The bodhisattva
A being who chooses to keep coming back for everyone else, instead of slipping quietly into peace alone.
A bodhisattva (Sanskrit for "a being set toward awakening"; Pāli bodhisatta) is one of the most beloved ideals in Buddhism — a person who is devoted to becoming a fully awakened buddha not for their own release alone, but so that they can help free all living beings from suffering. In Buddhism, "awakening" means seeing reality so clearly that greed, hatred, and delusion lose their grip, ending the suffering they cause.
The word began modestly. In the earliest texts, shared across the older Buddhist traditions, "bodhisattva" simply named the Buddha-to-be during the long stretch before his awakening — including his past lives, told in popular stories of generosity and courage. It was a title for one exceptional being on his way to becoming a buddha.
In the later Mahāyāna movement (the "Great Vehicle," emerging around two thousand years ago) this idea was opened up into a universal calling: any person can take up the bodhisattva path, vowing to walk a vast, many-lifetime journey for the benefit of all. Such a being is pictured as combining two qualities in balance — deep wisdom that sees through illusion, and active compassion that refuses to turn away from anyone's pain. A bodhisattva is famously willing to delay their own final rest in order to keep helping others, and over time some bodhisattvas (like the compassionate Avalokiteśvara or the wisdom-figure Mañjuśrī) came to be revered and called upon for aid, much as people in other traditions turn to saints or angels. It is worth being precise about vocabulary: the bodhisattva is not a god and not a savior who erases consequences — it is a model of a life wholly reoriented toward the welfare of all.
Key passages(20)
The Heart of Compassion: The Thirty-seven Verses on the Practice of a Bodhisattva · Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines · The Tibetan Kangyur (84000)
Then the venerable Subhūti asked the Blessed One, “Blessed Lord, when you say ‘bodhisattva,’ what is the actual entity denoted by this word bodhisattva?” The Blessed One replied to the venerable S
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The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines · The Tibetan Kangyur (84000)
The Lord having said this, venerable Subhūti inquired of him, “Lord, what is the attribute, what is the token, and what is the sign of irreversible bodhisattva great beings? How do I know, ‘These bod
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The Transcendent Perfection of Wisdom in Ten Thousand Lines · The Tibetan Kangyur (84000)
Then the venerable Subhūti asked the Blessed One, “Reverend Lord! Are great bodhisattva beings, who properly realize the defining characteristics of phenomena in this way, irreversible?” “Yes, th
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Sudhana, the head merchant’s son, had perceived the visions of infinite buddhas. He had attained the companionship of infinite bodhisattvas. He had been illuminated by the infinite ways of the paths
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The Collected Teachings on the Bodhisatva · The Tibetan Kangyur (84000)
The venerable Śāriputra got up from his seat, placed his robe over one shoulder, knelt down on his right knee, joined his hands in reverence, and spoke to the Lord: “I would like to ask the Lord, the
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“Pūrṇa,” continued the Blessed One, “if bodhisattva great beings who are genuinely following the Great Vehicle constantly rely on and familiarize themselves with four qualities, they will gather all
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Determining the Vinaya: Upāli’s Questions · The Tibetan Kangyur (84000)
Homage to all the buddhas and bodhisattvas! Thus did I hear at one time: The Bhagavān was dwelling in Śrāvastī, in Prince Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park, together with a great monastic assembly
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Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas! Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling in Rājagṛha on Vulture Peak, together with a great saṅgha of 1,250 monks and a great saṅgha of bod
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The Question of Maitreya (1) · The Tibetan Kangyur (84000)
Homage to all the buddhas and bodhisattvas! Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was staying in the Country of the Bhargas, on Mount Śuśumāra in a fearsome forest of wild animals, together
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The Question of Maitreya (2) on the Eight Qualities · The Tibetan Kangyur (84000)
Homage to all the buddhas and bodhisattvas! Thus have I heard at one time. The Blessed One was staying in Rājagṛha, on Vulture Peak Mountain, together with a great saṅgha of 1,250 monks and 10,000
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Now, monks, what is this extensive discourse on the Dharma known as The Play in Full? Monks, the Bodhisattva dwelt in the supreme realm of the Heaven of Joy, where he was honored by offerings, recei
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Upholding the Roots of Virtue · The Tibetan Kangyur (84000)
“Śāradvatīputra, there are four qualities that bodhisattva great beings can possess to make them expert in resolving the nature of things as they are. They also give them an eloquence that is unobs
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The Questions of Sāgaramati · The Tibetan Kangyur (84000)
Then the Blessed One said to Sāgaramati, “Therefore, Sāgaramati, bodhisattva great beings who wish to swiftly and fully awaken to unsurpassed and perfect buddhahood should follow your training, subl
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Modern teachers who discuss this idea
Modern and living teachers whose books take up The bodhisattva. These works are still in copyright, so we can’t show the text here — each links out to the book.
- Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheThe Heart of Compassion: The Thirty-seven Verses on the Practice of a Bodhisattva(2007)View on Amazon→