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bodhi

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: bodhi
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(Sanskrit and Pali: "awakening" or "enlightenment") In Buddhism, the final enlightenment that ends the cycle of death and rebirth and leads to nirvana. This awakening transformed Siddhartha Gautama into the historical Buddha. Bodhi is achieved by ridding oneself of false beliefs and the hindrance of passions through the discipline of the Eightfold Path. Though not supported in canonical texts, commentaries give a threefold classification of bodhi: that of a perfectly enlightened one, or a Buddha; that of an independently enlightened one; and that of an arhat.

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Buddhism Dictionary: bodhi
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(Sanskrit; Pāli). Term which literally means ‘awakening’, but which is commonly translated as ‘enlightenment’. It denotes the awakening to supreme knowledge, as experienced by the Buddha as he sat under the Bodhi Tree at the age of 35. Technically, the experience of bodhi is said to consists of seven elements known as the ‘limbs of enlightenment’ (bodhyaṇga) and is achieved when the Four Noble Truths are correctly apprehended. According to the earliest sources, Arhats, Pratyekabuddhas, and Buddhas all experience the same awakening, but over the course of time the awakening of a Buddha came to be seen as especially profound (see saṃbodhi). See also satori; kenshō.

 
 

 

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Buddhism Dictionary. A Dictionary of Buddhism. Copyright © 2003, 2004 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more