Thursday, March 19, 2009

Buddhahood


About Buddhism
The greatest achievement is selflessness.
The greatest worth is self-mastery.
The greatest quality is seeking to serve others.
The greatest precept is continual awareness.
The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything.
The greatest action is not conforming with the worlds ways.
The greatest magic is transmuting the passions.
The greatest generosity is non-attachment.
The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind.
The greatest patience is humility.
The greatest effort is not concerned with results.
The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go.
The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.

Buddha hood is nothing but a state of high life condition.

Bodhi (बोधि) is both the Pāli and Sanskrit word traditionally translated into English as "enlightenment." The word "buddha" means "one who has achieved bodhi." Bodhi is also frequently (and more accurately) translated as "awakening."

Although its most common usage by far is in the context of Buddhism, bodhi is also a technical term with various usages in other Indian philosophies and traditions.

Bodhi is an abstract noun formed from the verbal root budh (to awake, become aware, notice, know or understand,) corresponding to the verbs bujjhati (Pāli) and bodhati or budhyate (Sanskrit).

In early Buddhism, bodhi carried a meaning synonymous to nirvana, using only some different metaphors to describe the experience, which implied the extinction of raga (greed), dosa (hate) and moha (delusion). In the later school of Mahayana Buddhism, the status of nirvana was downgraded in some scriptures, coming to refer only to the extinction of greed and hate, implying that delusion was still present in one who attained nirvana, and that one needed to attain bodhi to eradicate delusion [1]. Therefore, according to Mahayana Buddhism, the arahant has attained only nirvana, thus still being subject to delusion, while the bodhisattva not only achieves nirvana but full liberation from delusion as well. He thus attains bodhi and becomes a buddha. In Theravada Buddhism, bodhi and nirvana carry the same meaning, that of being freed from greed, hate and delusion. It should also be noted that in the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra, "Great Nirvana" (maha-nirvana) is equal in all respects to Bodhi and indeed is the state of perfect Buddhahood.

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