The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (419 page)

(Skt.; P
li,
bodhisatta
, ‘Enlightenment-Being’; Chin., P'u-sa; Jap., Bosatsu; Korean, Posal; Tib., byang.chub sems.dpa, ‘Hero of the Thought of Enlightenment’). In
Therav
da
Buddhism a title exclusively identifying historical
Buddhas
(i.e.
kyamuni
) in their previous lives, before their Buddhahood was attained; and in
Mah
y
na
Buddhism to describe any being who, out of compassion, has taken the
bodhisattva
vow to become a Buddha for the sake of all sentient beings. Strictly, an ordinary person who has ‘engendered
bodhicitta
’ (generated a desire for enlightenment in order to save all beings from suffering) and taken the bodhisattva vow is a bodhisattva, but there are also ‘celestial bodhisattvas’, such as
Mañju
r
and
Avalokite
vara
, who are almost Buddhas in their attainments.
A bodhisattva's progress is determined by his practice of the six (sometimes given as ten) perfections (
p
ramit
s
) which are: generosity and morality; patience and energy; meditation and wisdom.
This contrast between the bodhisattva and the arhat or pratyekabuddha ideals is the principal distinction between the Mah
y
na and Therav