Bodhicitta

About Bodhicitta

• Bodhicitta, translated as “awakening mind” or “thought of enlightenment,” is the commitment to embark on a path of awakening and be a bodhisattva, one dedicated to the liberation of all beings.
• Bodhicitta is born of compassion, the desire to free all beings from suffering, even those who wish us harm or consider us enemies.
• It is one of the foundations of the Mahayana tradition, bodhicitta is woven into many of its teachings.
• It is central to the bodhisattva vow, a commitment common to many Mahayana Buddhist traditions. 
• It has two aspects.
  • The main part is the compassionate mind that naturally and spontaneously wants to relieve the suffering of all fellow living beings without exception – a pure good heart.
  • The second aspect is realising that to help others, we need to awaken our own natural purity of mind and attain enlightenment.

What is Bodhisattva?

• It is a key idea in Buddhism.
• The word is constructed from the Sanskrit root bodhi, meaning “awakening” or “enlightenment”, and sattva, meaning “being”.
• The core meaning of the word is “a being who is on the way to becoming enlightened”. 

Key facts about Sed-Gyued Monastery

• It is located in Siliguri, West Bengal.
• It is the main seat of the Sed-Gyued Lineage or Whispered Lineage.
• Whispered lineage is a secret teaching transmitted only to the closest disciple through direct communication with their root teacher or meditational deity.
• It is because of the unbroken secret teachings of Sed-Gyued lineage and commentaries that the Tibetan secret Mahayana practice is intact today.

Q1) What is Theravada Buddhism?

Theravada, the “Doctrine of the Elders,” is the name for the school of Buddhism that draws its scriptural inspiration from the Pali Canon, or Tipitaka, which scholars generally accept as the oldest record of the Buddha’s teachings.

Source: Dalai Lama arrives at Siliguri’s Sed-Gyued Monastery to deliver teachings to his devotees