बोधि

The English term ''enlightenment'' is the Western translation of various Buddhist terms, most notably ''bodhi'' and ''vimutti''. The abstract noun ''bodhi'' (; Sanskrit: बोधि; Pali: ''bodhi'') means the knowledge or wisdom, or awakened intellect, of a Buddha. The verbal root ''budh-'' means "to awaken", and its literal meaning is closer to awakening. Although the term '' buddhi'' is also used in other Indian philosophies and traditions, its most common usage is in the context of Buddhism. ''Vimutti'' is the freedom from or release of the fetters and hindrances.

The term ''enlightenment'' was popularised in the Western world through the 19th-century translations of British philologist Max Müller. It has the Western connotation of general insight into transcendental truth or reality. The term is also being used to translate several other Buddhist terms and concepts, which are used to denote (initial) insight ('' prajna'' (Sanskrit), '' wu'' (Chinese), '' kensho'' and ''satori'' (Japanese)); knowledge ('' vidya''); the "blowing out" (''nirvana'') of disturbing emotions and desires; and the attainment of supreme Buddhahood (''samyak sam bodhi''), as exemplified by Gautama Buddha.

What exactly constituted the Buddha's awakening is unknown. It may have involved the knowledge that liberation was attained by the combination of mindfulness and '' dhyāna'', applied to the understanding of the arising and ceasing of craving. The relation between ''dhyana'' and insight is a core problem in the study of Buddhism, and is one of the fundamentals of Buddhist practice.

Etymology

''Bodhi'', Sanskrit ,Sanskrit Dictionary for Spoken Sanskrit
"bodhi"
. "awakening", "perfect knowledge", "perfect knowledge or wisdom (by which a man becomes a बुद्ध ">uddhaor जिन [''jina'', ''arahant''; "victorious", "victor"Monier Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary
''jina''
], the illuminated or enlightened intellect (of a Buddha or जिन)".Monier Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary
''bodhi''

The word Bodhi is an abstract noun, formed from the verbal root ''*budh-'', Sanskrit ,Sanskrit Dictionary for Spoken Sanskrit
''budh''
"to awaken, to know", "to wake, wake up, be awake",Monier Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary
''budh''
"to recover consciousness (after a swoon)", "to observe, heed, attend to".

It corresponds to the verbs ''bujjhati'' (Pāli) and ''bodhati'', बोदति, "become or be aware of, perceive, learn, know, understand, awake"Sanskrit Dictionary for Spoken Sanskrit
''bodhati''
or ''budhyate'' (Sanskrit).

The feminine Sanskrit noun of ''*budh-'' is , '' buddhi'', "prescience, intuition, perception, point of view".

Translation

Robert S. Cohen notes that the majority of English books on Buddhism use the term "enlightenment" to translate the term ''bodhi''. The root ''budh'', from which both ''bodhi'' and ''Buddha'' are derived, means "to wake up" or "to recover consciousness". Cohen notes that ''bodhi'' is not the result of an illumination, but of a path of realization, or coming to understanding. The term "enlightenment" is event-oriented, whereas the term "awakening" is process-oriented. The western use of the term "enlighten" has Christian roots, as in Calvin's "It is God alone who enlightens our minds to perceive his truths".

Early 19th-century ''bodhi'' was translated as "intelligence". The term "enlighten" was first being used in 1835, in an English translation of a French article, while the first recorded use of the term 'enlightenment' is credited (by the Oxford English Dictionary) to the ''Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal'' (February 1836). In 1857 ''The Times'' used the term "the Enlightened" for the Buddha in a short article, which was reprinted the following year by Max Müller. Thereafter, the use of the term subsided, but reappeared with the publication of Max Müller's ''Chips from a german Workshop'', which included a reprint from the ''Times'' article. The book was translated in 1969 into German, using the term "". Max Müller was an essentialist, who believed in a natural religion, and saw religion as an inherent capacity of human beings. "Enlightenment" was a means to capture natural religious truths, as distinguished from mere mythology. This perspective was influenced by Kantian thought, particularly Kant's definition of the Enlightenment as the free, unimpeded use of reason. Müller's translation echoed this idea, portraying Buddhism as a rational and enlightened religion that aligns with the natural religious truths inherent to human beings.

By the mid-1870s it had become commonplace to call the Buddha "enlightened", and by the end of the 1880s the terms "enlightened" and "enlightenment" dominated the English literature.

Related terms

Insight

Bodhi

While the Buddhist tradition regards ''bodhi'' as referring to full and complete liberation (''samyaksambudh''), it also has the more modest meaning of knowing that the path that is being followed leads to the desired goal. According to Johannes Bronkhorst, Tillman Vetter, and K.R. Norman, ''bodhi'' was at first not specified. K.R. Norman:

According to Norman, ''bodhi'' may basically have meant the knowledge that ''nibbana'' was attained, due to the practice of ''dhyana''. Originally only "prajna" may have been mentioned, and Tillman Vetter even concludes that originally dhyana itself was deemed liberating, with the stilling of pleasure or pain in the fourth jhana, not the gaining of some perfect wisdom or insight. Gombrich also argues that the emphasis on insight is a later development.

In Theravada Buddhism, ''bodhi'' refers to the realisation of the four stages of enlightenment and becoming an Arahant. In Theravada Buddhism, ''bodhi'' is equal to supreme insight, and the realisation of the four noble truths, which leads to deliverance. According to Nyanatiloka,

This equation of ''bodhi'' with the four noble truths is a later development, in response to developments within Indian religious thought, where "liberating insight" was deemed essential for Liberation. The four noble truths as the liberating insight of the Buddha eventually were superseded by Pratītyasamutpāda, the twelvefold chain of causation, and still later by anatta, the emptiness of the self.

In Mahayana Buddhism, ''bodhi'' is equal to ''prajna'', insight into the Buddha-nature, sunyata and tathatā. This is equal to the realisation of the non-duality of absolute and relative.

Prajna

In Theravada Buddhism ''pannā'' (Pali) means "understanding", "wisdom", "insight". "Insight" is equivalent to '' vipassana'', insight into the three marks of existence, namely '' anicca'', '' dukkha'' and '' anatta''. Insight leads to the four stages of enlightenment and Nirvana.

In Mahayana Buddhism Prajna (Sanskrit) means "insight" or "wisdom", and entails insight into ''sunyata''. The attainment of this insight is often seen as the attainment of "enlightenment".

Wu, kensho and satori

'' Wu'' is the Chinese term for initial insight. '' Kensho'' and ''satori'' are Japanese terms used in Zen traditions. ''Kensho'' means "seeing into one's true nature". ''Ken'' means "seeing", ''sho'' means "nature", "essence", c.q Buddha-nature. ''Satori'' (Japanese) is often used interchangeably with kensho, but refers to the ''experience'' of kensho. The Rinzai tradition sees ''kensho'' as essential to the attainment of Buddhahood, but considers further practice essential to attain Buddhahood.

East-Asian (Chinese) Buddhism emphasizes insight into Buddha-nature. This term is derived from Indian tathagata-garbha thought, "the womb of the thus-gone" (the Buddha), the inherent potential of every sentient being to become a Buddha. This idea was integrated with the Yogacara-idea of the ''ālaya vijñāna'', and further developed in Chinese Buddhism, which integrated Indian Buddhism with native Chinese thought. Buddha-nature came to mean both the potential of awakening ''and'' the whole of reality, a dynamic interpenetration of absolute and relative. In this awakening it is realized that observer and observed are not distinct entities, but mutually co-dependent.

Knowledge

The term ''vidhya'' is being used in contrast to '' avidhya'', ignorance or the lack of knowledge, which binds us to samsara. The ''Mahasaccaka Sutta'' describes the three knowledges which the Buddha attained:
# Insight into his past lives
# Insight into the workings of karma and reincarnation
# Insight into the Four Noble Truths

According to Bronkhorst, the first two knowledges are later additions, while insight into the four truths represents a later development, in response to concurring religious traditions, in which "liberating insight" came to be stressed over the practice of ''dhyana''.

Freedom

Vimukthi, also called ''moksha'', means "freedom", "release", "deliverance". Sometimes a distinction is being made between ''ceto-vimukthi'', "liberation of the mind", and ''panna-vimukthi'', "liberation by understanding". The Buddhist tradition recognises two kinds of ''ceto-vimukthi'', one temporarily and one permanent, the last being equivalent to ''panna-vimukthi''.

Yogacara uses the term ''āśraya parāvŗtti'', "revolution of the basis",

Nirvana

Nirvana is the "blowing out" of disturbing emotions, which is the same as liberation. The usage of the term "enlightenment" to translate "nirvana" was popularized in the 19th century, in part, due to the efforts of Max Müller, who used the term consistently in his translations.

Buddha's awakening

Buddhahood

There are three recognized types of Buddha:: "Instead of the ''arhat'', who seeks release from the painful realm of cyclic existence for himself alone, and the ''pratyeka-buddha'', who wins it privately and never seeks to impart the ''Dharma'' to others, we have in the Mahayana the ''bodhisattva'' ..
* Arhat (Pali: ''arahant''), those who reach Nirvana by following the teachings of the Buddha. Sometimes the term Śrāvakabuddha (Pali: ''sāvakabuddha'') is used to designate this kind of awakened person;
* Pratyekabuddhas (Pali: ''paccekabuddha''), those who reach Nirvana through self-realisation, without the aid of spiritual guides and teachers, but do not teach the Dharma;
* Samyaksambuddha (Pali: ''samma sambuddha''), often simply referred to as ''Buddha'', one who has reached Nirvana by his own efforts and wisdom and teaches it skillfully to others.

Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha, is said to have achieved full awakening, known as ''samyaksaṃbodhi'' (Sanskrit; Pāli: ''sammāsaṃbodhi''), "perfect Buddhahood", or ''anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi'', "highest perfect awakening". Specifically, ''anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi'', literally meaning unsurpassed, complete and perfect enlightenment, is often used to distinguish the enlightenment of a Buddha from that of an Arhat.

The term ''Buddha'' and the way to Buddhahood is understood somewhat differently in the various Buddhist traditions. An equivalent term for Buddha is Tathāgata, "the thus-gone".

The awakening of the Buddha

Canonical accounts

In the suttapitaka, the Buddhist canon as preserved in the Theravada tradition, a couple of texts can be found in which the Buddha's attainment of liberation forms part of the narrative.

The ''Ariyapariyesana Sutta'' (Majjhima Nikaya 26) describes how the Buddha was dissatisfied with the teachings of Āḷāra Kālāma and Uddaka Rāmaputta, wandered further through Magadhan country, and then found "an agreeable piece of ground" which served for striving. The sutta then only says that he attained Nibbana.

In the ''Vanapattha Sutta'' (Majjhima Nikaya 17) the Buddha describes life in the jungle, and the attainment of awakening. The ''Mahasaccaka Sutta'' (Majjhima Nikaya 36) describes his ascetic practices, which he abandoned. Thereafter he remembered a spontaneous state of jhana, and set out for jhana-practice. Both suttas narrate how, after destroying the disturbances of the mind, and attaining concentration of the mind, he attained three knowledges (vidhya):
# Insight into his past lives
# Insight into the workings of karma and reincarnation
# Insight into the Four Noble Truths

Insight into the Four Noble Truths is here called awakening. The monk (''bhikkhu'') has "...attained the unattained supreme security from bondage." Awakening is also described as synonymous with Nirvana, the extinction of the passions whereby suffering is ended and no more rebirths take place. The insight arises that this liberation is certain: "Knowledge arose in me, and insight: my freedom is certain, this is my last birth, now there is no rebirth."

Critical assessment

Schmithausen notes that the mention of the four noble truths as constituting "liberating insight", which is attained after mastering the Rupa Jhanas, is a later addition to texts such as Majjhima Nikaya 36. Bronkhorst notices that

It calls in question the reliability of these accounts, and the relation between ''dhyana'' and insight, which is a core problem in the study of early Buddhism. Originally the term ''prajna'' may have been used, which came to be replaced by the four truths in those texts where "liberating insight" was preceded by the four jhanas. Bronkhorst also notices that the conception of what exactly this "liberating insight" was developed throughout time. Whereas originally it may not have been specified, later on the four truths served as such, to be superseded by ''pratityasamutpada'', and still later, in the Hinayana schools, by the doctrine of the non-existence of a substantial self or person. And Schmithausen notices that still other descriptions of this "liberating insight" exist in the Buddhist canon:

An example of this substitution, and its consequences, is Majjhima Nikaya 36:42–43, which gives an account of the awakening of the Buddha.

Understanding of ''bodhi'' and Buddhahood

The term bodhi acquired a variety of meanings and connotations during the development of Buddhist thoughts in the various schools.

Early Buddhism

In early Buddhism, ''bodhi'' carried a meaning synonymous to ''nirvana'', using only a few different metaphors to describe the insight, which implied the extinction of '' lobha'' (greed), '' dosa'' (hate) and '' moha'' (delusion).

Theravada

In Theravada Buddhism, bodhi and nirvana carry the same meaning: that of being freed from greed, hate and delusion. ''Bodhi'', specifically, refers to the realisation of the four stages of enlightenment and becoming an Arahant. It is equal to supreme insight, the realisation of the four noble truths, which leads to deliverance. Reaching full awakening is equivalent in meaning to reaching Nirvāṇa. Attaining Nirvāṇa is the ultimate goal of Theravada and other śrāvaka traditions. It involves the abandonment of the ten fetters and the cessation of dukkha or suffering. Full awakening is reached in four stages. According to Nyanatiloka,

Since the 1980s, western Theravada-oriented teachers have started to question the primacy of insight. According to Thanissaro Bhikkhu, ''jhana'' and ''vipassana'' (insight) form an integrated practice. Polak and Arbel, following scholars like Vetter and Bronkhorst, argue that right effort, c.q. the four right efforts (sense restraint, preventing the arising of unwholesome states, and the generation of wholesome states), mindfulness, and '' dhyana'' form an integrated practice, in which ''dhyana'' is the actualisation of insight, leading to an awakened awareness which is "non-reactive and lucid".

Mahayana

In Mahayana-thought, bodhi is the realisation of the inseparability of samsara and nirvana, and the unity of subject and object. Similar to prajna, the realizing of the Buddha-nature, bodhi realizes sunyata and suchness. In time, the Buddha's awakening came to be understood as an immediate full awakening and liberation, instead of the insight into and certainty about the way to follow to reach enlightenment. In some Zen traditions, however, this perfection came to be relativized again; according to one contemporary Zen master, "Shakyamuni buddha and Bodhidharma are still practicing."

Mahayana discerns three forms of awakened beings:
# Arahat – Liberation for oneself;
# Bodhisattva – Liberation for living beings;
# Full Buddhahood.

Within the various Mahayana-schools exist various further explanations and interpretations. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, the Bodhisattva is the ideal. The ultimate goal is not only of one's own liberation in Buddhahood, but the liberation of all living beings. The cosmology of Mahayana Buddhism regards a wide range of buddhas and bodhisattvas, who assist humans on their way to liberation.

Nichiren Buddhism, a branch of Mahayana Buddhism, regards Buddhahood as a state of perfect freedom, in which one is awakened to the eternal and ultimate truth that is the reality of all things. This supreme state of life is characterized by boundless wisdom and infinite compassion. The Lotus Sutra reveals that Buddhahood is a potential in the lives of all beings.

Buddha-nature

In the Tathagatagarbha and Buddha-nature doctrines, bodhi becomes equivalent to the universal, natural and pure state of the mind:

According to these doctrines, bodhi eternally exists within one's mind, although requiring the mind's defilements to be removed. This vision is expounded in texts such as the Shurangama Sutra and the Uttaratantra.

In Shingon Buddhism as well, the state of Bodhi is regarded as naturally inherent in the mind. Bodhi is the mind's natural and pure state, where no distinction is being made between a perceiving subject and perceived objects. This is also the understanding of Bodhi found in Yogacara Buddhism.

To achieve this vision of non-duality, it is necessary to recognise one's own mind:

Vajrayana

During the development of Mahayana Buddhism, the various strands of thought on Bodhi were continuously being elaborated. Attempts were made to harmonize the various terms.

The Vajrayana Buddhist commentator Buddhaguhya treats various terms as synonyms:

Bodhi Day

Sakyamuni's awakening is celebrated on Bodhi Day. In Sri Lanka and Japan, different days are used for this celebration. According to the Theravada tradition in Sri Lanka, Sakyamuni reached Buddhahood at the full moon in May. This is celebrated at Vesākha Pūjā, the full moon in May, known as Sambuddhatva jayanthi (or Sambuddha jayanthi).

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{{Buddhism topics

Buddhist belief and doctrine
Buddhist stages of enlightenment