Bodhisattva
[boh-duh-suht-vuh]
- a person who has attained prajna, or Enlightenment, but who postpones Nirvana in order to help others to attain Enlightenment: individual Bodhisattvas are the subjects of devotion in certain sects and are often represented in painting and sculpture.
Compare Arhat.
Origin of Bodhisattva
1820–30; < Pali, Sanskrit
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for bodhisattva
Historical Examples
As they thus went away, the Bodhisattva arose and walked (after them).
Record of Buddhistic KingdomsFa-Hsien
Then the Bodhisattva said, “I will deliver the king from this snake.”
The Kath Sarit SgaraSomadeva Bhatta
Have you not heard the story of the adorable Bodhisattva in his former birth as a boar?
The Kath Sarit SgaraSomadeva Bhatta
Have I in my delusion eaten an incarnation of a Bodhisattva?
The Kath Sarit SgaraSomadeva Bhatta
Miroku, too, is frequently to be seen, but Miroku is not yet a Buddha but only Bodhisattva.
Korean BuddhismFrederick Starr
Bodhisattva
- (in Mahayana Buddhism) a divine being worthy of nirvana who remains on the human plane to help men to salvationCompare arhat
Word Origin
Sanskrit, literally: one whose essence is enlightenment, from bodhi enlightenment + sattva essence
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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Word Origin and History for bodhisattva
Bodhisattva
n.
1828, from Sanskrit, literally "one whose essence is perfect knowledge," from bodhi "perfect knowledge" (see Buddha) + sattva "reality, being."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper