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bodhisattva
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bodhisattva bodhisattva bodhisattva sculpture Mogao Caves: Bodhisattva Bodhisattva from Nanchao, an ancient Tai kingdom (now in Yunnan province, China), bronze, 13th century; in the British Museum, London. Height 44 cm. bodhisattva Tall white statue of Kannon, the bodhisattva of compassion, stands behind a red arched bridge and trees in Takasaki, Japan. thang-ka Bodhisattva, painted clay, 11th century, Liao dynasty; in the lower Huayan Temple, Datong, Shanxi province, China. Detail from the Thai silk painting The Great Departure of Bodhisattva shows white horses with riders and attendants against a red background decorated with floral motifs.
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bodhisattva
bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the compassionate bodhisattva, shown with 11 heads and 8 arms, symbolic of his ability to sense humankind's needs everywhere in the universe.

bodhisattva

Buddhist ideal
Also known as: bodhisatta
Written by
Jonathan A. Silk
Professor of Buddhist Studies, Leiden University. Author of Riven by Lust: Incest and Schism in Indian Buddhist Legend and Historiography and Managing Monks: Administrators and Administrative...
Jonathan A. Silk
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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History

bodhisattva, in Buddhism, one who seeks awakening (bodhi)—hence, an individual on the path to becoming a buddha. In early Indian Buddhism and in some later traditions—including Theravada, at present the major form of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and other parts of Southeast Asia—the term bodhisattva was used primarily to refer to the Buddha Shakyamuni (as Gautama Siddhartha is known) in his former lives. The stories of his lives, the Jatakas, portray the efforts of the...

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