Within the Mahāyāna tradition, the cultivation of bodhicitta unfolds through a constellation of mutually reinforcing practices that shape both intention and conduct. Foundational among these are taking refuge in the Three Jewels—Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha—and formally generating and renewing the bodhisattva vows, which orient the practitioner toward awakening for the benefit of all beings. This ethical and devotional framework is then deepened through the systematic practice of the Six Pāramitās—generosity, ethical conduct, patience, effort, concentration, and wisdom—so that the aspiration to help others becomes embodied in concrete attitudes and actions. All virtuous deeds, study, and meditation are dedicated to the awakening of all beings, gradually transforming self-centered motivation into universal concern.

Classical Mahāyāna presents two principal contemplative lineages for generating bodhicitta. The sevenfold cause-and-effect method cultivates great compassion by recognizing all beings as having been profoundly kind, recalling their kindness, wishing to repay it, and then developing loving-kindness, great compassion, altruistic intention, and finally full bodhicitta—the resolve to attain Buddhahood in order to benefit them effectively. Complementing this is the method of equalizing and exchanging self and others, which reflects that self and others equally seek happiness and fear suffering, and then trains the mind to “switch places” with others. This involves contemplating the faults of self-cherishing and the benefits of cherishing others, and imaginatively giving one’s own happiness while taking on the suffering of others, thereby loosening the grip of ego-clinging.

These contemplations are supported by broader meditative disciplines that expand the heart’s range. The Four Immeasurables—loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity—are cultivated toward all sentient beings, widening the circle of concern beyond narrow partiality. Practices such as tonglen, or “giving and taking,” further refine this orientation: on the in-breath, one visualizes taking in the suffering and negativity of others; on the out-breath, one sends out happiness, virtue, and relief. Visualization of buddhas and bodhisattvas, recitation of their names and mantras, and seeing the teacher as an embodiment of bodhicitta serve to inspire and stabilize this altruistic resolve.

Underlying and permeating these methods is the cultivation of wisdom through meditation on emptiness and dependent origination. By contemplating the lack of inherent existence in persons and phenomena, attachment to a solid, separate self is gradually undermined, making genuine compassion less encumbered by self-interest. When insight into emptiness is united with the compassionate resolve to alleviate suffering, bodhicitta matures into a non-dual orientation in which wisdom and compassion are no longer experienced as separate. In daily life, this is sustained through mindfulness of bodhicitta—remembering the bodhisattva intention in all activities, guarding against anger, pride, and selfishness, and transforming every circumstance into an opportunity to deepen the awakened heart-mind.