Bodhisattva

Also called: Bodhisatta · Topic: Buddhism, Jainism and Heterodox Traditions · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 6 "The Age of Reorganisation"; Class 7, Ch 7 "The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity"; Class 12, Ch 3 "Kinship, Caste and Class - Early Societies"; Class 12, Ch 4 "Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings"

Meaning

A Bodhisattva (Pali Bodhisatta) is a deeply compassionate being who builds up merit (good karma earned through good deeds) and could enter nibbāna, but chooses to put it off so they can help others who are still suffering. The word is also used for the Buddha in his earlier lives, before he became enlightened.

It matters because the Bodhisattva ideal is the main feature of Mahāyāna Buddhism. It marks the change from early Buddhism's idea of self-effort to the idea of a saviour who could be worshipped, often through images.

Explanation

Background: from self-effort to a saviour

• Early Buddhism taught self-effort.
• Each person had to work out their own release.
• The Buddha was seen as a human being who reached enlightenment (waking up to the truth about suffering) by his own effort.

• He was a teacher, not a rescuer.

• The idea of a saviour grew slowly. People came to believe that someone else could help them "cross over". Devotion became as important as personal effort.

• By the first century CE this change in Buddhist ideas and practice was clear. Mahāyāna ideas had been appearing from c. second century BCE onwards.
• The Mahāsaṅghika school was formed in the first big split in the saṅgha (the monastic order), about a century after the Buddha's death. It held new views on the nature of the Buddha and is treated as a forerunner of Mahāyāna. [2]

Main features of the Bodhisattva ideal

• Compassion first. The Bodhisattva cares about the suffering of all beings, not only about their own release.
• Merit is shared, not used to escape.
• The Bodhisattva builds up a large store of merit.
• They do not use it to leave the world.

• They use it to help people who are still caught in suffering.

• Nibbāna is put off on purpose. Nibbāna means freedom from the cycle of birth and rebirth. The Bodhisattva could reach it but chooses to delay it.

• A vow to become a buddha. In Mahāyāna, the Bodhisattva vows to become a buddha and delays nirvana to help all beings. [2]
• Many Bodhisattvas. Mahāyāna followers honour many buddhas and bodhisattvas, not only the historical Buddha. [2]
• The older meaning. In the Jātaka stories (tales of the Buddha's earlier births), the future Buddha is called the Bodhisatta. In each life he practises virtues such as giving and patience on his way to enlightenment.

How it changed worship and art

• Image worship grew.
• Earlier, the Buddha was shown only through signs, such as an empty seat, a wheel or a tree.
• Now the human forms of the Buddha and the Bodhisattas were carved and worshipped.

• A saviour you pray to needs a form you can see.

• Sculpture schools. The Gandhara school in the north-west and the Mathura school both carved images of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas. Bodhisattvas are usually shown as princes wearing jewellery and turbans, while the Buddha is shown as a monk.

• Painting. Bodhisattvas also appear in later Buddhist paintings. The best-known example is the Padmapāṇi (the "lotus-holder", a form of Avalokiteśvara) at Ajanta.
• Well-known Bodhisattvas include Avalokiteśvara (the Bodhisattva of compassion) and Maitreya (the future Buddha).

Results

• A new name and a divide.
• The new way of thinking called itself Mahāyāna, the "great vehicle": a big boat that could carry many people across.

• It called the older tradition Hīnayāna, the "lesser vehicle". This was an insulting name given by outsiders.

• The older school did not take part in Bodhisattva worship. Theravādins deeply respect the historical Buddha as a perfect master, but they do not worship the many other buddhas and bodhisattvas. [2]

• The ideal spread across Asia. By the 9th century CE, Mahāyāna was the main influence on Buddhist cultures in Central and East Asia. [2]

Time, place and evidence

• Period: Mahāyāna ideas appeared from c. second century BCE onwards, and the Mahāyāna movement arose within Indian Buddhism around the beginning of the Common Era. [2] The change in practice was clear by the first century CE.
• Wider setting: The same period saw the rise of other devotional traditions: Vaiṣhṇavism (with its cult of ten avatars who come to save the world), Śhaivism and goddess cults.
• Places in India: Gandhara in the north-west and Mathura were major centres of sculpture, including Bodhisattva images. Paintings survive at Ajanta.
• Spread:
• Northern route: through Central Asia to China, Korea and Japan. This route was largely Mahāyāna, and in China Mahāyāna schools such as Chan (Zen) and Pure Land developed. [3]
• Southern route: through Sri Lanka, then across the sea to Myanmar, Thailand and Indonesia.

• The Silk Road carried monks and texts. Buddhist art survives at Bamiyan (Afghanistan), Mount Wutai (China) and Borobudur (Indonesia). [3]

• Evidence:

• Texts: the Jātakas, for the earlier meaning (the Buddha's previous births).
• Sculpture: images of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas from Gandhara and Mathura.
• Paintings: the murals at Ajanta.
• NCERT: Class 12, Ch 4, "Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings", explains the Bodhisatta ideal and the Mahāyāna–Hīnayāna naming.

Don't confuse with

• Arhat: the ideal of the older schools. An arhat is a perfected person who wins their own release. A Bodhisattva delays release to help all beings. [2]
• Buddha: a Buddha has already reached full enlightenment. A Bodhisattva is a being on the way to buddhahood. In the Jātakas, "Bodhisatta" means the Buddha in his earlier lives.
• Tīrthaṅkara (Jainism): a Jain "ford-maker" who has already won liberation and shows others the path. Jainism still stresses strict self-effort. The Bodhisattva is a Buddhist idea of a being who actively helps others.
• Avatar (Vaiṣhṇavism): a form that the god Vishnu takes on earth to save the world from disorder. It is a similar saviour idea from the same period, but it belongs to a Brahmanical tradition, not to Buddhism.

Prelims Hooks

• Bodhisattva / Bodhisatta: a compassionate being who builds up merit but delays nibbāna to help others. This is the central ideal of Mahāyāna.
• Trap: Hīnayāna ("lesser vehicle") was the name Mahāyāna gave to the older tradition. The older tradition called itself Theravāda, after the theras (old, respected teachers).
• Theravādins respect the historical Buddha but do not worship the many buddhas and bodhisattvas. [2]
• Chronology: first stupas (c. 3rd century BCE) → Mahāyāna, Vaiṣhṇavism, Śhaivism and goddess cults (c. 2nd century BCE onwards) → earliest temples (c. 3rd century CE).
• Image worship of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas grew with Mahāyāna. Before that, the Buddha was shown only through symbols (empty seat, wheel, tree).
• The Mahāsaṅghika school, formed c. 100 years after the Buddha's death, is seen as a forerunner of Mahāyāna. [2]

Mains Points

• A shift from self-effort to grace.
• Early Buddhism placed the whole burden of release on the individual.
• The Bodhisattva ideal made release something a compassionate being could help you towards.

• This led directly to image worship and to the Gandhara and Mathura sculpture traditions, which is a lasting part of India's artistic heritage.

• Part of a wider devotional change, not only a Buddhist one.

• The Bodhisattva, Vishnu's saviour avatars, and Śhaiva and goddess worship all grew from about the second century BCE.
• They shared devotion, a deity people could see, and a religion that ordinary people could take part in.

• In a GS-I answer, use the self-name Theravāda rather than the insulting label Hīnayāna.

• Ideas travelled with trade.

• The Bodhisattva ideal moved along the Silk Roads to China, Korea and Japan.
• There it mixed with Taoism and Confucianism, producing Chan (Zen) and Pure Land. [3]
• This shows that when Indian ideas spread, they were adapted to local beliefs, not simply copied.

Related concepts

• Mahayana
• Hinayana
• Avalokiteshvara
• Maitreya
• Tara
• Vajrayana Buddhism
• Nagarjuna
• Madhyamaka
• Yogachara
• Vasubandhu

Read more

• Later evolution: Mahāyāna and the changing religious landscape