In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( bodhisattva ; bodhisatta ) is either an enlightened ( bodhi ) existence ( sattva ) or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, " heroic-minded one ( satva ) for enlightenment ( bodhi ).

Traditionally, a bodhisattva is anyone who, motivated by great compassion, has generated bodhicitta, which is a spontaneous wish to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings.

While Maitreya ( Pāli: Metteya ) is mentioned in the Pāli canon, he is not referred to as a bodhisattva, but simply the next fully awakened Buddha to come into existence long after the current teachings of the Buddha are lost.

Mahāyāna Buddhism is based principally upon the path of a bodhisattva.

" The contains a simple and brief definition for the term bodhisattva, which is also the earliest known Mahāyāna definition.

Indelibly entwined with the bodhisattva vow is merit transference ( pariṇāmanā ).

A bodhisattva is one who has a determination to free sentient beings from samsara and its cycle of death, rebirth and suffering.

According to some Mahāyāna sources a bodhisattva is someone on the path to full Buddhahood.

# Stainless: In accomplishing the second bhūmi, the bodhisattva is free from the stains of immorality, therefore, this bhūmi is named " stainless ".

# Luminous: The third bhūmi is named " luminous ", because, for a bodhisattva who accomplishes this bhūmi, the light of Dharma is said to radiate for others from the bodhisattva.

In religious terms, the Dalai Lama is believed by his devotees to be the rebirth of a long line of tulkus who are considered to be manifestations of the bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteśvara.

Guanyin is the bodhisattva associated with compassion as venerated by East Asian Buddhists, usually as a female.

Guānyīn is a translation from the Sanskrit Avalokitasvara, referring to the Mahāyāna bodhisattva of the same name.

Another later name for this bodhisattva is Guānzìzài ().

) Because this bodhisattva is considered the personification of compassion and kindness, a mother-goddess and patron of mothers and seamen, the representation in China was further interpreted in an all-female form around the 12th century.

In Chinese Buddhist iconography, Guanyin is often depicted as meditating or sitting alongside one of the Buddhas and usually accompanied by another bodhisattva.

In the Pure Land school, for example, Guanyin is frequently depicted on the left of Amitabha Buddha, while on the buddha's right is another bodhisattva called Mahasthamaprapta ( Dàshìzhì ).

In Chinese culture, the popular belief and worship of Guanyin as a goddess by the populace is generally not viewed to be in conflict with the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara's nature.

The most popular representations of Inari, according to scholar Karen Ann Smyers, are a young female food goddess, an old man carrying rice, and an androgynous bodhisattva.

The southern Mahāsāṃghika schools such as the Caitikas advocated the ideal of the bodhisattva ( bodhisattvayāna ) over that of the arhat ( śrāvakayāna ), and they viewed arhats as being fallible and still subject to ignorance.

The central sanctuary of an Angkorian temple was home to the temple's primary deity, the one to whom the site was dedicated: typically Shiva or Vishnu in the case of a Hindu temple, Buddha or a bodhisattva in the case of a Buddhist temple.

The original meaning of the name " Avalokitasvara " fits the Buddhist understanding of the role of a bodhisattva.

Some attributes of such a god were transmitted to the bodhisattva, but the mainstream of those who venerated Avalokiteśvara upheld the Buddhist rejection of the doctrine of any creator god.

The view that the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara is also the goddess Guanyin does not seem contradictory to Buddhist beliefs.

The universal door of Guanshi Yin Bodhisattva ( The bodhisattva who contemplates the sounds of the world ) ( Translated by The Buddhist Text Translation Society in USA )

* Maitreya, a bodhisattva in Buddhist eschatology.

In Buddhist cosmology, the bodhisattva of the Sun is known as Ri Gong Ri Guang Pu Sa ( The Bright Solar Bodhisattva of the Solar Palace ) / Ri Gong Ri Guang Tian Zi ( The Bright Solar Prince of the Solar Palace ) / Ri Gong Ri Guang Zun Tian Pu Sa ( The Greatly Revered Bright Solar Prince of the Solar Palace / one of the 20 or 24 guardian devas ).

* Maitreya, a bodhisattva who in the Buddhist tradition is to appear on Earth, achieve complete enlightenment, and teach the pure dharma.

Although Amitābha is honored and venerated in Pure Land traditions, this was clearly distinguished from worship of the Hindu gods, as Pure Land practice has its roots in the Buddhist ideal of the bodhisattva.

Some Buddhist traditions consider him a Buddha or a bodhisattva, often identifying him with Maitreya ( the future Buddha ).

Maitreya is a bodhisattva who in the Buddhist tradition is to appear on Earth, achieve complete enlightenment, and teach the pure dharma.

安玄 ), a Parthian layman who worked alongside An Shigao, also translated an early Mahāyāna Buddhist text on the bodhisattva path.

Dismayed that " the land of the South knows only greed, hedonism, promiscuity, and sins ", the Buddha instructs the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara ( Guanyin ) to search Tang China for someone to take the Buddhist sutras of " transcendence and persuasion for good will " back to the East.

Ksitigarbha, a highly-revered bodhisattva in East Asian Buddhism, is occasionally mistaken for Xuanzang because the former is often portrayed like Xuanzang-dressed in a similarly-patterned kasaya, wearing a Buddhist crown, and wielding a khakkhara.

He is variedly worshiped as an indigenous Chinese deity, a bodhisattva in Buddhist tradition and as a guardian deity in Taoism and many religious bodies.

is a district in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan, most famous for the Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon.

In chapter two Vimalakīrti, a wealthy Buddhist lay bodhisattva who is considered a paragon of Buddhist virtue, is feigning illness.

Ksitigarbha ( Sanskrit: ) is a bodhisattva primarily revered in East Asian Buddhism, usually depicted as a Buddhist monk in the Orient.

Laozi was now capable of incarnating himself, almost like Buddhist bodhisattva.

Angkor scholar George Coedès has theorized that Jayavarman stood squarely in the tradition of the Khmer monarchs in thinking of himself as a " devaraja " ( god-king ), the salient difference being that while his predecessors were Hindus and regarded themselves as consubstantial with Shiva and his symbol the lingam, Jayavarman as a Buddhist identified himself with the Buddha and the bodhisattva.

Brahmanist shrines play an important role in Thai folk religion, and the Mahayana Buddhist influence is reflected in the presence of figures like Lokesvara, a form of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara sometimes incorporated into Thailand's iconography.

Mount Emei is one of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China, and is traditionally regarded as the bodhimaṇḍa, or place of enlightenment, of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra.