Key Terms/Paramārthabodhicitta
From Bodhicitta
परमार्थबोधिचित्त paramārthabodhicitta
ultimate bodhicitta
དོན་དམ་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས་
don dam byang chub kyi sems
勝義菩提心
shèngyì pútíxīn
Sanskrit - Noun
1·Discover
Basic Meaning
The direct realization of the ultimate nature of reality.
2·Explore
Has the sense of
(paramārthabodhicitta, don dam sems bskyed) Ultimate bodhicitta refers to a single-pointed direct realization of emptiness in a state of meditative equipoise. It is an exalted wisdom directly realizing the ultimate nature of things, a wisdom that is free from all conceptual elaborations or dualistic appearances. This is not the bodhicitta that we generally think of—the aspirational wish to attain enlightenment to be of maximum benefit towards the welfare of all beings—but instead refers to wisdom fully concentrated on emptiness.
3·Study
Study details
- Mahāyāna (Indo-Tibetan): In the general Mahāyāna context, paramārthabodhicitta (T. don dam byang chub kyi sems) is distinguished from conventional bodhicitta (saṃvṛtibodhicitta). While conventional bodhicitta consists of the aspiration to attain enlightenment and the application of the perfections, ultimate bodhicitta is the wisdom that directly realizes emptiness (śūnyatā). It is often described as being free from all conceptual elaborations (niṣprapañca) and is the actual state of wisdom that sees phenomena as they truly are. The transition from conventional to ultimate bodhicitta typically occurs at the path of vision (darśanamārga), marking the attainment of the first bodhisattva bhūmi.
- Pramāṇa (Indo-Tibetan): Within the framework of valid cognition, ultimate bodhicitta is identified with the superfactual (don dam) level of reality. It is a non-dualistic awareness that transcends the subject-object bifurcation (grāhyagrāhakavikalpa) inherent in conventional, dualistic consciousness. In this context, it is often described as superfactual truth (paramārthasatya) as experienced by the noble beings (āryas) in meditative equipoise.
- Vajrayāna (Indo-Tibetan): In the Vajrayāna or Secret Mantra traditions, ultimate bodhicitta is associated with the realization of the inseparable union of emptiness and bliss. It is sometimes equated with the white bindu or "seed" of enlightenment that is cultivated through specific yogic practices involving the subtle body's channels, winds, and drops. In the context of the four empowerments, ultimate bodhicitta is specifically pointed out in the fourth empowerment as the actual, factual wisdom that is the innate nature of mind.
- Dzogchen/Mahāmudrā (Indo-Tibetan): Within these traditions, ultimate bodhicitta is frequently used as a synonym for the "essence of mind" (sems kyi ngo bo) or the "primordial state" (rigpa). It refers to the naturally arising, uncreated wisdom that is the fundamental basis of both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. Here, it is described as "alpha purity" (ka dag), meaning the purity that has been present in the mind from the very beginning, untouched by adventitious defilements.
In other languages
Tibetan
དོན་དམ་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས་
don dam byang chub kyi sems
döndam changchub kyi sem
Sanskrit
परमार्थबोधिचित्त
paramārthabodhicitta
Chinese
勝義菩提心
shèngyì pútíxīn
Japanese
shōgi bodaishin
Korean
sŭngŭi porisim
How translators render it
ultimate bodhicittaBuddha-nature Standard
In the dictionaries
Dung dkar tshig mdzod chen mo
བདག་གཞན་མཉམ་བརྗེའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས་དེ་ལ་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ལྟ་བས་རྒྱས་ཐེབས་པ་ལ་ཟེར།
Term type
Noun
Source language
Sanskrit
Topic
paramārthabodhicitta
Alternate spellings
don dam sems bskyed, ultimate mind of enlightenment, དོན་དམ་བྱང་སེམས་
