In the Mahāyāna tradition, the bodhisattva path is the spiritual journey of one who vows to attain complete Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings, rather than seeking liberation for oneself alone. This path is grounded in bodhicitta, the awakening mind or heart, which is the deep resolve to realize enlightenment so that all beings may be freed from suffering. Bodhicitta has an altruistic, compassionate aspect and is also linked to direct insight into the nature of reality, especially emptiness. From the outset, the bodhisattva’s motivation is thus both expansive in compassion and profound in wisdom.

The concrete training of a bodhisattva is traditionally expressed through the practice of the six perfections (pāramitās): generosity, ethical conduct, patience, energetic effort, meditative concentration, and wisdom. These are not merely moral virtues but are cultivated to an extraordinary degree, always with the intention of benefiting others. As these perfections deepen, compassion (karuṇā) and wisdom (prajñā) come to be experienced as inseparable, so that caring engagement with beings and clear seeing into emptiness mutually reinforce one another. The bodhisattva also takes up formal vows, including the resolve to save all sentient beings, to eliminate delusive passions, to master the teachings, and to attain supreme enlightenment.

Classical Mahāyāna texts describe this path as unfolding over vast stretches of time, often across countless lifetimes, and articulate it in terms of ten stages (bhūmis). These stages begin with the first arising of genuine bodhicitta and progress through ever-deeper realizations and ever-greater capacity to help others, culminating in full Buddhahood. Throughout this long journey, the bodhisattva does not abandon saṃsāra but willingly remains engaged in cyclic existence, taking birth again and again as needed to assist beings. The entire path can be seen as the gradual, disciplined union of boundless compassion and penetrating wisdom, maturing into the awakened activity of a buddha dedicated to the liberation of all.