening mind. Bodhicitta is the altruistic thought to seek enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. It is said to have two aspirations: (1) a compassion aspiration aimed at sentient beings and their suffering and (2) and an aspiration that aims for the fully enlightened state, since that is the most effective way to help sentient beings to be free of suffering and to attain the enlightened state themselves. Maitreya states in his Ornament of Clear Realization (Abhisamayālaṃkāra) that bodhicitta is the wish to attain the state of perfect enlightenment for the sake of other sentient beings. Bodhicitta is the gateway to the Mahāyāna path and is the motivating force that distinguishes a practitioner of the Great Vehicle from a Hināyāna practitioner. Because it is the desire for oneself to achieve the highest state of enlightenment, and when that is attained to continuously and spontaneously help other beings to also attain that unsurpassed state, it is called the thought of enlightenment or the mind of awakening. To fully qualify as bodhicitta, it should be an uncontrived state of mind that arises almost automatically, without having to constantly recall all the preceding causal stages that bring it about. When this uncontrived mind of bodhicitta first arises in a being’s mindstream, that moment is considered the first moment of the Mahāyāna path of accumulation and marks the beginning of the bodhisattva path. Bodhicitta is one of the principal factors on the Mahāyāna path, along with the realization of emptiness, that acts as a primary cause for the perfect enlightenment of the Buddhas. Bodhicitta can be divided into ultimate and relative bodhicitta. This wish to attain enlightenment for the welfare of all is relative bodhicitta. Ultimate bodhicitta is the direct and nonconceptual apprehension of the ultimate nature of all phenomena. |
| Related Topic Pages | https://www.bhutan.virginia.edu/subjects/8260/text-node/51131/nojs |
| Definitions | |
| Rangjung Yeshe's English Term | a mind directed towards pure and total presence, a mind set on enlightenment, bodhichitta, awakened heart, enlightened mind, attitude, the [primordial] state of pure and total presence; enlightened mind. བྱང་ meaning – pure of obscurations and chub meaning perfect in enlightened attributes. |
| Tshig mdzod Chen mo | [1869] dmigs pa gzhan don la dmigs nas rnam pa rdzogs byang thob 'dod kyi 'dun pa las byung zhing theg chen lam gyi gzhung shing du gyur pa'i yid kyi rnam rig khyad par can/ de la dbye na smon sems dang 'jug sems gnyis/ ... |
| Simplified English Usage Example: | Thought of awakening |
