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Bodhisattva

In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( English: ; बोधिसत्त्व) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood.

In the Early Buddhist schools, as well as modern Theravāda Buddhism, bodhisattva (Pāli: bodhisatta) refers to someone who has made a resolution to become a Buddha and has also received a confirmation or prediction from a living Buddha that this will be so.

In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva refers to anyone who has generated bodhicitta, a spontaneous wish and compassionate mind to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings. Mahayana bodhisattvas are spiritually heroic persons that work to attain awakening and are driven by a great compassion (mahākaruṇā). These beings are exemplified by important spiritual qualities such as the "four divine abodes" (brahmavihāras) of loving-kindness (maitrī), compassion (karuṇā), empathetic joy   (muditā) and equanimity (upekṣā), as well as the various bodhisattva "perfections" (pāramitās) which include prajñāpāramitā ("transcendent knowledge" or "perfection of wisdom") and skillful means (upāya).

In Theravāda Buddhism, the bodhisattva is mainly seen as an exceptional and rare individual. Only a few select individuals are ultimately able to become bodhisattvas, such as Maitreya. Mahāyāna Buddhism generally understands the bodhisattva path as being open to everyone, and Mahāyāna Buddhists encourage all individuals to become bodhisattvas. Spiritually advanced bodhisattvas such as Avalokiteshvara, Maitreya, and Manjushri are also widely venerated across the Mahāyāna Buddhist world and are believed to possess great magical power which they employ to help all living beings.

In Early Buddhism
In pre-sectarian Buddhism, the term bodhisatta is used in the early texts to refer to Gautama Buddha in his previous lives and as a young man in his last life, when he was working towards liberation. In the early Buddhist discourses, the Buddha regularly uses the phrase "when I was an unawakened Bodhisatta" to describe his experiences before his attainment of awakening. The early texts which discuss the period before the Buddha's awakening mainly focus on his spiritual development. According to Bhikkhu Analayo, most of these passages focus on three main themes: "the bodhisattva's overcoming of unwholesome states of mind, his development of mental tranquillity, and the growth of his insight." Other early sources like the Acchariyabbhutadhamma-sutta (MN 123, and its Chinese parallel in Madhyama-āgama 32) discuss the marvelous qualities of the bodhisattva Gautama in his previous life in Tuṣita heaven. The Pali text focuses on how the bodhisattva was endowed with mindfulness and clear comprehension while living in Tuṣita, while the Chinese source states that his lifespan, appearance, and glory was greater than all the devas (gods). These sources also discuss various miracles which accompanied the bodhisattva's conception and birth, most famously, his taking seven steps and proclaiming that this was his last life. The Chinese source (titled Discourse on Marvellous Qualities) also states that while living as a monk under the Buddha Kāśyapa he "made his initial vow to [realize] Buddhahood [while] practicing the holy life."

Another early source that discusses the qualities of bodhisattvas is the Mahāpadāna sutta. This text discusses bodhisattva qualities in the context of six previous Buddhas who lived long ago, such as Buddha Vipaśyī. Yet another important element of the bodhisattva doctrine, the idea of a prediction of someone's future Buddhahood, is found in another Chinese early Buddhist text, the Discourse on an Explanation about the Past (MĀ 66). In this discourse, a monk named Maitreya aspires to become a Buddha in the future and the Buddha then predicts that Maitreya will become a Buddha in the future. Other discourses found in the  Ekottarika-āgama present the "bodhisattva Maitreya" as an example figure (EĀ 20.6 and EĀ 42.6) and one sutra in this collection also discuss how the Buddha taught the bodhisattva path of the six perfections to Maitreya (EĀ 27.5).

'Bodhisatta' may also connote a being who is "bound for enlightenment", in other words, a person whose aim is to become fully enlightened. In the Pāli canon, the Bodhisatta (bodhisattva) is also described as someone who is still subject to birth, illness, death, sorrow, defilement, and delusion. According to the Theravāda monk Bhikkhu Bodhi, while all the Buddhist traditions agree that to attain Buddhahood, one must "make a deliberate resolution" and fulfill the spiritual perfections (pāramīs or pāramitās) as a bodhisattva, the actual bodhisattva path is not taught in the earliest strata of Buddhist texts such as the Pali Nikayas (and their counterparts such as the Chinese Āgamas) which instead focus on the ideal of the arahant.

The oldest known story about how Gautama Buddha becomes a bodhisattva is the story of his encounter with the previous Buddha, Dīpankara. During this encounter, a previous incarnation of Gautama, variously named Sumedha, Megha, or Sumati offers five blue lotuses and spreads out his hair or entire body for Dīpankara to walk on, resolving to one day become a Buddha. Dīpankara then confirms that they will attain Buddhahood. Early Buddhist authors saw this story as indicating that the making of a resolution (abhinīhāra) in the presence of a living Buddha and his prediction/confirmation (vyākaraṇa) of one's future Buddhahood was necessary to become a bodhisattva. According to Drewes, "all known models of the path to Buddhahood developed from this basic understanding."

Stories and teachings on the bodhisattva ideal are found in the various Jataka tale sources, which mainly focus on stories of the past lives of the Sakyamuni. Among the non-Mahayana Nikaya schools, the Jataka literature was likely the main genre that contained bodhisattva teachings. These stories had certainly become an important part of popular Buddhism by the time of the carving of the Bharhut Stupa railings (c. 125–100 BCE), which contain depictions of around thirty Jataka tales. Thus, it is possible that the bodhisattva ideal was popularized through the telling of Jatakas. Jataka tales contain numerous stories which focus on the past life deeds of Sakyamuni when he was a bodhisattva. These deeds generally express bodhisattva qualities and practices (such as compassion, the six perfections, and supernatural power) in dramatic ways, and include numerous acts of self-sacrifice. Apart from Jataka stories related to Sakyamuni, the idea that Metteya (Maitreya), who currently resides in Tuṣita, would become the future Buddha and that this had been predicted by the Buddha Sakyamuni was also an early doctrine related to the bodhisattva ideal. It first appears in the Cakkavattisihanadasutta. According to A.L. Basham, it is also possible that some of the Ashokan edicts reveal knowledge of the bodhisattva ideal. Basham even argues that Ashoka may have considered himself a bodhisattva, as one edict states that he "set out for sambodhi."

In the Nikāya schools
By the time that the Buddhist tradition had developed into various competing sects, the idea of the bodhisattva vehicle (Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit: bodhisattvayana) as a distinct (and superior) path from that of the arhat and solitary buddha was widespread among all the major non-Mahayana Buddhist traditions or Nikaya schools, including Theravāda, Sarvāstivāda and Mahāsāṃghika. The doctrine is found, for example, in 2nd century CE sources like the Avadānaśataka and the Divyāvadāna. The bodhisattvayana was referred by other names such as "vehicle of the perfections" (pāramitāyāna), "bodhisatva dharma", "bodhisatva training", and "vehicle of perfect Buddhahood".

According to various sources, some of the Nikaya schools (such as the Dharmaguptaka and some of the Mahasamghika sects) transmitted a collection of texts on bodhisattvas alongside the Tripitaka, which they termed "Bodhisattva Piṭaka" or "Vaipulya (Extensive) Piṭaka". None of these have survived. Dar Hayal attributes the historical development of the bodhisattva ideal to "the growth of bhakti (devotion, faith, love) and the idealisation and spiritualisation of the Buddha."

The North Indian Sarvāstivāda school held it took Gautama three "incalculable aeons" (asaṃkhyeyas) and ninety one aeons (kalpas) to become a Buddha after his resolution (praṇidhāna) in front of a past Buddha. During the first incalculable aeon he is said to have encountered and served 75,000 Buddhas, and 76,000 in the second, after which he received his first prediction (vyākaraṇa) of future Buddhahood from Dīpankara, meaning that he could no longer fall back from the path to Buddhahood. For Sarvāstivāda, the first two incalculable aeons is a period of time in which a bodhisattva may still fall away and regress from the path. At the end of the second incalculable aeon, they encounter a buddha and receive their prediction, at which point they are certain to achieve Buddhahood.

Thus, the presence of a living Buddha is also necessary for Sarvāstivāda. The Mahāvibhāṣā explains that its discussion of the bodhisattva path is partly meant "to stop those who are in fact not bodhisattvas from giving rise to the self-conceit that they are." However, for Sarvāstivāda, one is not technically a bodhisattva until the end of the third incalculable aeon, after which one begins to perform the actions which lead to the manifestation of the marks of a great person.

The Mahāvastu of the Mahāsāṃghika-Lokottaravādins presents various ideas regarding the school's conception of the bodhisattva ideal. According to this text, bodhisattva Gautama had already reached a level of dispassion at the time of Buddha Dīpaṃkara many aeons ago and he is also said to have attained the perfection of wisdom countless aeons ago.

The Mahāvastu also presents four stages or courses (caryās) of the bodhisattva path without giving specific time frames (though it's said to take various incalculable aeons). This set of four phases of the path is also found in other sources, including the Gandhari “Many-Buddhas Sūtra” (*Bahubudha gasutra) and the Chinese Fó běnxíng jí jīng (佛本行 集經, Taisho vol. 3, no. 190, pp. 669a1–672a11).

The four caryās (Gandhari: caria) are the following:

 * 1) Natural (Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit: prakṛti-caryā, Gandhari: pragidi, Chinese: 自性行 zì xìng xíng), one first plants the roots of merit in front of a Buddha to attain Buddhahood.
 * 2) Resolution (praṇidhāna-caryā, G: praṇisi, C: 願性行 yuàn xìng xíng), one makes their first resolution to attain Buddhahood in the presence of a Buddha.
 * 3) Continuing (anuloma-caryā, C: 順性行 shùn xìng xíng) or "development" (vivartana, G: vivaṭaṇa), in which one continues to practice until one meets a Buddha who confirms one's future Buddhahood.
 * 4) Irreversible (anivartana-caryā, C: 轉性行 zhuǎn xìng xíng) or “course of purity” (G: śukracaria), this is the stage at which one cannot fall back and is assured of future Buddhahood.

In Theravāda
The bodhisattva ideal is also found in southern Buddhist sources, like the Theravāda school's Buddhavaṃsa (1st-2nd century BCE), which explains how Gautama, after making a resolution (abhinīhāra) and receiving his prediction (vyākaraṇa) of future Buddhahood from past Buddha Dīpaṃkara, he became certain (dhuva) to attain Buddhahood. Gautama then took four incalculable aeons and a hundred thousand, shorter kalpas (aeons) to reach Buddhahood. Several sources in the Pali Canon depict the idea that there are multiple Buddhas and that there will be many future Buddhas, all of which must train as bodhisattas. Non-canonical Theravada Jataka literature also teaches about bodhisattvas and the bodhisattva path. The worship of bodhisattvas like Metteya, Saman and Natha (Avalokiteśvara) can also be found in Theravada Buddhism.

By the time of the great scholar Buddhaghosa (5th-century CE), orthodox Theravāda held the standard Indian Buddhist view that there were three main spiritual paths within Buddhism: the way of the Buddhas (buddhayāna) i.e. the bodhisatta path; the way of the individual Buddhas (paccekabuddhayāna); and the way of the disciples (sāvakayāna). The Sri Lankan commentator Dhammapāla (6th century CE) wrote a commentary on the Cariyāpiṭaka, a text which focuses on the bodhisattva path and on the ten perfections of a bodhisatta. Dhammapāla's commentary notes that to become a bodhisattva one must make a valid resolution in front of a living Buddha. The Buddha then must provide a prediction (vyākaraṇa) which confirms that one is irreversible (anivattana) from the attainment of Buddhahood. The Nidānakathā, as well as the Buddhavaṃsa and Cariyāpiṭaka commentaries makes this explicit by stating that one cannot use a substitute (such as a Bodhi tree, Buddha statue or Stupa) for the presence of a living Buddha, since only a Buddha has the knowledge for making a reliable prediction. This is the generally accepted view maintained in orthodox Theravada today.

According to Theravāda commentators like Dhammapāla as well as the Suttanipāta commentary, there are three types of bodhisattvas:

 * Bodhisattvas "preponderant in wisdom" (paññādhika), like Gautama, reach Buddhahood in four incalculable aeons (asaṃkheyyas) and a hundred thousand kalpas.
 * Bodhisattvas "preponderant in faith" (saddhādhika) take twice as long as paññādhika bodhisattvas
 * Bodhisattvas "preponderant in vigor" (vīriyādhika) take four times as long as paññādhika bodhisattvas

According to modern Theravada authors, meeting a Buddha is needed to truly make someone a bodhisattva because any other resolution to attain Buddhahood may easily be forgotten or abandoned during the aeons ahead. The Burmese monk Ledi Sayadaw (1846–1923) explains that though it is easy to make vows for future Buddhahood by oneself, it is very difficult to maintain the necessary conduct and views during periods when the Dharma has disappeared from the world. One will easily fall back during such periods and this is why one is not truly a full bodhisattva until one receives recognition from a living Buddha.

Because of this, it was and remains a common practice in Theravada to attempt to establish the necessary conditions to meet the future Buddha Maitreya and thus receive a prediction from him. Medieval Theravada literature and inscriptions report the aspirations of monks, kings and ministers to meet Maitreya for this purpose. Modern figures such as Anagarika Dharmapala (1864–1933), and U Nu (1907–1995) both sought to receive a prediction from a Buddha in the future and believed meritorious actions done for the good of Buddhism would help in their endeavor to become bodhisattvas in the future.

Over time the term came to be applied to other figures besides Gautama Buddha in Theravada lands, possibly due to the influence of Mahayana. The Theravada Abhayagiri tradition of Sri Lanka practiced Mahayana Buddhism and was very influential until the 12th century. Kings of Sri Lanka were often described as bodhisattvas, starting at least as early as Sirisanghabodhi (r. 247–249), who was renowned for his compassion, took vows for the welfare of the citizens, and was regarded as a mahāsatta (Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit: mahāsattva), an epithet used almost exclusively in Mahayana Buddhism. Many other Sri Lankan kings from the 3rd until the 15th century were also described as bodhisattas and their royal duties were sometimes clearly associated with the practice of the ten pāramitās. In some cases, they explicitly claimed to have received predictions of Buddhahood in past lives.

Popular Buddhist figures have also been seen as bodhisattvas in Theravada Buddhist lands. Shanta Ratnayaka notes that Anagarika Dharmapala, Asarapasarana Saranarikara Sangharaja, and Hikkaduwe Sri Sumamgala "are often called bodhisattvas". Buddhaghosa was also traditionally considered to be a reincarnation of Maitreya. Paul Williams writes that some modern Theravada meditation masters in Thailand are popularly regarded as bodhisattvas. Various modern figures of esoteric Theravada traditions (such as the weizzās of Burma) have also claimed to be bodhisattvas.

Theravada bhikkhu and scholar Walpola Rahula writes that the bodhisattva ideal has traditionally been held to be higher than the state of a śrāvaka not only in Mahayana but also in Theravada. Rahula writes "the fact is that both the Theravada and the Mahayana unanimously accept the Bodhisattva ideal as the highest...Although the Theravada holds that anybody can be a Bodhisattva, it does not stipulate or insist that all must be Bodhisattva which is considered not practical." He also quotes the 10th century king of Sri Lanka, Mahinda IV (956–972 CE), who had the words inscribed "none but the bodhisattvas will become kings of a prosperous Lanka," among other examples.

Jeffrey Samuels echoes this perspective, noting that while in Mahayana Buddhism the bodhisattva path is held to be universal and for everyone, in Theravada it is "reserved for and appropriated by certain exceptional people."

Early Mahāyāna
Mahāyāna Buddhism (often also called Bodhisattvayāna, "Bodhisattva Vehicle") is based principally upon the path of a bodhisattva. This path was seen as higher and nobler than becoming an arhat or a solitary Buddha. Hayal notes that Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit sources generally depict the bodhisattva path as reaching a higher goal (i.e. anuttara-samyak-sambodhi) than the goal of the path of the "disciples" (śrāvakas), which is the nirvana attained by arhats. For example, the Lotus Sutra states:"'To the sravakas, he preached the doctrine which is associated with the four Noble Truths and leads to Dependent Origination. It aims at transcending birth, old age, disease, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress of mind and weariness; and it ends in nirvana. But, to the great being, the bodhisattva, he preached the doctrine, which is associated with the six perfections and which ends in the Knowledge of the Omniscient One after the attainment of the supreme and perfect bodhi.'"According to Peter Skilling, the Mahayana movement began when "at an uncertain point, let us say in the first century BCE, groups of monks, nuns, and lay-followers began to devote themselves exclusively to the Bodhisatva vehicle." These Mahayanists universalized the bodhisattvayana as a path which was open to everyone and which was taught for all beings to follow. This was in contrast to the Nikaya schools, which held that the bodhisattva path was only for a rare set of individuals. Indian Mahayanists preserved and promoted a set of texts called Vaipulya ("Extensive") sutras (later called Mahayana sutras).

Mahayana sources like the Lotus Sutra also claim that arhats that have reached nirvana have not truly finished their spiritual quest, for they still have not attained the superior goal of sambodhi (Buddhahood) and thus must continue to strive until they reach this goal.

The , one of the earliest known Mahayana texts, contains a simple and brief definition for the term bodhisattva, which is also the earliest known Mahāyāna definition. This definition is given as the following: "Because he has bodhi as his aim, a bodhisattva-mahāsattva is so called."

Mahayana sutras also depict the bodhisattva as a being which, because they want to reach Buddhahood for the sake of all beings, is more loving and compassionate than the sravaka (who only wishes to end their own suffering). Thus, another major difference between the bodhisattva and the arhat is that the bodhisattva practices the path for the good of others (par-ārtha), due to their bodhicitta, while the sravakas do so for their own good (sv-ārtha) and thus, do not have bodhicitta (which is compassionately focused on others).

Mahayana bodhisattvas were not just abstract models for Buddhist practice, but also developed as distinct figures which were venerated by Indian Buddhists. These included figures like Manjushri and Avalokiteshvara, which are personifications of the basic virtues of wisdom and compassion respectively and are the two most important bodhisattvas in Mahayana. The development of bodhisattva devotion parallels the development of the Hindu bhakti movement. Indeed, Dayal sees the development of Indian bodhisattva cults as a Buddhist reaction to the growth of bhakti centered religion in India which helped to popularize and reinvigorate Indian Buddhism.

Some Mahayana sutras promoted another revolutionary doctrinal turn, claiming that the three vehicles of the Śrāvakayāna, Pratyekabuddhayāna and the Bodhisattvayāna were really just one vehicle (ekayana). This is most famously promoted in the Lotus Sūtra which claims that the very idea of three separate vehicles is just an upaya, a skillful device invented by the Buddha to get beings of various abilities on the path. But ultimately, it will be revealed to them that there is only one vehicle, the ekayana, which ends in Buddhahood.

Mature scholastic Mahāyāna
Classical Indian mahayanists held that the only sutras which teach the bodhisattva vehicle are the Mahayana sutras. Thus, Nagarjuna writes "the subjects based on the deeds of Bodhisattvas were not mentioned in [non-Mahāyāna] sūtras." They also held that the bodhisattva path was superior to the śrāvaka vehicle and so the bodhisattva vehicle is the "great vehicle" (mahayana) due to its greater aspiration to save others, while the śrāvaka vehicle is the "small" or "inferior" vehicle (hinayana). Thus, Asanga argues in his Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra that the two vehicles differ in numerous ways, such as intention, teaching, employment (i.e., means), support, and the time that it takes to reach the goal.

Over time, Mahayana Buddhists developed mature systematized doctrines about the bodhisattva. The authors of the various Madhyamaka treatises often presented the view of the ekayana, and thus held that all beings can become bodhisattvas. The texts and sutras associated with the Yogacara school developed a different theory of three separate gotras (families, lineages), that inherently predisposed a person to either the vehicle of the arhat, pratyekabuddha or samyak-saṃbuddha (fully self-awakened one). For the yogacarins then, only some beings (those who have the "bodhisattva lineage") can enter the bodhisattva path. In East Asian Buddhism, the view of the one vehicle (ekayana) which holds that all Buddhist teachings are really part of a single path, is the standard view.

The term bodhisattva was also used in a broader sense by later authors. According to the eighth-century Mahāyāna philosopher Haribhadra, the term "bodhisattva" can refer to those who follow any of the three vehicles, since all are working towards bodhi. Therefore, the specific term for a Mahāyāna bodhisattva is a mahāsattva (great being) bodhisattva. According to Atiśa's 11th century Bodhipathapradīpa, the central defining feature of a Mahāyāna bodhisattva is the universal aspiration to end suffering for all sentient beings, which is termed bodhicitta (the mind set on awakening).

The bodhisattva doctrine went through a significant transformation during the development of Buddhist tantra, also known as Vajrayana. This movement developed new ideas and texts which introduced new bodhisattvas and re-interpreted old ones in new forms, developed in elaborate mandalas for them and introduced new practices which made use of mantras, mudras and other tantric elements.

Entering the bodhisattva path
According to David Drewes, "Mahayana sutras unanimously depict the path beginning with the first arising of the thought of becoming a Buddha (prathamacittotpāda), or the initial arising of bodhicitta, typically aeons before one first receives a Buddha's prediction, and apply the term bodhisattva from this point." The Ten Stages Sutra, for example, explains that the arising of bodhicitta is the first step in the bodhisattva's career. Thus, the arising of bodhicitta, the compassionate mind aimed at awakening for the sake of all beings, is a central defining element of the bodhisattva path.

Another key element of the bodhisattva path is the concept of a bodhisattva's praṇidhāna - which can mean a resolution, resolve, vow, prayer, wish, aspiration and determination. This more general idea of an earnest wish or solemn resolve which is closely connected with bodhicitta (and is the cause and result of bodhicitta) eventually developed into the idea that bodhisattvas take certain formulaic "bodhisattva vows." One of the earliest of these formulas is found in the  and states:"We having crossed (the stream of samsara), may we help living beings to cross! We being liberated, may we liberate others! We being comforted, may we comfort others! We being finally released, may we release others!"Other sutras contain longer and more complex formulas, such as the ten vows found in the Ten Stages Sutra.

Mahayana sources also discuss the importance of a Buddha's prediction (vyākaraṇa) of a bodhisattva's future Buddhahood. This is seen as an important step along the bodhisattva path.

Later Mahayana Buddhists also developed specific rituals and devotional acts for which helped to develop various preliminary qualities, such as faith, worship, prayer, and confession, that lead to the arising of bodhicitta. These elements, which constitute a kind of preliminary preparation for bodhicitta, are found in the "seven part worship" (saptāṇgapūjā or saptavidhā anuttarapūjā). This ritual form is visible in the works of Shantideva (8th century) and includes:
 * Vandana (obeisance, bowing down)
 * Puja (worship of the Buddhas)
 * Sarana-gamana (going for refuge)
 * Papadesana (confession of bad deeds)
 * Punyanumodana (rejoicing in merit of the good deeds of oneself and others)
 * Adhyesana (prayer, entreaty) and yacana (supplication) – request to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to continue preaching Dharma
 * Atmabhavadi-parityagah (surrender) and pariṇāmanā (the transfer of one's Merit to the welfare of others)

After these preliminaries have been accomplished, then the aspirant is seen as being ready to give rise to bodhicitta, often through the recitation of a bodhisattva vow. Contemporary Mahāyāna Buddhism encourages everyone to give rise to bodhicitta and ceremonially take bodhisattva vows. With these vows and precepts, one makes the promise to work for the complete enlightenment of all sentient beings by practicing the transcendent virtues or paramitas.

In Mahāyāna, bodhisattvas are often not Buddhist monks and are former lay practitioners.

The practice of the bodhisattva
After a being has entered the path by giving rise to bodhicitta, they must make effort in the practice or conduct (caryā) of the bodhisattvas, which includes all the duties, virtues and practices that bodhisattvas must accomplish to attain Buddhahood. An important early Mahayana source for the practice of the bodhisattva is the Bodhisattvapiṭaka sūtra, a major sutra found in the Mahāratnakūṭa collection which was widely cited by various sources. According to Ulrich Pagel, this text is "one of the longest works on the bodhisattva in Mahayana literature" and thus provides extensive information on the topic bodhisattva training, especially the perfections (pāramitā). Pagel also argues that this text was quite influential on later Mahayana writings which discuss the bodhisattva and thus was "of fundamental importance to the evolution of the bodhisattva doctrine." Other sutras in the Mahāratnakūṭa collection are also important sources for the bodhisattva path.

According to Pagel, the basic outline of the bodhisattva practice in the Bodhisattvapiṭaka is outlined in a passage which states "the path to enlightenment comprises benevolence towards all sentient beings, striving after the perfections and compliance with the means of conversion." This path begins with contemplating the failures of samsara, developing faith in the Buddha, giving rise to bodhicitta and practicing the four immesurables. It then proceeds through all six perfections and finally discusses the four means of converting sentient beings (saṃgrahavastu). The path is presented through prose exposition, mnemonic lists (matrka) and also through Jataka narratives. Using this general framework, the Bodhisattvapiṭaka incorporates discussions related to other practices including super knowledge (abhijñā), learning, 'skill' (kauśalya), accumulation of merit (puṇyasaṃbhāra), the thirty-seven factors of awakening (bodhipakṣadharmas), perfect mental quietude (śamatha) and insight (vipaśyanā).

Later Mahayana treatises (śāstras) like the Bodhisattvabhumi and the Mahāyānasūtrālamkāra provide the following schema of bodhisattva practices:

 * Bodhipakṣa-caryā, the practice of the 37 bodhipakṣadharmas (the principles conducive to bodhi) which are: the four applications of mindfulness, the four right efforts, the four bases of spiritual power, the five spiritual faculties, the five strengths, the seven factors of awakening and the noble eightfold path.
 * Abhijñā-caryā, the practice of the super-knowledges (which are mainly developed in order to convert, help and guide others).
 * Pāramitā-caryā, the practice of the perfections, which are: Dāna (generosity), Śīla (virtue, ethics), Kṣānti (patient endurance), Vīrya (heroic energy), Dhyāna (meditation), Prajñā (wisdom), Upāya (skillful means), Praṇidhāna (vow, resolve), Bala (spiritual power), and Jñāna (knowledge).
 * Sattvaparipāka-caryā, the practice of maturing the living beings, i.e. preaching and teaching others.

The first six perfections (pāramitās) are the most significant and popular set of bodhisattva virtues and thus they serve as a central framework for bodhisattva practice. They are the most widely taught and commented upon virtues throughout the history of Mahayana Buddhist literature and feature prominently in major Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit sources such as the Bodhisattvabhumi, the Mahāyānasūtrālamkāra, the King of Samadhis Sutra and the Ten Stages Sutra. They are extolled and praised by these sources as "the great oceans of all the bright virtues and auspicious principles" (Bodhisattvabhumi) and "the Teacher, the Way and the Light...the Refuge and the Shelter, the Support and the Sanctuary" (Aṣṭasāhasrikā).

While many Mahayana sources discuss the bodhisattva's training in ethical discipline (śīla) in classic Buddhist terms, over time, there also developed specific sets of ethical precepts for bodhisattvas (Skt. bodhisattva-śīla). These various sets of precepts are usually taken by bodhisattva aspirants (lay and ordained monastics) along with classic Buddhist pratimoksha precepts. However, in some Japanese Buddhist traditions, monastics rely solely on the bodhisattva precepts. The perfection of wisdom (prajñāpāramitā) is generally seen as the most important and primary of the perfections, without which all the others fall short. Thus, the Madhyamakavatara (6:2) states that wisdom leads the other perfections as a man with eyes leads the blind. This perfect or transcendent wisdom has various qualities, such as being non-attached (asakti), non-conceptual and non-dual (advaya) and signless (animitta). It is generally understood as a kind of insight into the true nature of all phenomena (dharmas) which in Mahayana sutras is widely described as emptiness (shunyatā).

Another key virtue which the bodhisattva must develop is great compassion (mahā-karuṇā), a vast sense of care aimed at ending the suffering of all sentient beings. This great compassion is the ethical foundation of the bodhisattva, and it is also an applied aspect of their bodhicitta. Great compassion must also be closely joined with the perfection of wisdom, which reveals that all the beings that the bodhisattva strives to save are ultimately empty of self (anātman) and lack inherent existence (niḥsvabhāva). Due to the bodhisattva's compassionate wish to save all beings, they develop innumerable skillful means or strategies (upaya) with which to teach and guide different kinds of beings with all sorts of different inclinations and tendencies.

Another key virtue for the bodhisattva is mindfulness (smṛti), which Dayal calls "the sine qua non of moral progress for a bodhisattva." Mindfulness is widely emphasized by Buddhist authors and Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit sources and it appears four times in the list of 37 bodhipakṣadharmas. According to the Aṣṭasāhasrikā, a bodhisattva must never lose mindfulness so as not to be confused or distracted. The Mahāyānasūtrālamkāra states that mindfulness is the principal asset of a bodhisattva, while both Asvaghosa and Shantideva state that without mindfulness, a bodhisattva will be helpless and uncontrolled (like a mad elephant) and will not succeed in conquering the mental afflictions.

The length and nature of the path
Just as with non-Mahayana sources, Mahayana sutras generally depict the bodhisattva path as a long path that takes many lifetimes across many aeons. Some sutras state that a beginner bodhisattva could take anywhere from 3 to 22 countless eons (mahāsaṃkhyeya kalpas) to become a Buddha. The Mahāyānasaṃgraha of Asanga states that the bodhisattva must cultivate the six paramitas for three incalculable aeons (kalpāsaṃkhyeya). Shantideva meanwhile states that bodhisattvas must practice each perfection for sixty aeons or kalpas and also declares that a bodhisattva must practice the path for an "inconceivable" (acintya) number of kalpas. Thus, the bodhisattva path could take many billions upon billions of years to complete.

Later developments in Indian and Asian Mahayana Buddhism (especially in Vajrayana or tantric Buddhism) lead to the idea that certain methods and practices could substantially shorten the path (and even lead to Buddhahood in a single lifetime). In Pure Land Buddhism, an aspirant might go to a Buddha's pure land or buddha-field (buddhakṣetra), like Sukhavati, where they can study the path directly with a Buddha. This could significantly shorten the length of the path, or at least make it more bearable. East Asian Pure Land Buddhist traditions, such as Jōdo-shū and Jōdo Shinshū, hold the view that realizing Buddhahood through the long bodhisattva path of the perfections is no longer practical in the current age (which is understood as a degenerate age called mappo). Thus, they rely on the salvific power of Amitabha to bring Buddhist practitioners to the pure land of Sukhavati, where they will better be able to practice the path.

This view is rejected by other schools such as Tendai, Shingon and Zen. The founders of Tendai and Shingon, Saicho and Kukai, held that anyone who practiced the path properly could reach awakening in this very lifetime. Buddhist schools like Tiantai, Huayan, Chan and the various Vajrayāna traditions maintain that they teach ways to attain Buddhahood within one lifetime.

Some of early depictions of the Bodhisattva path in texts such as the Ugraparipṛcchā Sūtra describe it as an arduous, difficult monastic path suited only for the few which is nevertheless the most glorious path one can take. Three kinds of bodhisattvas are mentioned: the forest, city, and monastery bodhisattvas—with forest dwelling being promoted a superior, even necessary path in sutras such as the Ugraparipṛcchā and the Samadhiraja sutras. The early Rastrapalapariprccha sutra also promotes a solitary life of meditation in the forests, far away from the distractions of the householder life. The Rastrapala is also highly critical of monks living in monasteries and in cities who are seen as not practicing meditation and morality.

The Ratnagunasamcayagatha also says the bodhisattva should undertake ascetic practices (dhūtaguṇa), "wander freely without a home", practice the paramitas and train under a guru in order to perfect his meditation practice and realization of prajñaparamita. The twelve dhūtaguṇas are also promoted by the King of Samadhis Sutra, the Ten Stages Sutra and Shantideva. Some scholars have used these texts to argue for "the forest hypothesis", the theory that the initial Bodhisattva ideal was associated with a strict forest asceticism. But other scholars point out that many other Mahayana sutras do not promote this ideal, and instead teach "easy" practices like memorizing, reciting, teaching and copying Mahayana sutras, as well as meditating on Buddhas and bodhisattvas (and reciting or chanting their names). Ulrich Pagel also notes that in numerous sutras found in the Mahāratnakūṭa collection, the bodhisattva ideal is placed "firmly within the reach of non-celibate layfolk."

Bodhisattvas and Nirvana
Related to the different views on the different types of yanas or vehicles is the question of a bodhisattva's relationship to nirvāṇa. In the various Mahāyāna texts, two theories can be discerned. One view is the idea that a bodhisattva must postpone their awakening until full Buddhahood is attained (at which point one ceases to be reborn, which is the classical view of nirvāṇa). This view is promoted in some sutras like the ''Pañcavimsatisahasrika-prajñaparamita-sutra.  The idea is also found in the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra'', which mentions that bodhisattvas take the following vow: "I shall not enter into final nirvana before all beings have been liberated." Likewise, the Śikṣāsamuccaya states "I must lead all beings to Liberation. I will stay here till the end, even for the sake of one living soul."

The second theory is the idea that there are two kinds of nirvāṇa, the nirvāṇa of an arhat and a superior type of nirvāṇa called apratiṣṭhita (non-abiding) that allows a Buddha to remain engaged in the samsaric realms without being affected by them. This attainment was understood as a kind of non-dual state in which one is neither limited to samsara nor nirvana. A being who has reached this kind of nirvana is not restricted from manifesting in the samsaric realms, and yet they remain fully detached from the defilements found in these realms (and thus they can help others).

This doctrine of non-abiding nirvana developed in the Yogacara school. As noted by Paul Williams, the idea of apratiṣṭhita nirvāṇa may have taken some time to develop and is not obvious in some of the early Mahāyāna literature, therefore while earlier sutras may sometimes speak of "postponement", later texts saw no need to postpone the "superior" apratiṣṭhita nirvāṇa.

In this Yogacara model, the bodhisattva definitely rejects and avoids the liberation of the śravaka and pratyekabuddha, described in Mahāyāna literature as either inferior or "hina" (as in Asaṅga's fourth century Yogācārabhūmi) or as ultimately false or illusory (as in the Lotus Sūtra). That a bodhisattva has the option to pursue such a lesser path, but instead chooses the long path towards Buddhahood is one of the five criteria for one to be considered a bodhisattva. The other four are: being human, being a man, making a vow to become a Buddha in the presence of a previous Buddha, and receiving a prophecy from that Buddha.

Over time, a more varied analysis of bodhisattva careers developed focused on one's motivation. This can be seen in the Tibetan Buddhist teaching on three types of motivation for generating bodhicitta. According to Patrul Rinpoche's 19th century Words of My Perfect Teacher (Kun bzang bla ma'i gzhal lung), a bodhisattva might be motivated in one of three ways. They are:

 * 1) King-like bodhicitta – To aspire to become a Buddha first in order to then help sentient beings.
 * 2) Boatman-like bodhicitta – To aspire to become a Buddha at the same time as other sentient beings.
 * 3) Shepherd-like bodhicitta – To aspire to become a Buddha only after all other sentient beings have done so.

These three are not types of people, but rather types of motivation. According to Patrul Rinpoche, the third quality of intention is most noble though the mode by which Buddhahood occurs is the first; that is, it is only possible to teach others the path to enlightenment once one has attained enlightenment oneself.

Bodhisattva stages
According to James B. Apple, if one studies the earliest textual materials which discuss the bodhisattva path (which includes the translations of Lokakshema and the Gandharan manuscripts), "one finds four key stages that are demarcated throughout this early textual material that constitute the most basic elements in the path of a bodhisattva". These main elements are:

 * 1) "The arising of the thought of awakening (bodhicittotpāda), when a person first aspires to attain the state of Buddhahood and thereby becomes a bodhisattva"
 * 2) "Endurance towards the fact that things are not produced" (anutpattikadharma-kṣānti)
 * 3) "The attainment of the status of irreversibility" or non-retrogression (avaivartika) from Buddhahood, which means one is close to Buddhahood and that one can no longer turn back or regress from that attainment. They are exemplary monks, with cognitive powers equal to arhats. They practice the four dhyanas, have a deep knowledge of perfect wisdom and teach it to others. In the Lokakshema's Chinese translation of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā, the Daoxing Banruo Jing, this stage is closely related to a concentration (samadhi) that "does not grasp at anything at all" (sarvadharmāparigṛhīta).
 * 4) The prediction (vyākaraṇa), "the event when a Buddha predicts the time and place of a bodhisattva's subsequent awakening." The prediction is directly associated with the status of irreversibility. The Daoxing Banruo Jing states: "all the bodhisattvas who have realized the irreversible stage have obtained their prediction to Buddhahood from the Buddhas in the past."

According to Drewes, the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra divides the bodhisattva path into three main stages. The first stage is that of bodhisattvas who "first set out in the vehicle" (prathamayānasaṃprasthita), then there is the "irreversible" (avinivartanīya) stage, and finally the third "bound by one more birth" (ekajātipratibaddha), as in, destined to become a Buddha in the next life. Lamotte also mentions four similar stages of the bodhiattva career which are found in the Dazhidulun translated by Kumarajiva: (1) Prathamacittotpādika ("who produces the mind of Bodhi for the first time"), (2) Ṣaṭpāramitācaryāpratipanna ("devoted to the practice of the six perfections"), (3) Avinivartanīya (non-regression), (4) Ekajātipratibaddha ("separated by only one lifetime from buddhahood").

Drewes notes that Mahāyāna sūtras mainly depict a bodhisattvas' first arising of bodhicitta as occurring in the presence of a Buddha. Furthermore, according to Drewes, most Mahāyāna sūtras "never encourage anyone to become a bodhisattva or present any ritual or other means of doing so." In a similar manner to the nikāya sources, Mahāyāna sūtras also see new bodhisattvas as likely to regress, while seeing irreversible bodhisattvas are quite rare. Thus, according to Drewes, "the Aṣṭasāhasrikā, for instance, states that as many bodhisattvas as there grains of sand in the Ganges turn back from the pursuit of Buddhahood and that out of innumerable beings who give rise to bodhicitta and progress toward Buddhahood, only one or two will reach the point of becoming irreversible."

Drewes also adds that early texts like the Aṣṭasāhasrikā treat bodhisattvas who are beginners (ādikarmika) or "not long set out in the [great] vehicle" with scorn, describing them as "blind", "unintelligent", "lazy" and "weak". Early Mahayana works identify them with those who reject Mahayana or who abandon Mahayana, and they are seen as likely to become śrāvakas (those on the arhat path). Rather than encouraging them to become bodhisattvas, what early Mahayana sutras like the Aṣṭa do is to help individuals determine if they have already received a prediction in a past life, or if they are close to this point.

The Aṣṭa provides a variety of methods, including forms of ritual or divination, methods dealing with dreams and various tests, especially tests based on one's reaction to the hearing of the content in the Aṣṭasāhasrikā itself. The text states that encountering and accepting its teachings mean one is close to being given a prediction and that if one does not "shrink back, cower or despair" from the text, but "firmly believes it", one is either irreversible or is close to this stage. Many other Mahayana sutras such as the Akṣobhyavyūha, Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, Sukhāvatīvyūha, and the Śūraṃgamasamādhi Sūtra present textual approaches to determine one's status as an advanced bodhisattva. These mainly depend on a person's attitude towards listening to, believing, preaching, proclaiming, copying or memorizing and reciting the sutra as well as practicing the sutra's teachings.

According to Drewes, this claim that merely having faith in Mahāyāna sūtras meant that one was an advanced bodhisattva, was a departure from previous Nikaya views about bodhisattvas. It created new groups of Buddhists who accepted each other's bodhisattva status. Some Mahayana texts are more open with their bodhisattva doctrine. The Lotus Sutra famously assures large numbers people that they will certainly achieve Buddhahood, with few requirements (other than hearing and accepting the Lotus Sutra itself).

The bodhisattva grounds (bhūmis)
According to various Mahāyāna sources, on the way to becoming a Buddha, a bodhisattva proceeds through various stages (bhūmis) of spiritual progress. The term bhūmi means "earth" or "place" and figurately can mean "ground, plane, stage, level; state of consciousness". There are various lists of bhumis, the most common is a list of ten found in the Daśabhūmikasūtra (but there are also lists of seven stages as well as lists which have more than 10 stages).

The Daśabhūmikasūtra lists the following ten stages:

 * 1) Great Joy: It is said that being close to enlightenment and seeing the benefit for all sentient beings, one achieves great joy, hence the name. In this bhūmi the bodhisattvas practice all perfections (pāramitās), but especially emphasizing generosity (dāna).
 * 2) Stainless: In accomplishing the second bhūmi, the bodhisattva is free from the stains of immorality, therefore, this bhūmi is named "stainless". The emphasized perfection is moral discipline (śīla).
 * 3) Luminous: The light of Dharma is said to radiate for others from the bodhisattva who accomplishes the third bhūmi. The emphasized perfection is patience ().
 * 4) Radiant: This bhūmi it is said to be like a radiating light that fully burns that which opposes enlightenment. The emphasized perfection is vigor (vīrya).
 * 5) Very difficult to train: Bodhisattvas who attain this ground strive to help sentient beings attain maturity, and do not become emotionally involved when such beings respond negatively, both of which are difficult to do. The emphasized perfection is meditative concentration (dhyāna).
 * 6) Obviously Transcendent: By depending on the perfection of wisdom, [the bodhisattva] does not abide in either saṃsāra or nirvāṇa, so this state is "obviously transcendent".  The emphasized perfection is wisdom (prajñā).
 * 7) Gone afar: Particular emphasis is on the perfection of skillful means (upāya), to help others.
 * 8) Immovable: The emphasized virtue is aspiration. This "immovable" bhūmi is where one becomes able to choose his place of rebirth.
 * 9) Good Discriminating Wisdom: The emphasized virtue is the understanding of self and non-self.
 * 10) Cloud of Dharma: The emphasized virtue is the practice of primordial wisdom. After this bhūmi, one attains full Buddhahood.

In some sources, these ten stages are correlated with a different schema of the buddhist path called the five paths which is derived from Vaibhasika Abhidharma sources.

The Śūraṅgama Sūtra recognizes 57 stages. Various Vajrayāna schools recognize additional grounds (varying from 3 to 10 further stages), mostly 6 more grounds with variant descriptions. A bodhisattva above the 7th ground is called a mahāsattva. Some bodhisattvas such as Samantabhadra are also said to have already attained Buddhahood.

Sōtō Zen
As part of the Sōtō Zen school of Mahāyanā, Dōgen Zenji described Four Exemplary Acts of a Bodhisattva:

 * Offering Alms: Not being covetous or greedy;
 * Kind Speech: Feeling genuine affection for other sentient beings and offering words that are neither harsh nor rude.
 * Benevolence: Working out skillful methods to benefit sentient beings, be they of low or high station.
 * Manifesting Sympathy: Not making differences, not treating yourself as different and not treating others as different.

Important Bodhisattvas

Buddhists (especially Mahayanists) venerate several bodhisattvas (such as Maitreya, Manjushri and Avalokiteshvara) which are seen as highly spiritually advanced (having attained the tenth bhumi) and thus possessing immense magical power. According to Lewis Lancaster, these "celestial" or "heavenly" bodhisattvas are seen as "either the manifestations of a Buddha or they are beings who possess the power of producing many bodies through great feats of magical transformation."

The religious devotion to these bodhisattvas probably first developed in north India, and they are widely depicted in Gandharan and Kashmiri art. In Asian art, they are typically depicted as princes and princesses, with royal robes and jewellery (since they are the princes of the Dharma). In Buddhist art, a bodhisattva is often described as a beautiful figure with a serene expression and graceful manner. This is probably in accordance to the description of Prince Siddhārtha Gautama as a bodhisattva. The depiction of bodhisattva in Buddhist art around the world aspires to express the bodhisattva's qualities such as loving-kindness (metta), compassion (karuna), empathetic joy (mudita) and equanimity (upekkha).

Literature which glorifies such bodhisattvas and recounts their various miracles remains very popular in Asia. One example of such a work of literature is More Records of Kuan-shih-yin's Responsive Manifestations by Lu Kao (459–532) which was very influential in China. In Tibetan Buddhism, the Maṇi Kambum is a similarly influential text (a revealed text, or terma) which focuses on Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara, who is seen as the country's patron bodhisattva) and his miraculous activities in Tibet. These celestial bodhisattvas like Avalokiteshvara (Guanyin) are also seen as compassionate savior figures, constantly working for the good of all beings. The Avalokiteshvara chapter of the Lotus Sutra even states that calling Avalokiteshvara to mind can help save someone from natural disasters, demons, and other calamities. It is also supposed to protect one from the afflictions (lust, anger and ignorance). Bodhisattvas can also transform themselves into whatever physical form is useful for helping sentient beings (a god, a bird, a male or female, even a Buddha). Because of this, bodhisattvas are seen as beings that one can pray to for aid and consolation from the sufferings of everyday life as well as for guidance in the path to enlightenment. Thus, the great translator Xuanzang is said to have constantly prayed to Avalokiteshvara for protection on his long journey to India.

Eight Main Bodhisattvas
In the Tibetan tradition, there are eight bodhisattvas known as the "Eight Great Bodhisattvas", or "Eight Close Sons" (Skt. aṣṭa utaputra; Tib. nyewé sé gyé) and are seen as the main bodhisattvas of Shakyamuni Buddha. These same "Eight Great Bodhisattvas" (Chn. Bādà Púsà, Jp. Hachi Daibosatsu) also appear in East Asian Esoteric Buddhist sources, such as The Sutra on the Maṇḍalas of the Eight Great Bodhisattvas (八大菩薩曼荼羅經), translated by Amoghavajra in the 8th century and Faxian (10th century). The Eight Great Bodhisattvas are the following:

 * Mañjuśrī ("Gentle Glory") Kumarabhuta ("Young Prince"), the main bodhisattva of wisdom
 * Avalokiteśvara ("Lord who gazes down at the world"), the savior bodhisattva of great compassion
 * Vajrapāṇi ("Vajra in hand"), the bodhisattva of protection, the protector of the Buddha (in East Asian sources, this figure appears as Mahāsthāmaprāpta)
 * Maitreya ("Friendly One"), will become the Buddha of our world in the future
 * Kṣitigarbha ("Earth Source")
 * Ākāśagarbha ("Space Source") also known as Gaganagañja
 * Sarvanivāraṇaviṣkambhin ("He who blocks the hindrances")
 * Samantabhadra ("Universal Worthy", or "All Good")

In Theravada
While the veneration of bodhisattvas is much more widespread and popular in the Mahayana Buddhist world, it is also found in Theravada Buddhist regions. Bodhisattvas which are venerated in Theravada lands include Natha Deviyo (Avalokiteshvara), Metteya (Maitreya), Upulvan (i.e. Vishnu), Saman (Samantabhadra) and Pattini. The veneration of some of these figures may have been influenced by Mahayana Buddhism. These figures are also understood as devas that have converted to Buddhism and have sworn to protect it.

The recounting of Jataka tales, which discuss the bodhisattva deeds of Gautama before his awakening, also remains a popular practice.

Female Bodhisattvas

The bodhisattva Prajñāpāramitā-devi is a female personification of the perfection of wisdom and the Prajñāpāramitā sutras. She became an important figure, widely depicted in Indian Buddhist art.

Guanyin (Jp: Kannon), a female form of Avalokiteshvara, is the most widely revered bodhisattva in East Asian Buddhism, generally depicted as a motherly figure. Guanyin is venerated in various other forms and manifestations, including Cundī, Cintāmaṇicakra, Hayagriva, Eleven-Headed Thousand-Armed Guanyin and Guanyin Of The Southern Seas among others.

Gender variant representations of some bodhisattvas, most notably Avalokiteśvara, has prompted conversation regarding the nature of a bodhisattva's appearance. Chan master Sheng Yen has stated that Mahāsattvas such as Avalokiteśvara (known as Guanyin in Chinese) are androgynous (Ch. 中性; pinyin: "zhōngxìng"), which accounts for their ability to manifest in masculine and feminine forms of various degrees.

In Tibetan Buddhism, Tara or Jetsun Dölma (rje btsun sgrol ma) is the most important female bodhisattva.

Numerous Mahayana sutras feature female bodhisattvas as main characters and discuss their life, teachings and future Buddhahood. These include The Questions of the Girl Vimalaśraddhā (Tohoku Kangyur - Toh number 84), The Questions of Vimaladattā (Toh 77), The Lion's Roar of Śrīmālādevī (Toh 92), The Inquiry of Lokadhara (Toh 174), The Sūtra of Aśokadattā's Prophecy (Toh 76), The Questions of Vimalaprabhā (Toh 168), The Sūtra of Kṣemavatī's Prophecy (Toh 192), The Questions of the Girl Sumati (Toh 74), The Questions of Gaṅgottara (Toh 75), The Questions of an Old Lady (Toh 171), The Miraculous Play of Mañjuśrī (Toh 96), and The Sūtra of the Girl Candrottarā's Prophecy (Toh 191).

Popular Figures

Over time, numerous historical Buddhist figures also came to be seen as bodhisattvas in their own right, deserving of devotion. For example, an extensive hagiography developed around Nagarjuna, the Indian founder of the madhyamaka school of philosophy. Followers of Tibetan Buddhism consider the Dalai Lamas and the Karmapas to be an emanation of Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. Various Japanese Buddhist schools consider their founding figures like Kukai and Nichiren to be bodhisattvas. In Chinese Buddhism, various historical figures have been called bodhisattvas.

Furthermore, various Hindu deities are considered to be bodhisattvas in Mahayana Buddhist sources. For example, in the Kāraṇḍavyūhasūtra, Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma and Saraswati are said to be bodhisattvas, all emanations of Avalokiteshvara. Deities like Saraswati (Chinese: Biàncáitiān, 辯才天, Japanese: Benzaiten) and Shiva (C: Dàzìzàitiān, 大自在天; J: Daikokuten) are still venerated as bodhisattva devas and dharmapalas (guardian deities) in East Asian Buddhism. Both figures are closely connected with Avalokiteshvara. In a similar manner, the Hindu deity Harihara is called a bodhisattva in the famed Nīlakaṇṭha Dhāraṇī, which states: "O Effulgence, World-Transcendent, come, oh Hari, the great bodhisattva."

The empress Wu Zetian of the Tang dynasty, was the only female ruler of China. She used the growing popularity of Esoteric Buddhism in China for her own needs. Though she was not the only ruler to have made such a claim, the political utility of her claims, coupled with sincerity make her a great example. She built several temples and contributed to the finishing of the Longmen Caves and even went on to patronise Buddhism over Confucianism or Daoism. She ruled by the title of "Holy Emperor", and claimed to be a Bodhisattva too. She became one of China's most influential rulers.

Others

Other important bodhisattvas in Mahayana Buddhism include:

 * Vajrasattva, an important figure in Vajrayana Buddhism
 * Vimalakirti the famous lay bodhisattva of the Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa
 * Akṣayamati, the main character in the influential Akṣayamatinirdeśa Sūtra
 * Sadāprarudita, a major bodhisattva in the Prajñāpāramitā sutras
 * Sudhana, the main character of the Gaṇḍavyūha Sutra
 * The Four Bodhisattvas of the Earth from the Lotus Sutra
 * Bhaiṣajyarāja or "Medicine King"
 * Candraprabha ("Moon Light")
 * Sūryaprabha ("Solar Light")
 * Jambhala, a bodhisattva of wealth
 * Mahāsthāmaprāpta, the second attendant bodhisattva to Amitabha (after Avalokiteshvara)

Fierce bodhisattvas
While bodhisattvas tend to be depicted as conventionally beautiful, there are instances of their manifestation as fierceful and monstrous looking beings. A notable example is Guanyin's manifestation as a preta named "Flaming Face" (面燃大士). This trope is commonly employed among the Wisdom Kings, among whom Mahāmāyūrī Vidyārājñī stands out with a feminine title and benevolent expression. In some depictions, her mount takes on a wrathful appearance. This variation is also found among images of Vajrapani.

In Tibetan Buddhism, fierce manifestations (Tibetan: trowo) of the major bodhisattvas are quite common and they often act as protector deities.

Sacred places
The place of a bodhisattva's earthly deeds, such as the achievement of enlightenment or the acts of Dharma, is known as a bodhimaṇḍa (place of awakening), and may be a site of pilgrimage. Many temples and monasteries are famous as bodhimaṇḍas. Perhaps the most famous bodhimaṇḍa of all is the Bodhi Tree under which Śākyamuṇi achieved Buddhahood. There are also sacred places of awakening for bodhisattvas located throughout the Buddhist world. Mount Potalaka, a sacred mountain in India, is traditionally held to be Avalokiteshvara's bodhimaṇḍa.

In Chinese Buddhism, there are four mountains that are regarded as bodhimaṇḍas for bodhisattvas, with each site having major monasteries and being popular for pilgrimages by both monastics and laypeople. These four sacred places are:

 * Mount Putuo for Guanyin (Avalokiteśvara), the bodhisattva of Compassion
 * Mount Emei for Samantabhadra, the bodhisattva of practice
 * Mount Wutai for Mañjuśrī, the bodhisattva of wisdom
 * Mount Jiuhua for Kṣitigarbha, the bodhisattva of the great vow

Etymology
The etymology of the Indic terms bodhisattva and bodhisatta is not fully understood. The term bodhi is uncontroversial and means "awakening" or "enlightenment" (from the root budh-). The second part of the compound has many possible meanings or derivations, including:

 * Sattva and satta commonly means "living being", "sentient being" or "person" and many modern scholars adopt an interpretation based on this etymology. Examples include: "a sentient or reasonable being, possessing bodhi" (H. Kern), "a bodhi-being, i.e. a being destined to attain fullest Enlightenment" (T. W. Rhys Davids and W. Stede), "A being seeking for bodhi" (M. Anesaki), "Erleuchtungswesen" (Enlightenment Being) (M. Winternitz), "Weisheitswesen" ("Wisdom Being") (M. Walleser). This etymology is also supported by the Mahayana Samādhirāja Sūtra, which, however, explains the meaning of the term bodhisattva as "one who admonishes or exhorts all beings."
 * According to Har Dayal, the term bodhi-satta may correspond with the Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit bodhi-sakta which means "one who is devoted to bodhi" or "attached to bodhi". Later, the term may have been wrongly sanskritized to bodhi-satva. Hayal notes that the Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit term sakta (from sañj) means "clung, stuck or attached to, joined or connected with, addicted or devoted to, fond of, intent on". This etymology for satta is supported by some passages in the Early Buddhist Texts (such as at SN 23.2, parallel at SĀ 122). The etymology is also supported by the Pāli commentaries, Jain sources and other modern scholars like Tillman Vetter and Neumann. Another related possibility pointed out by K.R. Norman and others is that satta carries the meaning of śakta, and so bodhisatta means "capable of enlightenment."
 * The Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit term sattva may mean "strength, energy, vigour, power, courage" and therefore, bodhisattva could also mean "one whose energy and power is directed towards bodhi". This reading of sattva is found in Ksemendra's AvadanakalpaIata. Har Dayal supports this reading, noting that the term sattva is "almost certainly related to the Vedic word satvan, which means 'a strong or valiant man, hero, warrior and thus, the term bodhisatta should be interpreted as "heroic being, spiritual warrior."
 * Sattva may also mean spirit, mind, sense, consciousness, or geist. Various Indian commentators like Prajñakaramati interpret the term as a synonym for citta (mind, thought) or vyavasāya (decision, determination). Thus, the term bodhisattva could also mean: "one whose mind, intentions, thoughts or wishes are fixed on bodhi". In this sense, this meaning of sattva is similar to the meaning it has in the Yoga-sutras, where it means mind.
 * Tibetan lexicographers translate bodhisattva as byang chub (bodhi) sems dpa (sattva). In this compound, sems means mind, while dpa means "hero, strong man" (Skt. vīra). Thus, this translation combines two possible etymologies of sattva explained above: as "mind" and as "courageous, hero".
 * Chinese Buddhists generally use the term pusa (菩薩), a phonetic transcription of the Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit term. However, early Chinese translators sometimes used a meaning translation of the term bodhisattva, which they rendered as mingshi (明士), which means "a person who understands", reading sattva as "man" or "person" (shi, 士).
 * In Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, sattva can mean "essence, nature, true essence", and the Pali satta can mean "substance". Some modern scholars interpret bodhisattva in this light, such as Monier-Williams, who translates the term as "one who has bodhi or perfect wisdom as his essence."

General references

 * Analayo, The Genesis of the Bodhisattva Ideal, Hamburg Buddhist Studies 1, Hamburg University Press 2010
 * Dayal, Har (1970). The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Literature, Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
 * Gampopa; The Jewel Ornament of Liberation; Snow Lion Publications; ISBN 1-55939-092-1
 * Gyatso, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, The Bodhisattva Vow: A Practical Guide to Helping Others, Tharpa Publications (2nd. ed., 1995) ISBN 978-0-948006-50-0
 * Kawamura, Leslie S. (ed) (1981) The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhism, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario. Canada.
 * Lampert, K.; Traditions of Compassion: From Religious Duty to Social Activism. Palgrave-Macmillan; ISBN 1-4039-8527-8
 * Pagel, Ulrich (1992). The Bodhisattvapiṭaka: Its Doctrines, Practices and Their Position in Mahāyāna Literature. Institute of Buddhist Studies.
 * Shantideva: Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life: How to Enjoy a Life of Great Meaning and Altruism, a translation of Shantideva's Bodhisattvacharyavatara with Neil Elliott, Tharpa Publications (2002) ISBN 978-0-948006-88-3
 * Werner, Karel; Samuels, Jeffrey; Bhikkhu Bodhi; Skilling, Peter; Bhikkhu Anālayo, McMahan, David (2013) The Bodhisattva Ideal: Essays on the Emergence of Mahayana. Buddhist Publication Society. ISBN 978-955-24-0396-5
 * White, Kenneth R.; The Role of Bodhicitta in Buddhist Enlightenment: Including a Translation into English of Bodhicitta-sastra, Benkemmitsu-nikyoron, and Sammaya-kaijo; Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 2005; ISBN 0-7734-5985-5
 * Williams, Paul (2008). Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations, Routledge.
 * ; ISBN 978-0-8248-3045-8

title: Bodhisattva


text:
Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace is a royal residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It has been a focal point for the British people at times of national rejoicing and mourning.

Originally known as Buckingham House, the building at the core of today's palace was a large townhouse built for the Duke of Buckingham in 1703 on a site that had been in private ownership for at least 150 years. It was acquired by George III in 1761 as a private residence for Queen Charlotte and became known as The Queen's House. During the 19th century it was enlarged by architects John Nash and Edward Blore, who constructed three wings around a central courtyard. Buckingham Palace became the London residence of the British monarch on the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837.

The last major structural additions were made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including the East Front, which contains the balcony on which the royal family traditionally appears to greet crowds. A German bomb destroyed the palace chapel during the Second World War; the King's Gallery was built on the site and opened to the public in 1962 to exhibit works of art from the Royal Collection.

The original early-19th-century interior designs, many of which survive, include widespread use of brightly coloured scagliola and blue and pink lapis, on the advice of Charles Long. King Edward VII oversaw a partial redecoration in a Belle Époque cream and gold colour scheme. Many smaller reception rooms are furnished in the Chinese regency style with furniture and fittings brought from the Royal Pavilion at Brighton and from Carlton House. The palace has 775 rooms, and the garden is the largest private garden in London. The state rooms, used for official and state entertaining, are open to the public each year for most of August and September and on some days in winter and spring.

Pre-1624
In the Middle Ages, the site of the future palace formed part of the Manor of Ebury (also called Eia). The marshy ground was watered by the river Tyburn, which still flows below the courtyard and south wing of the palace. Where the river was fordable (at Cow Ford), the village of Eye Cross grew. Ownership of the site changed hands many times; owners included Edward the Confessor and Edith of Wessex in late Saxon times, and, after the Norman Conquest, William the Conqueror. William gave the site to Geoffrey de Mandeville, who bequeathed it to the monks of Westminster Abbey.

In 1531, Henry VIII acquired the Hospital of St James, which became St James's Palace, from Eton College, and in 1536 he took the Manor of Ebury from Westminster Abbey. These transfers brought the site of Buckingham Palace back into royal hands for the first time since William the Conqueror had given it away almost 500 years earlier. Various owners leased it from royal landlords, and the freehold was the subject of frenzied speculation during the 17th century. By then, the old village of Eye Cross had long since fallen into decay, and the area was mostly wasteland. Needing money, James VI and I sold off part of the Crown freehold but retained part of the site on which he established a 4 acre mulberry garden for the production of silk. (This is at the north-west corner of today's palace.) Clement Walker in Anarchia Anglicana (1649) refers to "new-erected sodoms and spintries at the Mulberry Garden at S. James's"; this suggests it may have been a place of debauchery. Eventually, in the late 17th century, the freehold was inherited from the property tycoon Hugh Audley by the great heiress Mary Davies.

First houses on the site (1624–1761)
Possibly the first house erected within the site was that of William Blake, around 1624. The next owner was George Goring, 1st Earl of Norwich, who from 1633 extended Blake's house, which came to be known as Goring House, and developed much of today's garden, then known as Goring Great Garden. He did not, however, obtain the freehold interest in the mulberry garden. Unbeknown to Goring, in 1640 the document "failed to pass the Great Seal before Charles I fled London, which it needed to do for legal execution". It was this critical omission that would help the British royal family regain the freehold under George III. When the improvident Goring defaulted on his rents, Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington was able to purchase the lease of Goring House and he was occupying it when it burned down in 1674, following which he constructed Arlington House on the site – the location of the southern wing of today's palace – the next year. In 1698, John Sheffield acquired the lease. He later became the first Duke of Buckingham and Normanby. Buckingham House was built for Sheffield in 1703 to the design of William Winde. The style chosen was of a large, three-floored central block with two smaller flanking service wings. It was eventually sold by Buckingham's illegitimate son, Charles Sheffield, in 1761 to George III for £21,000. Sheffield's leasehold on the mulberry garden site, the freehold of which was still owned by the royal family, was due to expire in 1774.

From Queen's House to palace (1761–1837)
Under the new royal ownership, the building was originally intended as a private retreat for Queen Charlotte, and was accordingly known as The Queen's House. Remodelling of the structure began in 1762. In 1775, an Act of Parliament settled the property on Queen Charlotte, in exchange for her rights to nearby Old Somerset House, and 14 of her 15 children were born there. Some furnishings were transferred from Carlton House and others had been bought in France after the French Revolution of 1789. While St James's Palace remained the official and ceremonial royal residence, the name "Buckingham Palace" was used from at least 1791.

After his accession to the throne in 1820, George IV continued the renovation, intending to create a small, comfortable home. However, in 1826, while the work was in progress, the King decided to modify the house into a palace with the help of his architect John Nash. The façade was designed with George IV's preference for French neoclassical architecture in mind. The cost of the renovations grew dramatically, and by 1829 the extravagance of Nash's designs resulted in his removal as the architect. On the death of George IV in 1830, his younger brother William IV hired Edward Blore to finish the work. William never moved into the palace, preferring Clarence House. After the Palace of Westminster was destroyed by fire in 1834, he offered to convert Buckingham Palace into a new Houses of Parliament, but his offer was declined.

Queen Victoria (1837–1901)
Buckingham Palace became the principal royal residence in 1837, on the accession of Queen Victoria, who was the first monarch to reside there. While the state rooms were a riot of gilt and colour, the necessities of the new palace were somewhat less luxurious. The chimneys were said to smoke so much that the fires had to be allowed to die down, and consequently the palace was often cold. Ventilation was so bad that the interior smelled, and when it was decided to install gas lamps, there was a serious worry about the build-up of gas on the lower floors. It was also said that the staff were lax and lazy and the palace was dirty. Following the Queen's marriage in 1840, her husband, Prince Albert, concerned himself with a reorganisation of the household offices and staff, and with addressing the design faults of the palace. By the end of 1840, all the problems had been rectified. However, the builders were to return within a decade.

By 1847, the couple found the palace too small for court life and their growing family and a new wing, designed by Edward Blore, was built by Thomas Cubitt, enclosing the central quadrangle. The work, carried out from 1847 to 1849, was paid for by the sale of Brighton Pavilion in 1850. The large East Front, facing The Mall, is today the "public face" of Buckingham Palace and contains the balcony from which the royal family acknowledge the crowds on momentous occasions and after the annual Trooping the Colour. The ballroom wing and a further suite of state rooms were also built in this period, designed by Nash's student James Pennethorne. Before Prince Albert's death, in addition to royal ceremonies, investitures and presentations Buckingham Palace was frequently the scene of lavish costume balls and musical entertainments. The most celebrated contemporary musicians entertained there; for example Felix Mendelssohn is known to have played there on three occasions, and Johann Strauss II and his orchestra played there when in England.

Widowed in 1861, the grief-stricken Queen withdrew from public life and left Buckingham Palace to live at Windsor Castle, Balmoral Castle and Osborne House. For many years the palace was seldom used, even neglected. In 1864, a note was found pinned to the fence, saying: "These commanding premises to be let or sold, in consequence of the late occupant's declining business." Eventually, public opinion persuaded the Queen to return to London, though even then she preferred to live elsewhere whenever possible. Court functions were still held at Windsor Castle, presided over by the sombre Queen habitually dressed in mourning black, while Buckingham Palace remained shuttered for most of the year.

Early 20th century (1901–1945)
In 1901, the new king, Edward VII, began redecorating the palace. He and his wife, Queen Alexandra, had always been at the forefront of London high society, and their friends, known as "the Marlborough House Set", were considered to be the most eminent and fashionable of the age. Buckingham Palace—the Ballroom, Grand Entrance, Marble Hall, Grand Staircase, vestibules and galleries were redecorated in the Belle Époque cream and gold colour scheme they retain today—once again became a setting for entertaining on a majestic scale but leaving some to feel Edward's heavy redecorations were at odds with Nash's original work.

The last major building work took place during the reign of George V when, in 1913, Aston Webb redesigned Blore's 1850 East Front to resemble in part Giacomo Leoni's Lyme Park in Cheshire. This new refaced principal façade (of Portland stone) was designed to be the backdrop to the Victoria Memorial, a large memorial statue of Queen Victoria created by sculptor Thomas Brock, erected outside the main gates on a surround constructed by architect Aston Webb. George V, who had succeeded Edward VII in 1910, had a more serious personality than his father; greater emphasis was now placed on official entertainment and royal duties than on lavish parties. He arranged a series of command performances featuring jazz musicians such as the Original Dixieland Jazz Band (1919; the first jazz performance for a head of state), Sidney Bechet and Louis Armstrong (1932), which earned the palace a nomination in 2009 for a (Kind of) Blue Plaque by the Brecon Jazz Festival as one of the venues making the greatest contribution to jazz music in the United Kingdom.

During the First World War, which lasted from 1914 until 1918, the palace escaped unscathed. Its more valuable contents were evacuated to Windsor, but the royal family remained in residence. The King imposed rationing at the palace, much to the dismay of his guests and household. To the King's later regret, David Lloyd George persuaded him to go further and ostentatiously lock the wine cellars and refrain from alcohol, to set a good example to the supposedly inebriated working class. The workers continued to imbibe, and the King was left unhappy at his enforced abstinence.

George V's wife, Queen Mary, was a connoisseur of the arts and took a keen interest in the Royal Collection of furniture and art, both restoring and adding to it. Queen Mary also had many new fixtures and fittings installed, such as the pair of marble Empire style chimneypieces by Benjamin Vulliamy, dating from 1810, in the ground floor Bow Room, the huge low room at the centre of the garden façade. Queen Mary was also responsible for the decoration of the Blue Drawing Room. This room, 69 ft long, previously known as the South Drawing Room, has a ceiling designed by Nash, coffered with huge gilt console brackets. In 1938, the northwest pavilion, designed by Nash as a conservatory, was converted into a swimming pool.

Second World War
During the Second World War, which broke out in 1939, the palace was bombed nine times. The most serious and publicised incident destroyed the palace chapel in 1940. One bomb fell in the palace quadrangle while George VI and Queen Elizabeth (the future Queen Mother) were in the palace, and many windows were blown in and the chapel destroyed. The King and Queen were filmed inspecting their bombed home, and the newsreel footage shown in cinemas throughout the United Kingdom to show the common suffering of rich and poor. As The Sunday Graphic reported: "By the Editor: The King and Queen have endured the ordeal which has come to their subjects. For the second time a German bomber has tried to bring death and destruction to the home of Their Majesties ... When this war is over the common danger which King George and Queen Elizabeth have shared with their people will be a cherished memory and an inspiration through the years." It was at this time the Queen famously declared: "I'm glad we have been bombed. Now I can look the East End in the face".

On 15 September 1940, known as Battle of Britain Day, an RAF pilot, Ray Holmes of No. 504 Squadron, rammed a German Dornier Do 17 bomber he believed was going to bomb the palace. Holmes had run out of ammunition to shoot down the bomber and made the quick decision to ram it. He bailed out and the bomber crashed into the forecourt of London Victoria station. Its engine was later exhibited at the Imperial War Museum in London. Holmes became a King's Messenger after the war and died at the age of 90 in 2005.

On VE Day—8 May 1945—the palace was the centre of British celebrations. The King, the Queen, Princess Elizabeth (the future queen) and Princess Margaret appeared on the balcony, with the palace's blacked-out windows behind them, to cheers from a vast crowd in The Mall. The damaged palace was carefully restored after the war by John Mowlem & Co.

Mid-20th century to present day
Many of the palace's contents are part of the Royal Collection; they can, on occasion, be viewed by the public at the King's Gallery, near the Royal Mews. The purpose-built gallery opened in 1962 and displays a changing selection of items from the collection. It occupies the site of the chapel that was destroyed in the Second World War. The palace was designated a Grade I listed building in 1970. Its state rooms have been open to the public during August and September and on some dates throughout the year since 1993. The money raised in entry fees was originally put towards the rebuilding of Windsor Castle after the 1992 fire devastated many of its staterooms. In the year to 31 March 2017, 580,000 people visited the palace, and 154,000 visited the gallery. In 2004, the palace attempted to claim money from the community energy fund to heat Buckingham Palace, but the claim was rejected due to fear of public backlash.

The palace used to racially segregate staff. In 1968, Charles Tryon, 2nd Baron Tryon, acting as treasurer to Queen Elizabeth II, sought to exempt Buckingham Palace from full application of the Race Relations Act 1968. He stated that the palace did not hire people of colour for clerical jobs, only as domestic servants. He arranged with civil servants for an exemption that meant that complaints of racism against the royal household would be sent directly to the Home Secretary and kept out of the legal system.

The palace, like Windsor Castle, is owned by the reigning monarch in right of the Crown. Occupied royal palaces are not part of the Crown Estate, nor are they the monarch's personal property, unlike Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle. The Government of the United Kingdom is responsible for maintaining the palace in exchange for the profits made by the Crown Estate. In 2015, the State Dining Room was closed for a year and a half because its ceiling had become potentially dangerous. A 10-year schedule of maintenance work, including new plumbing, wiring, boilers and radiators, and the installation of solar panels on the roof, has been estimated to cost £369 million and was approved by the prime minister in November 2016. It will be funded by a temporary increase in the Sovereign Grant paid from the income of the Crown Estate and is intended to extend the building's working life by at least 50 years. In 2017, the House of Commons backed funding for the project by 464 votes to 56.

Buckingham Palace is a symbol and home of the British monarchy, an art gallery and a tourist attraction. Behind the gilded railings and gates that were completed by the Bromsgrove Guild in 1911, lies Webb's famous façade, which was described in a book published by the Royal Collection Trust as looking "like everybody's idea of a palace". It has not only been a weekday home of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip but was also the London residence and office of the Duke of York until 2023. Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh and Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh continue to have a private apartment in the palace for use when they are in London. The palace also houses their offices, as well as those of the Princess Royal and Princess Alexandra, and is the workplace of more than 800 people. Charles III lives at Clarence House while restoration work continues, although he conducts official business at Buckingham Palace, including weekly meetings with the prime minister. Every year, some 50,000 invited guests are entertained at garden parties, receptions, audiences and banquets. Three garden parties are held in the summer, usually in July. The forecourt of Buckingham Palace is used for the Changing of the Guard, a major ceremony and tourist attraction (daily from April to July; every other day in other months).

Interior
The front of the palace measures 108 m across, by 120 m deep, by 24 m high and contains over 77000 m2 of floorspace. There are 775 rooms, including 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices, 78 bathrooms, 52 principal bedrooms and 19 state rooms. It also has a post office, cinema, swimming pool, doctor's surgery, and jeweller's workshop. The royal family occupy a small suite of private rooms in the north wing.

Principal rooms
The principal rooms are contained on the first-floor piano nobile behind the west-facing garden façade at the rear of the palace. The centre of this ornate suite of state rooms is the Music Room, its large bow the dominant feature of the façade. Flanking the Music Room are the Blue and the White Drawing Rooms. At the centre of the suite, serving as a corridor to link the state rooms, is the Picture Gallery, which is top-lit and 55 yd long. The Gallery is hung with numerous works including some by Rembrandt, van Dyck, Rubens and Vermeer; other rooms leading from the Picture Gallery are the Throne Room and the Green Drawing Room. The Green Drawing Room serves as a huge anteroom to the Throne Room, and is part of the ceremonial route to the throne from the Guard Room at the top of the Grand Staircase. The Guard Room contains white marble statues of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, in Roman costume, set in a tribune lined with tapestries. These very formal rooms are used only for ceremonial and official entertaining but are open to the public every summer.

Semi-state apartments
Directly underneath the state apartments are the less grand semi-state apartments. Opening from the Marble Hall, these rooms are used for less formal entertaining, such as luncheon parties and private audiences. At the centre of this floor is the Bow Room, through which thousands of guests pass annually to the monarch's garden parties. When paying a state visit to Britain, foreign heads of state are usually entertained by the monarch at Buckingham Palace. They are allocated an extensive suite of rooms known as the Belgian Suite, situated at the foot of the Minister's Staircase, on the ground floor of the west-facing Garden Wing. Some of the rooms are named and decorated for particular visitors, such as the 1844 Room, decorated in that year for the state visit of Nicholas I of Russia, and the 1855 Room, in honour of the visit of Napoleon III of France. The former is a sitting room that also serves as an audience room and is often used for personal investitures. Narrow corridors link the rooms of the suite; one of them is given extra height and perspective by saucer domes designed by Nash in the style of Soane. A second corridor in the suite has Gothic-influenced cross-over vaulting. The suite was named after Leopold I of Belgium, uncle of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. In 1936, the suite briefly became the private apartments of the palace when Edward VIII occupied them. The original early-19th-century interior designs, many of which still survive, included widespread use of brightly coloured scagliola and blue and pink lapis, on the advice of Charles Long. Edward VII oversaw a partial redecoration in a Belle Époque cream and gold colour scheme.

East wing
Between 1847 and 1850, when Blore was building the new east wing, the Brighton Pavilion was once again plundered of its fittings. As a result, many of the rooms in the new wing have a distinctly oriental atmosphere. The red and blue Chinese Luncheon Room is made up of parts of the Brighton Banqueting and Music Rooms with a large oriental chimneypiece designed by Robert Jones and sculpted by Richard Westmacott. It was formerly in the Music Room at the Brighton Pavilion. The ornate clock, known as the Kylin Clock, was made in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, China, in the second half of the 18th century; it has a later movement by Benjamin Vulliamy circa 1820. The Yellow Drawing Room has hand-painted Chinese wallpaper supplied in 1817 for the Brighton Saloon, and a chimneypiece which is a European vision of a Chinese chimneypiece. It has nodding mandarins in niches and fearsome winged dragons, designed by Robert Jones.

At the centre of this wing is the famous balcony with the Centre Room behind its glass doors. This is a Chinese-style saloon enhanced by Queen Mary, who, working with the designer Charles Allom, created a more "binding" Chinese theme in the late 1920s, although the lacquer doors were brought from Brighton in 1873. Running the length of the piano nobile of the east wing is the Great Gallery, modestly known as the Principal Corridor, which runs the length of the eastern side of the quadrangle. It has mirrored doors and mirrored cross walls reflecting porcelain pagodas and other oriental furniture from Brighton. The Chinese Luncheon Room and Yellow Drawing Room are situated at each end of this gallery, with the Centre Room in between.

Court ceremonies
Investitures for the awarding of honours (which include the conferring of knighthoods by dubbing with a sword) usually take place in the palace's Throne Room. Investitures are conducted by the King or another senior member of the royal family: a military band plays in the musicians' gallery, as recipients receive their honours, watched by their families and friends.

State banquets take place in the Ballroom, built in 1854. At 36.6 m long, 18 m wide and 13.5 m high, it is the largest room in the palace; at one end of the room is a throne dais (beneath a giant, domed velvet canopy, known as a shamiana or baldachin, that was used at the Delhi Durbar in 1911). State Banquets are formal dinners held on the first evening of a state visit by a foreign head of state. On these occasions, for up to 170 guests in formal "white tie and decorations", including tiaras, the dining table is laid with the Grand Service, a collection of silver-gilt plate made in 1811 for the Prince of Wales, later George IV.

The largest and most formal reception at Buckingham Palace takes place every November when the King entertains members of the diplomatic corps. On this grand occasion, all the state rooms are in use, as the royal family proceed through them, beginning at the great north doors of the Picture Gallery. As Nash had envisaged, all the large, double-mirrored doors stand open, reflecting the numerous crystal chandeliers and sconces, creating a deliberate optical illusion of space and light.

Smaller ceremonies such as the reception of new ambassadors take place in the "1844 Room". Here too, the King holds small lunch parties, and often meetings of the Privy Council. Larger lunch parties often take place in the curved and domed Music Room or the State Dining Room. Since the bombing of the palace chapel in World War II, royal christenings have sometimes taken place in the Music Room. Queen Elizabeth II's first three children were all baptised there. On all formal occasions, the ceremonies are attended by the Yeomen of the Guard, in their historic uniforms, and other officers of the court such as the Lord Chamberlain.

Court dress
Formerly, men not wearing military uniform wore knee breeches of 18th-century design. Women's evening dress included trains and tiaras or feathers in their hair (often both). The dress code governing formal court uniform and dress has progressively relaxed. After the First World War, when Queen Mary wished to follow fashion by raising her skirts a few inches from the ground, she requested a lady-in-waiting to shorten her own skirt first to gauge the King's reaction. King George V disapproved, so the Queen kept her hemline unfashionably low. Following his accession in 1936, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth allowed the hemline of daytime skirts to rise. Today, there is no official dress code. Most men invited to Buckingham Palace in the daytime choose to wear service uniform or lounge suits; a minority wear morning coats, and in the evening, depending on the formality of the occasion, black tie or white tie.

Court presentation of débutantes
Débutantes were aristocratic young ladies making their first entrée into society through a presentation to the monarch at court. These occasions, known as "coming out", took place at the palace from the reign of Edward VII. The débutantes entered—wearing full court dress, with three ostrich feathers in their hair—curtsied, performed a backwards walk and a further curtsey, while manoeuvring a dress train of prescribed length. The ceremony, known as an evening court, corresponded to the "court drawing rooms" of Victoria's reign. After World War II, the ceremony was replaced by less formal afternoon receptions, omitting the requirement of court evening dress. In 1958, Queen Elizabeth II abolished the presentation parties for débutantes, replacing them with Garden Parties, for up to 8,000 invitees in the Garden. They are the largest functions of the year.

Garden and surroundings
At the rear of the palace is the large and park-like garden, which together with its lake is the largest private garden in London. There, Elizabeth II hosted her annual garden parties each summer and also held large functions to celebrate royal milestones, such as jubilees. It covers 17 ha and includes a helicopter landing area, a lake and a tennis court.

Adjacent to the palace is the Royal Mews, also designed by Nash, where the royal carriages, including the Gold State Coach, are housed. This rococo gilt coach, designed by William Chambers in 1760, has painted panels by Giovanni Battista Cipriani. It was first used for the State Opening of Parliament by George III in 1762 and has been used by the monarch for every coronation since William IV. It was last used for the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. Also housed in the mews are the coach horses used at royal ceremonial processions as well as many of the cars used by the royal family.

The Mall, a ceremonial approach route to the palace, was designed by Aston Webb and completed in 1911 as part of a grand memorial to Queen Victoria. It extends from Admiralty Arch, across St James's Park to the Victoria Memorial, concluding at the entrance gates into the palace forecourt. This route is used by the cavalcades and motorcades of visiting heads of state, and by the royal family on state occasions—such as the annual Trooping the Colour.

Security breaches
The boy Jones was an intruder who gained entry to the palace on three occasions between 1838 and 1841. At least 12 people have managed to gain unauthorised entry into the palace or its grounds since 1914, including Michael Fagan, who broke into the palace twice in 1982 and entered Queen Elizabeth II's bedroom on the second occasion. At the time, news media reported that he had a long conversation with her while she waited for security officers to arrive, but in a 2012 interview with The Independent, Fagan said she ran out of the room, and no conversation took place. It was only in 2007 that trespassing on the palace grounds became a specific criminal offence.

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title: Buckingham Palace