Bodhicitta
In Mahayana Buddhism, bodhicitta is the mind that is aimed at awakening through wisdom and compassion for the benefit of all sentient beings.
Bodhicitta is the defining quality of the Mahayana bodhisattva and the act of giving rise to bodhicitta 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.
Etymology
Etymologically, the word is a combination of the Sanskrit words bodhi and citta. Bodhi means "awakening" or "enlightenment". Citta derives from the Sanskrit root cit, and means "that which is conscious". Bodhicitta may be translated as "awakening mind" or "mind of enlightenment". It is also sometimes translated as "the thought of enlightenment."Definition
Indian sources
The term bodhicitta is defined and explained in different ways by different Mahayana Buddhist sources. According to Paul Williams, the basic meaning of bodhicitta in Indian sources is the lofty motivation to "strive to bring a complete end to all the sufferings of others along with their own suffering...This bodhicitta results from deep compassion for the suffering of others."According to the Bodhisattvabhumi, the bodhisattva who gives rise to bodhicitta thinks thus:
O may I obtain supreme and perfect Enlightenment, promote the good of all beings, and establish them in the final and complete nirvana and in the Buddha-knowledge!
Thus, according to the Bodhisattvabhumi, bodhicitta has two objects of thought or themes : bodhi and the good of the living beings.
Similarly, in the Ornament of Realization, bodhicitta is defined as follows:
The arising of the mind is a desire for perfect, complete Bodhi, for the sake of others
According to Indian sources, the bodhicitta aspiration provides incalculable merit. Bodhicitta is what makes someone a Mahayana bodhisattva, a child of the Buddha. Thus, the Indian Buddhist author Shantideva writes in his Bodhicaryavatara:
Those who long to transcend the hundreds of miseries of existence, who long to relieve creatures of their sorrows, who long to enjoy many hundreds of joys, must never abandon bodhicitta. When bodhicitta has arisen in him, a wretch, captive in the prison of existence, he is straightway hailed son of the Sugatas , to be revered in the worlds of gods and men.
According to Paul Williams, bodhicitta in early Mahāyāna works was less well defined and meant a "certain state of mind" characteristic of a bodhisattva.
The cultivation of bodhicitta plays a significant role in Mahāyāna liturgies, particularly in ceremonies where one takes the bodhisattva precepts. Within these texts, two distinct types of bodhicitta are identified. The first, known as "conventional bodhicitta", refers to the mental aspiration of a bodhisattva to attain enlightenment, as previously explained. The second, called "ultimate bodhicitta", denotes a mind that directly perceives either emptiness or the inherent enlightenment / buddha-nature within the mind itself.
Regarding the second aspect, some Mahayana sources discuss bodhicitta not as something that must be generated, but as something which is latent in all beings, something that is already there. This is linked to the idea of the inherently pure luminous mind. Thus, the Vairocanābhisaṃbodhi-sūtra states: “Knowing one’s own mind according to reality is BODHI, and bodhicitta is the innately pure mind that is originally existent.”
Modern definitions
According to the 14th Dalai Lama, bodhicitta is:the aspiration to bring about the welfare of all sentient beings and to attain buddhahood for their sake - is really the distilled essence, the squeeze juice, of all the Buddha's teachings, because ultimately, the Buddha's intention is to lead all sentient beings to perfect enlightenment.
Some modern East Asian authors on Buddhism, such as D.T. Suzuki and M. Anesaki, define bodhicitta as an immanent inner awakening. For example, Anesaki writes that bodhicitta is "the primordial essence of our mind, which in itself consists in the supreme bodhi."
According to Zoketsu Norman Fischer, bodhicitta is a spontaneous wish to attain enlightenment motivated by great compassion for all sentient beings, accompanied by a falling away of the attachment to the illusion of an inherently existing self.
Fischer adds that bodhicitta, along with the mind of great compassion, motivates one to attain enlightenment Buddhahood, as quickly as possible and benefit infinite sentient beings through their emanations and other skillful means. Bodhicitta is a felt need to replace others' suffering with bliss. Since the ultimate end of suffering is nirvana, bodhicitta necessarily involves a motivation to help others to awaken.
File:Sumedha_and_Dīpankara,_2nd_century,_Swat_Valley,_Gandhāra.jpg|thumb|Gandharan relief depicting the ascetic Megha prostrating before the past Buddha Dīpaṅkara and vowing to become a Buddha, c. 2nd century CE
Types and stages of bodhicitta
Indian sources
Indian Mahayana sources also developed different models which described different forms and levels of bodhicitta.According to the Bodhisattvabhumi, there are two main stages of the development of bodhicitta:
- a kind of bodhicitta which can be lost
- the permanent kind of bodhicitta which cannot be lost and leads directly to enlightenment.
- bodhicitta which is a wish or aspiration, this is when a bodhisattva makes an aspiration or "bodhisattva vow" to become a Buddha for the sake of all beings. This is compared to making the decision to start on a journey.
- active bodhicitta which consists of actually practicing the path in line with one's intent, which like actually undertaking a journey
- herder bodhicitta, in which a bodhisattva strives to deliver beings to awakening first
- ferryman bodhicitta, in which they travel to and enter enlightenment together with the beings they are ferrying
- king-like bodhicitta, in which the bodhisattva reaches awakening first, and then helps others to reach that goal
In Tibetan Buddhism
A common Tibetan Buddhist distinction is that between relative and absolute bodhicitta. Relative bodhicitta is a state of mind in which the practitioner works for the good of all beings as if it were their own. Absolute bodhicitta is the wisdom of shunyata.In his book Words of My Perfect Teacher, the Tibetan Buddhist teacher Patrul Rinpoche describes the three degrees of bodhicitta as taught in the Avatamsaka Sutra, claiming that shepherd-like is best.
Some bodhicitta practices emphasize the absolute, while others emphasize the relative, 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.
Cultivation
Buddhist practice focuses on the Bodhisattva path, at this path begins with the arousing of bodhicitta. The arising of bodhicitta or the generation of it is called bodhicittotpāda, that is, the arising of bodhicitta.Mahāyāna Buddhism teaches that the broader motivation of achieving one's own enlightenment "in order to help all sentient beings" 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. Thus, the bodhisattva's Six Perfections of Buddhism only become true "perfections" when they are done with the motivation of bodhicitta. This means that any act, such as the action of giving can be done in a mundane sense, or it can be a pāramitā if it is conjoined with bodhicitta. Bodhicitta is the primary positive factor to be cultivated.
Practices
The Mahāyāna tradition provides specific methods for the intentional cultivation of both absolute and relative bodhicitta. This cultivation is considered to be a fundamental aspect of the path to Buddhahood. Practitioners of the Mahāyāna make it their primary goal to develop genuine uncontrived bodhicitta, which remains within their mindstreams continuously without having to rely on conscious effort. This is assisted by numerous methods, contemplation, rituals and meditations, such as: relying on a spiritual friend, taking refuge in the three jewels, and contemplating the defects of samsara, the benefits of arousing bodhicitta, and developing spiritual qualities such as faith, mindfulness and wisdom.Numerous Mahāyāna texts outline various causes and conditions that foster the development of bodhicitta. The Bodhisattvabhūmi identifies four primary conditions for generating bodhicitta:
- Witnessing an extraordinary miracle performed by a buddha or bodhisattva,
- Hearing teachings on enlightenment or doctrines directed at bodhisattvas,
- Recognizing the potential extinction of the dharma and striving to preserve the true dharma,
- Perceiving the suffering caused by afflictions in sentient beings and feeling compassion for them.
- Contemplating the buddhas,
- Contemplating the inherent dangers of the body,
- Cultivating compassion for sentient beings,
- Aspiring for the supreme result or fruit, i.e. Buddhahood
A common practice in various Mahāyāna Buddhist traditions is to recite bodhisattva vows and aspiration prayers or chants which help give rise to bodhicitta. One popular chant in India and presently throughout the Mahayana world is the Bhadracaripraṇidhāna or Ārya-samantabhadra-caryā-praṇidhāna-rāja, a verse aspiration prayer which appears at the end of some versions of the Avatamsaka sutra. This text, originally an independent set of verses, is cited in numerous sources and was known to figures like Bhavya, Śantideva, and Kamalaśīla.
One short prayer for bodhicitta which is very popular in Tibetan Buddhism was composed by the Indian paṇḍita Dīpaṁkaraśrījñāna :
East Asian Buddhism
According to the Faith in the Mahayana|Awakening of Faith], a key treatise in East Asian Buddhism, there are three forms of arising of bodhicitta: arising from faith, arising from understanding and practice, and arising from realization.Jingying Huiyuan, in his Dasheng Yizhang, categorizes the generation of bodhicitta into three types:
- generation of the mind based on characteristics, where the bodhisattva, seeing the nature of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa, develops aversion to saṃsāra and strives for nirvāṇa;
- generation of the mind beyond characteristics, where the bodhisattva understands the non-duality between saṃsāra and nirvāṇa and transcends the perception of their distinct qualities;
- generation of the mind based on truth, where the bodhisattva recognizes the original nature of awakening as identical to their own mind and returns to their original mind.
There is also a bodhicitta mantra which is recited in some traditions of Chinese esoteric Buddhism and Shingon. The Sanskrit mantra is:
Oṃ Bodhicittam Utpādayāmi.
Tibetan methods
Among the many methods for developing uncontrived bodhicitta given in Tibetan Mahāyāna teachings are:- A. So as to arouse Bodhicitta, the main aspect, the Four Immeasurables contemplation and practice:
- * Immeasurable Loving-Kindness,
- * Immeasurable Compassion,
- * Immeasurable Joy in the Good Fortune of Others,
- * Immeasurable Equanimity and
- B. So as to aspire Bodhicitta:
- * The Lojong practices:
- ** Others as equal to self: Exchanging self and others: the Sending and Receiving while breathing practice,
- ** Others as more important: 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.
- C. So as to apply Bodhicitta and achieve enlightenment:
- * The repeated Pāramitās practice cycle: 1) Generosity, 2) Virtue, 3) Patience, 4) Effort, 5) Meditation, and 6) Insight.
In Lojong's 59 slogans, Point Two: The main practice, which is training in absolute and relative bodhicitta.
When only realizing Śūnyatā, the practitioner might not benefit others, so the Mahayana path unites emptiness and compassion, this keeps from falling into the two limits and remaining on the middle way. Traditionally, Bodhisattvas practice meditative concentration at the beginning toward attaining the noble one's wisdom level, then the main practice becomes benefiting others spontaneously, unlike other paths that might discontinue benefiting others.
All the conducive causes and auspicious conditions should be complete for bodhicitta to properly arise. After continued training, these qualities can arise in the mind without contrivance.
The two main traditions in taking the Bodhicitta vows are: 1) Nagarjuna's profound view chariot and, 2) Asanga's vast conduct chariot. After which this is guarded with what to avoid, and what to adopt.
The practice can be divided into three parts: 1) mind training, 2) arousing bodhicitta, and 3) training in what to adopt and what to avoid. These can be called the 1) preliminary practice, 2) main practice, and 3) concluding practice. The preliminary practice is training in the four boundless qualities. The main practice is arousing Bodhicitta and taking vows. The concluding practice is training in what to adopt and guarding without fail against what to avoid.
The Ancient Tibetan school preliminary practice cycle in the Samantabhadra to Longchenpa to Jigme Lingpa's lineage of the Excellent Part to Omniscience: Vast Expanse Heart Essence. Invocation; Confession; Faith with Refuge: Mind Series Bodhichitta nature in the channels, inner air, and ; Mandala of essence, nature, and compassion; Generation: Illusory perceptions like the moon reflecting in the water. Follow like Manjushree to dedicate with the aspiration to realize the innermost meaning and realize to attain Buddhahood as a spiritual warrior.
Two practice lineages
Tibetan Buddhists maintain that there are two main ways to cultivate Bodhichitta, the "Seven Causes and Effects" that originates from Maitreya and was taught by Atisha, and "Exchanging Self and Others," taught by Shantideva and originally by Manjushri.According to Tsongkhapa the seven causes and effects are thus:
- recognizing all beings as your mothers;
- recollecting their kindness;
- the wish to repay their kindness;
- love;
- great compassion;
- wholehearted resolve;
- bodhichitta.
- how self and others are equal;
- contemplating the many faults resulting from self-cherishing;
- contemplating the many good qualities resulting from cherishing others;
- the actual contemplation on the interchange of self and others;
- with these serving as the basis, the way to meditate on giving and taking.