Basic Meaning
Relative bodhicitta is the aspirational wish to attain the fully-enlightened state of a buddha. It aspires both to alleviate the suffering of all beings, and therefore to attain buddhahood in order to spontaneously and effortlessly act for the welfare of all beings
Has the sense of
the conventional mind of enlightenment that wishes to attain the enlightened state to be of spontaneous benefit for all beings
Study details
- Mahāyāna (Indo-Tibetan): Saṃvṛtibodhicitta (T. kun rdzob byang chub kyi sems), often translated as "conventional bodhicitta" or "relative bodhicitta," is a foundational concept in Mahāyāna Buddhism, representing the compassionate and altruistic mind aspiring towards Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings. It stands in contrast to, yet is indispensable for cultivating, ultimate bodhicitta (paramārthabodhicitta
,T. don dam byang chub kyi sems), the direct wisdom realizing emptiness. Saṃvṛtibodhicitta is comprised of two distinct yet sequential stages:
- Aspirational Bodhicitta (Skt. praṇidhicitta or bodhipraṇidhicitta,T. smon pa byang chub kyi sems or byang chub tu smon pa'i sems): This is the heartfelt yearning and unwavering intention to attain complete enlightenment (Buddhahood) with the primary motivation of liberating all beings from suffering and leading them to the same state of awakening. It is likened to the desire to embark on a journey. This stage involves cultivating boundless love (maitrī), compassion (karuṇā), joy (muditā), and equanimity (upekṣā), and developing a strong sense of responsibility for others. Key practices include the "sevenfold cause and effect instruction" and "exchanging self and others" (ātmaparivartana).
- Engaging Bodhicitta (Skt. prasthānacitta or bodhiprasthānacitta,T. 'jug pa byang chub kyi sems or byang chub la 'jug pa'i sems): This is the practical application and active engagement that follows the cultivation of aspirational bodhicitta. It involves formally taking the bodhisattva vows (bodhisattvasaṃvara) and diligently practicing the path of the six perfections (ṣaṭpāramitā): generosity (dāna), ethical discipline (śīla), patience (kṣānti), effort (vīrya), meditative concentration (dhyāna), and wisdom (prajñā). This stage is likened to actually undertaking the journey.
The cultivation of saṃvṛtibodhicitta is considered the gateway to the Mahāyāna path. It is the very essence of the bodhisattva's way of life and the driving force behind all their virtuous actions. Texts like Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra provide extensive teachings on how to cultivate and maintain both aspects of conventional bodhicitta. While conceptual in nature, it is the necessary precursor to the non-conceptual realization of ultimate bodhicitta.
saṃvṛtibodhicitta. (T. kun rdzob byang chub kyi sems). "In Sanskrit, 'conventional (or relative) aspiration to enlightenment.' In Indian MAHĀYĀNA scholastic literature, this term is contrasted with the 'ultimate aspiration to enlightenment' (PARAMĀRTHABODHICITTA). The term saṃvṛtibodhicitta is used to refer to BODHICITTA in its more common usage, as the aspiration to achieve buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings. It is the generation of this aspiration for enlightenment (BODHICITTOTPĀDA) that marks the beginning of the bodhisattva path and the Mahāyāna path of accumulation (SAṂBHĀRAMĀRGA). The ultimate aspiration or mind of enlightenment refers to the bodhisattva’s direct realization of the ultimate truth (PARAMĀRTHASATYA). In the case of the MADHYAMAKA school’s interpretation, this would be the direct realization of emptiness (ŚŪNYATĀ)".
རགས་པ་བརྡ་ལས་བྱུང་བའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས་ཀུན།
བདག་གཞན་མཉམ་བརྗེའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས་ལ་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ལྟ་བས་མ་ཟིན་པ་ལ་ཟེར། ཞིབ་པར་ཕར་ཕྱིན་སྐབས་དང་པོའི་སེམས་བསྐྱེད་ཀྱི་སྐབས་སུ་གསལ།
