Bodhicitta
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| Translations of bodhicitta | |
|---|---|
| English | enlightenment-mind |
| Sanskrit | बोधिचित्त |
| Chinese | 菩提心 (Pinyin: pútíxīn) |
| Japanese | 菩提心 (Rōmaji: bodaishin) |
| Khmer | ពោធិចិត្ត (UNGEGN: pothichet) |
| Korean | 보리심 (RR: borisim) |
| Tibetan | བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས (byang chub kyi sems) |
| Thai | โพธิจิต (RTGS: photichit) |
| Vietnamese | Bồ-đề tâm |
| Glossary of Buddhism | |
In Mahayana Buddhism, bodhicitta ("aspiration to enlightenment" or "the thought of awakening") is the mind (citta) that is aimed at awakening (bodhi) through wisdom and compassion for the benefit of all sentient beings.
Bodhicitta is the defining quality of the Mahayana bodhisattva (a being striving towards Buddhahood) and the act of giving rise to bodhicitta (bodhicittotpāda) is what makes a bodhisattva a bodhisattva. Bodhicitta is the generative cause of a bodhisattva's eventual Buddhahood. The Daśabhūmika Sūtra explains that the arising of bodhicitta is the first step in the bodhisattva's career.