Bodhisattva (Bodhisativa)


Bodhisattva (Bodhisativa) – incarnation of the bestowing virtue. In Mahayana Buddhism a person who is able to reach nirvana but delays doing so through compassion for suffering beings.

Sanskrit, ‘a person whose essence is perfect knowledge’, from bodhi ‘perfect knowledge’ (from budh- ‘know perfectly’) + sattva ‘being, essence’.

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