Bodhisattva

== In Early Buddhism ==
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[[Image: DevoteeDetail.JPG|thumb|upright|Probable early image of a bodhisattva ([[Bimaran casket]], 50 CE)<ref name="Crossroads">"The crossroads of Asia", edited by Elizabeth Errington and [[Joe Cribb]], The ancient India and Iran Trust, 1992, {{ISBN|0-9518399-1-8}}, pp. 189–190</ref>]]
[[Image:Gandhara, rilievo col buddha shakyamuni che medita nella grotta indrashala e il buddha dipankara, II-III secolo.jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[Greco-Buddhist art|Gandharan relief]] depicting the bodhisattva (future [[Gautama Buddha]]) taking a vow at the foot of [[Dipankara Buddha]], [[Art Institute of Chicago]]]]
In [[pre-sectarian Buddhism]], the term ''bodhisatta'' is used in the [[Early Buddhist Texts|early texts]] to refer to [[Gautama Buddha]] in his previous lives<ref>Basham, A.L. (1981). The evolution of the concept of the bodhisattva. In: Leslie S Kawamura, The bodhisattva doctrine in Buddhism, Published for the Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion by Wilfrid Laurier University Press, p. 19</ref> and as a young man in his last life, when he was working towards [[moksha|liberation]]. In the [[Early Buddhist texts|early Buddhist discourses]], the Buddha regularly uses the phrase "when I was an unawakened Bodhisatta" to describe his experiences before his attainment of awakening.<ref name="auto3">{{Cite web|url=https://suttacentral.net/|title=SuttaCentral|website=SuttaCentral}}</ref> The early texts which discuss the period before the Buddha's awakening mainly focus on his spiritual development. According to [[Bhikkhu Analayo]], most of these passages focus on three main themes: "the bodhisattva's overcoming of unwholesome states of mind, his development of mental tranquillity, and the growth of his insight."<ref>Werner et al. 2013, p. 166-167.</ref>
 
Other early sources like the ''Acchariyabbhutadhamma-sutta'' ([[Majjhima Nikāya|MN]] 123, and its Chinese parallel in [[Madhyama Agama|Madhyama-āgama]] 32) discuss the marvelous qualities of the bodhisattva Gautama in his previous life in [[Tushita|Tuṣita]] heaven. The Pali text focuses on how the bodhisattva was endowed with [[Sati (Buddhism)|mindfulness]] and [[Sampajañña|clear comprehension]] while living in Tuṣita, while the Chinese source states that his lifespan, appearance, and glory was greater than all the [[Deva (Buddhism)|devas]] (gods). These sources also discuss various miracles which accompanied the bodhisattva's conception and birth, most famously, his taking seven steps and proclaiming that this was his last life.<ref>Werner et al. 2013, pp. 171-172.</ref> The Chinese source (titled ''Discourse on Marvellous Qualities'') also states that while living as a monk under the Buddha Kāśyapa he "made his initial vow to [realize] Buddhahood [while] practicing the holy life."<ref>Werner et al. 2013, p. 181.</ref>

Another early source that discusses the qualities of bodhisattvas is the ''Mahāpadāna sutta.'' This text discusses bodhisattva qualities in the context of six previous Buddhas who lived long ago, such as Buddha [[Vipassī|Vipaśyī]].<ref>Werner et al. 2013, p. 179</ref> Yet another important element of the bodhisattva doctrine, the idea of a prediction of someone's future Buddhahood, is found in another Chinese early Buddhist text, the ''Discourse on an Explanation about the Past'' (MĀ 66). In this discourse, a monk named [[Maitreya]] aspires to become a Buddha in the future and the Buddha then predicts that Maitreya will become a Buddha in the future.<ref>Werner et al. 2013, pp. 186-189.</ref> Other discourses found in the [[Ekottara Agama|'' Ekottarika-āgama'']] present the "bodhisattva Maitreya" as an example figure (EĀ 20.6 and EĀ 42.6) and one sutra in this collection also discuss how the Buddha taught the bodhisattva path of the six perfections to Maitreya (EĀ 27.5).<ref>Werner et al. 2013, pp. 192-193.</ref>

'Bodhisatta' may also connote a being who is "bound for enlightenment", in other words, a person whose aim is to become fully enlightened. In the [[Pāli Canon|Pāli canon]], the Bodhisatta (bodhisattva) is also described as someone who is still subject to birth, illness, death, sorrow, defilement, and delusion. According to the [[Theravada|Theravāda]] monk [[Bhikkhu Bodhi]], while all the Buddhist traditions agree that to attain Buddhahood, one must "make a deliberate resolution" and fulfill the spiritual perfections ([[Pāramitā|pāramīs]] or pāramitās) as a bodhisattva, the actual bodhisattva path is not taught in the earliest strata of Buddhist texts such as the Pali [[Nikayas]] (and their counterparts such as the Chinese [[Āgama (Buddhism)|Āgamas]]) which instead focus on the ideal of the [[arahant]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bodhi |first=Bhikkhu |date=2010 |title=Arahants, Bodhisattvas and Buddhas |url=http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/arahantsbodhisattvas.html}}</ref><ref>Werner et al. 2013, p. 11.</ref>

The oldest known story about how [[Gautama Buddha]] becomes a bodhisattva is the story of his encounter with the previous Buddha, [[Dīpankara Buddha|Dīpankara]]. During this encounter, a previous incarnation of Gautama, variously named [[Sumedha|Sumedha, Megha, or Sumati]] offers five blue lotuses and spreads out his hair or entire body for Dīpankara to walk on, resolving to one day become a Buddha. Dīpankara then confirms that they will attain [[Buddhahood]].<ref name=":0">Drewes, David, ''[https://www.academia.edu/34935437/Mahayana_Sutras_and_the_Opening_of_the_Bodhisattva_Path_Updated_2019_?email_work_card=title Mahāyāna Sūtras and Opening of the Bodhisattva Path]'', Paper presented at the XVIII the IABS Congress, Toronto 2017, Updated 2019.<br /></ref> Early Buddhist authors saw this story as indicating that the making of a resolution (''abhinīhāra'') in the presence of a living Buddha and his prediction/confirmation (''vyākaraṇa'') of one's future Buddhahood was necessary to become a bodhisattva. According to Drewes, "all known models of the path to Buddhahood developed from this basic understanding."<ref name=":0" />

Stories and teachings on the bodhisattva ideal are found in the various [[Jataka tales|Jataka tale]] sources, which mainly focus on stories of the past lives of the Sakyamuni. Among the non-Mahayana Nikaya schools, the Jataka literature was likely the main genre that contained bodhisattva teachings.<ref>Werner et al. 2013, p. 111.</ref> These stories had certainly become an important part of popular Buddhism by the time of the carving of the [[Bharhut|Bharhut Stupa]] railings (c. 125–100 BCE), which contain depictions of around thirty Jataka tales. Thus, it is possible that the bodhisattva ideal was popularized through the telling of Jatakas.<ref>Kawamura (ed) 1981, p. 22.</ref> Jataka tales contain numerous stories which focus on the past life deeds of Sakyamuni when he was a bodhisattva. These deeds generally express bodhisattva qualities and practices (such as compassion, the six perfections, and supernatural power) in dramatic ways, and include numerous acts of self-sacrifice.<ref>Kawamura (ed) 1981, pp. 127-132.</ref>
 
Apart from Jataka stories related to Sakyamuni, the idea that Metteya ([[Maitreya]]), who currently resides in [[Tushita|Tuṣita]], would become the future Buddha and that this had been predicted by the Buddha Sakyamuni was also an early doctrine related to the bodhisattva ideal. It first appears in the ''Cakkavattisihanadasutta''.<ref>Kawamura (ed) 1981, p. 28.</ref> According to A.L. Basham, it is also possible that some of the [[Edicts of Ashoka|Ashokan edicts]] reveal knowledge of the bodhisattva ideal. Basham even argues that [[Ashoka]] may have considered himself a bodhisattva, as one edict states that he "set out for sambodhi."<ref>Kawamura (ed) 1981, p. 25.</ref>