སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ། | Glossary of Terms
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སེམས་ཅན་ཆེན་པོ།
- སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ།
- sems dpa’ chen po
- sems can chen po
- mahāsattva
- Term
The term can be understood to mean “great courageous one” or "great hero,” or (from the Sanskrit) simply “great being,” and is almost always found as an epithet of “bodhisattva.” The qualification “great” in this term, according to the majority of canonical definitions, focuses on the generic greatness common to all bodhisattvas, i.e., the greatness implicit in the bodhisattva vow itself in terms of outlook, aspiration, number of beings to be benefited, potential or eventual accomplishments, and so forth. In this sense the mahā- (“great”) is close in its connotations to the mahā- in “Mahāyāna.” While individual bodhisattvas described as mahāsattva may in many cases also be “great” in terms of their level of realization, this is largely coincidental, and in the canonical texts the epithet is not restricted to bodhisattvas at any particular point in their career. Indeed, in a few cases even bodhisattvas whose path has taken a wrong direction are still described as bodhisattva mahāsattva.
Later commentarial writings do nevertheless define the term—variably—in terms of bodhisattvas having attained a particular level (bhūmi) or realization. The most common qualifying criteria mentioned are attaining the path of seeing, attaining irreversibility (according to its various definitions), or attaining the seventh bhūmi.
- mahāsattva
- སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ།
- sems dpa’ chen po
- mahāsattva
“Great being.” An epithet for an accomplished bodhisattva.
- mahāsattva
- སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ།
- sems dpa’ chen po
- mahāsattva
A common epithet of buddhas and great bodhisattvas, which means “one who possess great courage,” “magnanimity,” or “great strength of character.” Explained in the *Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa, which has a short chapter on this term, also as a being who possesses great love and great compassion.
- mahāsattva
- སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ།
- sems dpa’ chen po
- mahāsattva
“Great being”; a frequent epithet of bodhisattvas.
- mahāsattva
- སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ།
- sems dpa’ chen po
- mahāsattva
In chapter 4 of this text (see UT22084-050-003-1333) the Buddha Ratnagarbha states that bodhisattvas who have vowed to attain awakening under relatively easier circumstances do not deserve the title mahāsattva, which should be reserved for those like Mahākāruṇika who have vowed to attain awakening only in the most degenerate and difficult times and places. However, this statement is best taken as highlighting a specific point of perspective rather than as a general gloss, since throughout the text the term is nevertheless used—just as it is in most Mahāyāna sūtras—as an epithet for bodhisattvas in general regardless of their individual status, qualities, or aspirations.
- mahāsattva
- སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ།
- sems dpa’ chen po
- mahāsattva
Literally “great being.” An epithet for a bodhisattva of great accomplishment.
- mahāsattva
- སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ།
- sems dpa’ chen po
- mahāsattva
An epithet for an accomplished bodhisattva.
- mahāsattva
- སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ།
- sems dpa’ chen po
- mahāsattva
- mahāsattva
- སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ།
- sems dpa’ chen po
- mahāsattva
- mahāsattva
- སེམས་ཅན་ཆེན་པོ།
- sems can chen po
- mahāsattva
- 摩訶薩埵
- mahāsattva
- སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ།
- sems dpa’ chen po
- mahāsattva
- mahāsattva
- སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ།
- sems dpa’ chen po
- mahāsattva
An epithet for an accomplished bodhisattva. The White Lotus of Compassion Sūtra goes further and says only those praying to attain buddhahood in an impure realm during a kaliyuga deserve the title, even though the early part of the sūtra uses it for all accomplished bodhisattvas.
- mahāsattva
- སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ།
- sems dpa’ chen po
- mahāsattva
An epithet for an accomplished bodhisattva. The White Lotus of Compassion Sutra goes further and says only those praying to attain buddhahood in an impure realm during a kaliyuga deserve the title, even though the early part of the sūtra uses it for all accomplished bodhisattvas.
- great being
- སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ།
- sems dpa’ chen po
- mahāsattva
- great being
- སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ།
- sems dpa’ chen po
- mahāsattva
- great being
- སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ།
- sems dpa’ chen po
- mahāsattva
An epithet for an accomplished bodhisattva.
- great being
- སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ།
- sems dpa’ chen po
- mahāsattva
An epithet of advanced bodhisattvas, often defined as having attained at least the seventh bhūmi and the path of vision. These bodhisattvas have several special qualities that bodhisattvas on the lower bhūmis do not have.
- great being
- སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ།
- sems dpa’ chen po
- mahāsattva
An epithet often applied to bodhisattvas.
- great being
- སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ།
- sems dpa’ chen po
- mahāsattva
- great being
- སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ།
- sems dpa’ chen po
- mahāsattva
- great being
- སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ།
- sems dpa’ chen po
- mahāsattva
This term is explained in UT23703-093-001-2294.
- great beings
- སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ།
- sems dpa’ chen po
- mahāsattva
- great spiritual hero
- སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ།
- sems dpa’ chen po
- mahāsattva
This translation follows the Tib. (lit. “great mind- hero”), whose translation from Skt. derives from the lo tsā ba’s analysis of sattva as meaning “hero,” rather than simply “being.”