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Entry: Bodhi

Chinese char: µÐ´£

Explanation:

If the mad mind stops, its very stopping is bodhi.
(SS)

All the things that exist in the world are the wonderfully bright inherent mind of bodhi.

(SS III 196)

"Bodhi is Sanskrit. It is interpreted to mean 'awakening to the Way'. . . . Where does bodhi come from? Bodhi doesn't come from anywhere or go anywhere. Each of us is endowed with it. No one person has any more or less of it than anyone else. It neither increases nor decreases, neither comes into being nor ceases to be, nor is it defiled or pure." (SS I 180)

"The back of your hand is affliction, and the palm of your hand is bodhi. Realizing bodhi is just like flipping your hand from back to palm. When you turn affliction around, it's bodhi. Afflictions are the same as bodhi. Birth and death are the same as nirvana. If you understand, then afflictions are bodhi. If you don't understand, then bodhi is affliction. Bodhi isn't outside of afflictions, and there are no afflictions outside the scope of enlightenment. And so I very often cite the analogy of water and ice. If you pour a bowl of water over a person's body, even if you use a lot of force, you still won't hurt the person. However, if the bowl of water has turned into ice and you hit the person in the head with it, the person may very well die. Bodhi is like the water; afflictions are like the ice. If you melt ice, it becomes water; when you freeze water, it becomes ice." (FAS Ch24 63)

Pinyin: pu ti

Sanskrit: bodhi

Pali: bodhi

Alternative: enlightenment, awakening, the knowledge possessed by a Buddha

See Also: enlightenment, nirvana

BTTS Ref: SS I 180-181; SS III 135-137, 196-197; FAS Ch24 63.

Last Updated: 12/26/2001 1:46:22 AM EST

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