bodhisattva

English

A 12th-century statue of the bodhisattva Vajrapāṇi from the Long Đoị Pagoda in Hà Nam Province, Vietnam. The statue is now in the Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts in Hanoi.

Alternative forms

• boddhisatva
• bodhisvatta

Etymology

Borrowed from Sanskrit बोधिसत्त्व (bodhisattva, “enlightened existence”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /boʊ̯diːˈsʌtvə/, IPA^(key): /boʊ̯diːˈsɑtvə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

bodhisattva (plural bodhisattvas)

1. (Buddhism) A person who has taken specific lay or monastic vows and who is on the road to perfect knowledge; specifically, one who foregoes personal nirvana in order to help others achieve enlightenment.
   • 2021, Ruth Ozeki, The Book of Form and Emptiness, Canongate Books (2022), page 414:

     Kimi was a true bodhisattva, and her English skills were excellent.

2. (Buddhism) An enlightened being existing in a form of existence beyond the ordinary forms of physical reality understood and acknowledged by scientific thought, resembling the Western notion of angels, but with a wealth of its own nuances and expectations. These include the compassionate working for enlightenment of all sentient beings.

Synonyms

• mahasattva

Derived terms

• bodhisattva vows

Translations

bodhisattva

• Arabic: بُودِيسَاتْفَا f (bodisatvā)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Bengali: বোধিসত্ত্ব (bn) (bōdhiśotto)
• Burmese: ဗောဓိသတ် (my) (bau:dhi.sat)
• Buryat: бодисада (bodisada)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 菩薩／菩萨 (zh) (púsà), 菩提薩埵／菩提萨埵 (pútísàduǒ)

• Esperanto: bodhisatvo
• Finnish: bodhisattva
• French: bodhisattva (fr) m
• Georgian: ბოდჰისატვა (bodhisaṭva)
• German: Bodhisattva m
• Greek: μποντισάτβα m (bontisátva)
• Hindi: बोधिसत्त्व m (bodhisattva)
• Hungarian: bódhiszattva (hu)
• Indonesian: bodhisatwa (id)
• Japanese: 菩薩 (ja) (ぼさつ, bosatsu)
• Kalmyk: бодьсдь (bodʹsdʹ)
• Kazakh: бодхисаттва (bodxisattva)
• Khmer: ពោធិសត្វ (pootʰiʔsat)
• Korean: 보살(菩薩) (ko) (bosal)
• Lao: ພະໂພທິສັດ (pha phō thi sat), ໂພທິສັດ (phō thi sat)
• Malay: bodhisatwa
• Manchu: ᠪᠣᡩᡳᠰᠠᡨᡠ (bodisatu)
• Marathi: बोधिसत्त्व (bodhisattva)
• Mongolian: бодьсадва (bodʹsadva)
• Pali: bodhisatta m
• Persian: بوداسف (budâsef), بوذاسف (buzâsaf)
• Portuguese: bodhisattva m or f
• Russian: бодхиса́ттва m (bodxisáttva), бодхиса́тва (ru) m (bodxisátva), бодиса́тва m (bodisátva)
• Sanskrit: बोधिसत्त्व (sa) m (bodhisattva)
• Sinhalese: බෝධිසත්ත්‍ව (bōdhisattwa)
• Spanish: bodhisattva m or f
• Thai: พระโพธิสัตว์ (th) (prá-poo-tí-sàt), โพธิสัตว์ (th) (poo-tí-sàt)
• Tibetan: བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ (byang chub sems dpa')
• Tocharian A: bodʰisattu
• Uyghur: بۇدساتۋا (budsatwa)
• Vietnamese: bồ tát (vi) (菩薩)

Anagrams

• bodhisvatta