May 20, 2026

Buddha's Birthday May 23

Homage to the Buddha

What is Bodhicitta?
On the conventional level of Relative Bodhicitta, bodhicitta is the altruistic wish to attain the state of complete Enlightenment or Awakening, Buddhahood, for the sake of all sentient beings, in order to benefit them generally, and also to bring them to the state of Enlightenment in particular; as well as the determination to practice the Bodhisattva Path of love, compassion, the Six Transcendental Perfections (pāramitā-s), etc., which are necessary for achieving that goal of Buddhahood.

On the absolute level of Ultimate Bodhicitta, bodhicitta is the practice of direct insight into the ultimate nature of phenomena and the true nature of mind.

But here the discussion mainly concerns Relative Bodhicitta, especially in its altruistic aspirations for the benefit of others. Notoriously difficult to translate into English and thus often simply left in its original Sanskrit, bodhicitta has been rendered numerous ways, some more accurate that others, including “awakened mind” (inaccurate), “awakened heart” (inaccurate), “enlightened mind” (inaccurate), “enlightened heart” (inaccurate), “thought of enlightenment/awakening” (somewhat accurate), “altruistic aspiration to enlightenment/awakening” (accurate), “awakening mind” (accurate), “will to enlightenment/awakening” (accurate), “bodhi mind” (accurate), “bodhi heart” (accurate), and “spirit of enlightenment/awakening” (accurate). “Enlightenment/Awakening Mind” (or “Mind of Enlightenment/Awakening”), is the most literal standard translation of the term, and in many contexts may also be the most appropriate for capturing the nuances of the term bodhicitta in English.

Care must be made when rendering this term not to wrongly indicate that this 'mind' is one which has already attained Enlightenment; which is why “enlightened/awakened mind” is inaccurate. It should be noted, however, that bodhicitta often has different meanings in Tantric or Vajrayāna contexts.

Manjushri taught us:

ཚེ་འདི་ལ་ཞེན་ན་ཆོས་པ་མིན། །

TS'É DI LA ZHEN NA CH'Ö-PA MIN

If you are attached to this life, you are not a Dharma practitioner.

ཁམས་གསུམ་ལ་ཞེན་ན་ངེས་འབྱུང་མིན། །

KHAM-SUM LA ZHEN NA NGEY-JUNG MIN
If you are attached to the Three Realms [of Saṃsāra], you do not have renunciation.

བདག་དོན་ལ་ཞེན་ན་བྱང་སེམས་མིན། །

DAK-DÖN LA ZHEN NA JANG-SEM MIN

If you are attached to your own self-interest, you do not have Enlightenment Mind (bodhicitta).

འཛིན་པ་བྱུང་ན་ལྟ་བ་མིན། །

DZIN-PA JUNG NA TA-WA MIN

If you engage in grasping, you do not have the View.

Shaman Elder Maggie Wahls