In Buddhism, bodhicitta (Sanskr. बोधिचित्त, Ch. 菩提心, pudixin, Jp. bodaishin, Tibetan jang chub sem, Mongolian бодь сэтгэл) is the wish to attain complete enlightenment (that is, Buddhahood) in order to be of benefit to all sentient beings trapped in cyclic existence (samsāra) who have not yet reached Buddhahood (specific scriptural references needed). One who has bodhicitta as the primary motivation for all of his or her activities is called a bodhisattva. Bodhicitta also means the aim to, on the one hand, bring happiness to all sentient beings, and on the other, to relieve them of suffering; this definition is consistent with the definition of seeking enlightenment, as enlightenment is the freedom from samsara.

Etymologically, the word is a combination of the Sanskrit words bodhi and citta. Bodhi means "awakening" or "enlightenment". Citta is derived from the Sanskrit root cit, and denotes "that which is conscious" – mind or consciousness. Bodhicitta may be translated as "awakening mind" or "mind of enlightenment".

Bodhicitta may also be defined as the union of compassion and wisdom. This is a development of the concept of luminous mind in the Pali Canon. While the compassion and wisdom aspects of bodhicitta are actually highly dependent on each other, in the Mahāyanā tradition (the school of Buddhism within which the terminology relating to bodhicitta is most fully developed) they are often referred to as:

Relative bodhicitta, which refers to a state of mind in which the practitioner works for the good of all beings as if it were his own.

Absolute, or ultimate, bodhicitta, which refers to the wisdom of shunyata (śunyatā, a Sanskrit term often translated as "emptiness", though the alternatives "openness" or "spaciousness" probably convey the idea better to Westerners) . The concept of śunyatā in Buddhist thought does not refer to nothingness, but to freedom from attachments (particularly attachment to the idea of a static or essential self) and from fixed ideas about the world and how it should be. The classic text on śunyatā is the , a discourse of the Buddha commonly referred to as the "Heart Sūtra."

So, the term bodhicitta in its most complete sense would combine both:

the arising of spontaneous and limitless compassion for all sentient beings, and

the falling away of the attachment to the illusion of an inherently existent self.

Some bodhicitta practices emphasize the absolute (e.g. vipaśyanā); others emphasize the relative (e.g. metta), but both aspects are seen in all Mahāyāna practice as essential to enlightenment, especially in the Tibetan practices of tonglen and lojong. Without the absolute, the relative can degenerate into pity and sentimentality, whereas the absolute without the relative can lead to nihilism and lack of desire to engage other sentient beings for their benefit.

Bodhicitta may be viewed as having different levels: one useful classification is that given by Patrul Rinpoche in his Words of My Perfect Teacher. He states that the lowest level is the way of the King, who primarily seeks his own benefit but who recognizes that his benefit depends crucially on that of his kingdom and his subjects. The middle level is the path of the boatman, who ferries his passengers across the river and simultaneously, of course, ferries himself as well. The highest level is that of the shepherd, who makes sure that all his sheep arrive safely ahead of him and places their welfare above his own.

Although classification systems do vary (some schools even denying any conceptualizing of the path to Buddhahood) e.g. yellow hats argue that with bodhicitta one enters the path of accumulation

Source Texts

Among the most important source texts on bodhichitta, within the Mahāyāna tradition in which the teaching arose, are Śāntideva's A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way Of Life (c. 700 CE), Thogme Zangpo's Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva (12th century CE), Langri Tangpa's Eight Verses for Training the Mind (c. 1100 CE), and the lojong (mind training) proverbs authored by Geshe Chekhawa in the 12th century CE.

Luminous mind in the Nikayas

Luminous mind (also, "brightly shining mind," "brightly shining citta") is a term used by the Buddha in the Pali Canon. It is described as the most fundamental aspect of the mind, and is said to be "brightly shining" whether or not this is realized. It is given no direct doctrinal interpretation in the Pali discourses; one way the Mahāyanā interprets it is as bodhicitta. The observation that the ground state of consciousness is of the nature of loving-kindness implies that empathy is innate to consciousness and exists prior to the emergence of all active mental processes.

Significance

That bodhicitta is the primary positive factor to be cultivated is particularly emphasized by the Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna (or tantric) schools of Buddhism. In Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna Buddhism, the goal of Buddhist practice is primarily for an individual to escape from samsāra with the aspiration to be reborn infinite numbers of times to liberate all those other beings still trapped in samsāra.

While the teaching and terminology of bodhichitta is most developed in Mahāyāna Buddhism, its practice and realization are independent of sectarian considerations since they are fundamentally a part of the human experience. There are, of course, bodhisattvas recognized not only in the Theravāda school of Buddhism, but in all other religious traditions and among those of no formal religious tradition. The present fourteenth Dalai Lama, for instance, regarded Mother Teresa as one of the greatest modern bodhisattvas. Buddhism has no monopoly either on compassion or on the realization of the fundamentally illusory nature of our view of "self" and the world. Buddhism teaches that many bodhisattvas neither teach nor announce themselves in any way at all, but live apparently ordinary lives and help other sentient beings by stealth. It is regarded as a very healthy contemplation to hold the view that all other beings may actually be hidden bodhisattvas, including those we do not like.

Followers of the Mahāyāna, in particular, believe that the attainment of Buddhahood is not only possible by all sentient beings, but inevitable. Since all beings karmically connected ("all in the same boat", as it were), either we will all attain liberation or we will all drown in the ocean of samsāra. Mahāyāna teaches that even those who have initially chosen personal liberation from samsāra will be awakened eventually by Buddhas and entreated to develop bodhicitta and become fully enlightened in order to help liberate all sentient beings.

Mahāyāna Buddhism teaches that the broader motivation of achieving one's own enlightenment in order to help all sentient beings, bodhicitta, is the best possible motivation one can have for any action, whether it be working in one's vocation, teaching others, or even making an incense offering. The Six Perfections (Pāramitās) of Buddhism only become true "perfections" when they are done with the motivation of bodhicitta. Thus, the action of giving (Skt. dāna) can be done in a mundane sense, or it can be a Pāramitā if it is conjoined with bodhicitta.

Cultivation

The seeds of both Absolute and Relative bodhicitta will often arise spontaneously – for example, when seeing someone close to us who is suffering, or in the face of a major unexpected event that upsets our world view. Unfortunately they can also vanish again just as quickly, which is why many Buddhist traditions, and in particular the Mahāyāna, provide specific methods for the intentional cultivation of both absolute and relative bodhicitta. This cultivation is considered to be one of the most difficult aspects of the path to complete enlightenment. Any teaching or activity cannot be held to be a genuine Mahāyāna activity unless it is conjoined with at least a contrived bodhicitta. Practitioners of the Mahāyāna make it their primary goal to go beyond contrived forms of bodhicitta and to develop a genuine, uncontrived bodhicitta which remains within their mindstreams continuously without having to rely on conscious effort.

Among the many methods for developing uncontrived Bodhicitta given in Mahāyāna teachings are:

Contemplation of the Four Immeasurables (Brahmaviharas) - Immeasurable Loving-Kindness (Maitri), Immeasurable Compassion (Karunā), Immeasurable Joy in the Good Fortune of Others (Mudita), and Immeasurable Equanimity (Upeksa)

The practice of the Pāramitās (Generosity, Patience, Virtue, Effort, Meditation, and Insight).

The Taking and Sending (tonglen) practice, in which one takes in the pain and suffering of others on the inbreath and sends them love, joy, and healing on the outbreath., and the Lojong ('Mind Training') practices of which tonglen forms a part.

Viewing all other sentient beings as having been our mothers in infinite past lives, and feeling gratitude for the many occasions on which they have taken care of us.

Notes

See also

Consciousness (Buddhism)

References

White, Kenneth R. 2005. The Role of Bodhicitta in Buddhist Enlightenment. New York : The Edwin Mellen Press. [includes translations of the following: Bodhicitta-sastra, Benkemmitsu-nikyoron, Sammaya-kaijo]

Lampert, K.(2005); Traditions of Compassion: From Religious Duty to Social Activism. Palgrave-Macmillan

Steps on the Path to Enlightenment. Vol. 1. Geshe Lhundub Sopa w/ David Pratt. 2004

An Introduction to Buddhist Ethics. Peter Harvey. 2000

Entering the Path of Enlightenment: The Bodhicaryavatara of the Buddhist Poet Santideva. (Translation) Marion L. Matics. 1970

The World of Tibetan Buddhism. The Dalai Lama. 1995

Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism. John Powers. 1995

A Guide to the Buddhist Path. Sangharakshita. 1990

External links

Compassion and Bodhicitta

Bodhicitta.net

The Bodhisattva in Buddhism by Walpola Rahula Thera - German language

Chamtrul Rinpoche">Bodhicitta non-profit organization for humanitarian aid in partnership with Chamtrul Rinpoche

Drikung Kagyu Ngöndro Teaching By Lama Sonam Jorphel Rinpoche

Practicing absolute bodhichitta

Category:Sanskrit words and phrases Category:Buddhist terms Category:Mahayana

Background	#FFD068 | color = black
Name	Pema Chödrön
Caption	Pema Chödrön at a talk on "No Time to Lose"
Birth name	Deirdre Blomfield-Brown
Birth date	July 14, 1936
Birth place	New York City, New York, United States
Religion	Vajrayana Buddhism
Title	Bhikkhuni
Education	University of California, Berkeley

Pema Chödrön (born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown) is an American woman who was ordained as a Buddhist nun in the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism in 1981, and a teacher in the lineage of Chögyam Trungpa.

A prolific author, she has conducted workshops, seminars, and meditation retreats in Europe, Australia, and throughout North America. She is resident and teacher of Gampo Abbey, a monastery in rural Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada.

History

Pema Chödrön was born in or around 1936 in New York City. She attended Miss Porters School in Farmington, Connecticut and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley. She worked as an elementary school teacher in California and New Mexico before her conversion to Buddhism.

Following a second divorce, Chödrön began to study with Lama Chime Rinpoche in the French Alps. She became a Buddhist nun in 1974 while studying with him in London. She is a fully ordained bhikṣuṇī in a combination of the Mulasarvastivadin and Dharmaguptaka lineages of vinaya, having received full ordination in Hong Kong in 1981 at the behest of the sixteenth Karmapa. She has been instrumental in trying to reestablish full ordination for nuns in the Mulasarvastivadin order, to which all Tibetan Buddhist monastics have traditionally belonged; various conferences have been convened to study the matter.

Ani Pema first met Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1972, and at the urging of Chime Rinpoche, she took him as her root guru ("Ani" is a Tibetan honorific for a nun). She studied with him from 1974 until his death in 1987. Trungpa Rinpoche's son, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, appointed Chödrön an acharya (senior teacher) shortly after assuming leadership of his father's Shambhala lineage in 1992.

Trungpa Rinpoche appointed Ani Pema director of the Boulder Shambhala Center (then Boulder Dharmadhatu) in Colorado in the early 1980s. It was during this period that she became ill with chronic fatigue syndrome. In 1984, Ani Pema moved to Gampo Abbey and became its director in 1986. She is currently studying with Lama Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, and spends seven months of each year in solitary retreat under his direction in Crestone, Colorado.

Chödrön continues to teach the traditional Yarne (Tib. rainy season; Sanskrit: Vassāvāsa) retreat for monastics at Gampo Abbey each winter. In recent years, she has spent the summers teaching on the Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life in Berkeley. A central theme of her teachings is shenpa, the Tibetan word for "attachment", which she interprets as anger, low self-esteem, or addiction in response to an insult by another person.

Bibliography

, May 2007.]]

;Books

The Wisdom of No Escape And The Path of Loving-Kindness. Shambhala Publications, 1991. ISBN 1-57062-872-6

Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living. Shambhala Publications, 1994. ISBN 0-87773-880-7

Awakening Loving-Kindness(abridged version of The Wisdom of No Escape). Shambhala Publications, 1996. ISBN 1-570-62259-0

When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times. Element Books, 1996. ISBN 1-570-62969-2

Tonglen: The Path of Transformation. Vajradhatu Publications, 2001. ISBN 1-570-62409-7

The Places that Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times Shambhala Publications, 2002. ISBN 1570624097

Comfortable with Uncertainty: 108 Teachings on Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion. Shambhala Publications, 2003. ISBN 1-59030-078-5

No Time to Lose: A Timely Guide to the Way of the Bodhisattva. Shambhala Publications, 2005. ISBN 1-590-30135-8

Practicing Peace in Times of War: A Buddhist Perspective Shambhala Publications, September 2006. ISBN 1-590-30401-2

Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves From Old Habits and Fears. Shambhala Publications, 2010 Reprint. ISBN 1590308433

;Audio

Unconditional Confidence: Instructions for Meeting Any Experience with Trust and Courage. Sounds True, Inc, 2009. ISBN 1591797462

Getting Unstuck: Breaking Your Habitual Patterns & Encountering Naked Reality. Sounds True, Inc, 2006. ISBN 159179238X

Awakening Compassion: Meditation Practice For Difficult Times. Sounds True, Inc, 1995. ISBN 1564553140

Noble Heart: A Self-Guided Retreat on Befriending Your Obstacles. Sounds True, Inc, 1998. ISBN 1564555763

Good Medicine: How to Turn Pain into Compassion With Tonglen Meditation. Sounds True, Inc, 2001. ISBN 1564558460.

Alice Walker and Pema Chōdrōn in Conversation: On the Meaning of Suffering and the Mystery of Joy. Sounds True, Inc, 1999. ISBN 1564556700

Pure Meditation: The Tibetan Buddhist Practice of Inner Peace. Sounds True, Inc, 2000. ISBN 1564558118

Seven Points of Mind Training: Shenpa Teachings. 2006.

Don't Bite the Hook: Finding Freedom from Anger, Resentment, and Other Destructive Emotions. Shambhala Audio, 2007. ISBN 1590304349

How to Meditate: A Practical Guide to Making Friends with Your Mind. Sounds True, Inc, 2007. ISBN 1591797942

;Compilations

The Compassion Box - includes Start Where You Are, a set of 59 slogan cards with brief commentaries, and a CD of tonglen meditation instruction. Shambhala Publications, 2003. ISBN 1590300750

References

External links

Pema Chödrön's web site

List of Pema Chödrön's articles on Shambhalasun.com

The Pema Chödrön Foundation's web site

Video Interview with Pema Chödrön by Bill Moyers

Pema Chödrön and Dzigar Kongtrül: Let’s Be Honest A discussion led by Elizabeth Namgyel

Category:1936 births Category:20th-century Lamas Category:American Buddhist nuns Category:American spiritual writers Category:Buddhist philosophers Category:Buddhist nuns Category:Converts to Buddhism Category:Living people Category:People with chronic fatigue syndrome Category:Modern Buddhist writers Category:People from New York City Category:Tibetan Buddhist teachers Category:Tibetan Buddhists from the United States Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni Category:Date of birth missing (living people)