Bodhicitta

In Buddhism, bodhicitta (Sanskrit: बोधिचित्त; Chinese: 菩提心, putixin; Japanese: 菩提心, bodaishin; Standard Tibetan: བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས་, Wylie transliteration: byang chub kyi sems; Mongolian: бодь сэтгэл; Vietnamese: Bồ-đề tâm), "enlightenment-mind", is the mind that strives toward awakening, empathy, and compassion for the benefit of all sentient beings.

Etymologically, the word is a combination of the Sanskrit words bodhi and citta. Bodhi means "awakening" or "enlightenment". Citta derives from the Sanskrit root cit, and means "that which is conscious" (i.e., mind or consciousness). Bodhicitta may be translated as "awakening mind" or "mind of enlightenment".

Bodhicitta is a spontaneous wish to attain enlightenment motivated by great compassion for all sentient beings, accompanied by a falling away of the attachment to the illusion of an inherently existing self.

The mind of great compassion and bodhicitta motivates one to attain enlightenment Buddhahood, as quickly as possible and benefit infinite sentient beings through their emanations and other skillful means. Bodhicitta is a felt need to replace others' suffering with bliss. Since the ultimate end of suffering is nirvana, bodhicitta necessarily involves a motivation to help others to awaken (to find bodhi).

A person who has a spontaneous realization or motivation of bodhicitta is called a bodhisattva.

Different schools may demonstrate alternative understandings of bodhicitta.

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