Bodhi satva biography definition

“Bodhisattva” is a key idea in Buddhism. The word is constructed from the Sanskrit root bodhi, meaning “awakening” or “enlightenment,” and sattva, meaning “being.” The core meaning of the word is “a being who is on the way to becoming enlightened.”

As I explain in my book “Buddhish: A Guide to the 20 Most Important Buddhist Ideas for the Curious and Skeptical,” the word bodhisattva is understood in divergent ways by different groups of Buddhists.

Who is a bodhisattva?

In Theravāda Buddhism, which is most prevalent in Southeast Asia, the term is exclusively used to refer to Siddhartha Gautama, as the Buddha was known before he became enlightened. In this school of thought, the word bodhisattva can also refer to Gautama in one of his previous rebirths as he worked toward enlightenment through numerous lifetimes as animals, people or other types of beings.

According to legend, Gautama was born as the crown prince of a kingdom in far northeastern India, but he gave up his throne a