Bodhisattva

In Buddhism, a bodhisattva (/ˌboʊdiːˈsʌtvə/ BOH-dee-SUT-və) is any person who is on the path towards Buddhahood.But the fact is that both the Theravada and the Mahayana unanimously accept the Bodhisattva ideal as the highest...Although the Theravada holds that anybody can be a Bodhisattva, it does not stipulate or insist that all must be Bodhisattva which is considered not practical.When Mahāyāna sūtras present stories of Buddhas and bodhisattvas’ first arising of the thought of attaining Buddhahood, they invariably depict it as taking place in the presence of a Buddha, suggesting that they shared with all known nikāya traditions the understanding that this is a necessary condition for entering the path. In addition, though this key fact is often obscured in scholarship, they apparently never encourage anyone to become a bodhisattva or present any ritual or other means of doing so. Like nikāya texts, they also regard the status of new or recent bodhisattvas as largely meaningless. The Aṣṭasāhasrikā, for instance, states that as many bodhisattvas as there grains of sand in the Ganges turn back from the pursuit of Buddhahood and that out of innumerable beings who give rise to bodhicitta and progress toward Buddhahood, only one or two will reach the point of becoming irreversible. Standing bodhisattva. Gandhāra, 2nd-3rd century.Standing bodhisattva. Gandhāra, 2nd-3rd century.Gathering of bodhisattvas. China, 6th century.Mural of bodhisattvas. China, Tang Dynasty, 7th-9th century.Boddhisattva Vajrapani. Mendut near Borobudur, Central Java, Indonesia. Sailendran art c. 8th century.A bronze boddhisattva Maitreya. Komering, Palembang, Indonesia. Srivijayan art c. 9th-10th century.Ākāśagarbha Bodhisattva. Japan, 9th century.Mural of a bodhisattva. China, 10th century.9th century CE Srivijayan art, Chaiya, Surat Thani, Southern Thailand.Seated Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (Guanyin), wood and pigment, 11th century, Chinese Northern Song dynasty, St. Louis Art Museum.Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva. India, 11th-12th century.Gold coated bronze statue of Avalokitesvara in Malayu-Srivijayan style c. 11th century, Jambi, Sumatra, Indonesia.Mahāsthāmaprāpta Bodhisattva. China, 13th century.Youthful Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva silver statue. Java, 9th century Indonesia.Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva crossing the sea. Japan, 14th century.Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva. Japan, 15th century.Samantabhadra Bodhisattva. Japan.Maitreya Bodhisattva. Thiksey Monastery, Ladakh, India.'Standing Bodhisattva' (pre-1234). Brooklyn Museum, New York City.Daizuigu Mahapratisara Bodhisattva. Guimet Museum.Shrine with an Image of a Bodhisattva. Brooklyn Museum. In Buddhism, a bodhisattva (/ˌboʊdiːˈsʌtvə/ BOH-dee-SUT-və) is any person who is on the path towards Buddhahood. In the Early Buddhist schools as well as modern Theravada Buddhism, a bodhisattva (Pali: bodhisatta) refers to anyone who has made a resolution to become a Buddha and has also received a confirmation or prediction from a living Buddha that this will be so. In Mahayana Buddhism, a bodhisattva refers to anyone who has generated bodhicitta, a spontaneous wish and compassionate mind to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings. In early Buddhism, the term bodhisatta is used in the early texts to refer to Gautama Buddha in his previous lives and as a young man in his current life in the period during which he was working towards his own liberation. During his discourses, to recount his experiences as a young aspirant he regularly uses the phrase 'When I was an unenlightened bodhisatta...' The term therefore connotes a being who is 'bound for enlightenment', in other words, a person whose aim is to become fully enlightened. In the Pāli canon, the bodhisatta is also described as someone who is still subject to birth, illness, death, sorrow, defilement, and delusion. Some of the previous lives of the Buddha as a bodhisattva are featured in the Jataka tales. According to the Theravāda monk Bhikkhu Bodhi, the bodhisattva path is not taught in the earliest strata of Buddhist texts such as the Pali Nikayas (and their counterparts such as the Chinese Āgamas) which instead focus on the ideal of the Arahant. The oldest known story about how Gautama Buddha becomes a bodhisattva is the story of his encounter with the previous Buddha, Dīpankara. During this encounter, a previous incarnation of Gautama, variously named Sumedha, Megha, or Sumati offers five blue lotuses and spreads out his hair or entire body for Dīpankara to walk on, resolving to one day become a Buddha. Dīpankara then confirms that they will attain Buddhahood. Early Buddhist authors saw this story as indicating that the making of a resolution (abhinīhāra) in the presence of a living Buddha and his prediction/confirmation of one's future Buddhahood was necessary to become a bodhisattva. According to Drewes, 'all known models of the path to Buddhahood developed from this basic understanding.' The path is explained differently by the various Nikaya schools. In the Theravāda Buddhavaṃsa (1st-2nd century BCE), after receiving the prediction, Gautama took four asaṃkheyyas ('incalculable aeons') and a hundred thousand, shorter kalpas (aeons) to reach Buddhahood. The Sarvāstivāda school had similar models about how the Buddha Gautama became a bodhisattva. They held it took him three asaṃkhyeyas and ninety one kalpas (aeons) to become a Buddha after his resolution (praṇidhāna) in front of a past Buddha. During the first asaṃkhyeya he is said to have encountered and served 75,000 Buddhas, and 76,000 in the second, after which he received his first prediction (vyākaraṇa) of future Buddhahood from Dīpankara, meaning that he could no longer fall back from the path to Buddhahood. Thus, the presence of a living Buddha is also necessary for Sarvāstivāda. The Mahāvibhāṣā explains that its discussion of the bodhisattva path is partly meant 'to stop those who are in fact not bodhisattvas from giving rise to the self-conceit that they are.' The Mahāvastu of the Mahāsāṃghika-Lokottaravādins presents four stages of the bodhisattva path without giving specific time frames (though its said to take various asaṃkhyeya kalpas):