Toh 44-20Chapter 20: The Ten Categories of Bodhisattvas

Scriptural Commentary: The Ten Categories of Bodhisattvas

Context

This chapter belongs to one of the important scriptures of the Northern Tibetan Mahayana tradition, preserved in the Kangyur (Bka’ ’gyur), the collection of scriptures translated into Tibetan from the original Sanskrit. By classifying bodhisattvas into ten categories, this scripture provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the stages of practice and progress on the bodhisattva path of enlightenment.

In the Mahayana tradition, especially in the consciousness of the Northern Tibetan tradition, this classification is not only theoretical but also a practical guide for those who undertake the vow of the bodhisattva. Bodhisattvas are regarded as human beings or transcendent beings who have aroused bodhicitta, the resolve to attain enlightenment not for themselves alone but for the benefit of all sentient beings.

Main Content

The ten categories of bodhisattvas are distinguished according to their level of practice, wisdom, and capacity. This classification reflects the progressive nature of the bodhisattva path, from bodhisattvas who are just beginning to those on the highest levels, almost attaining buddhahood.

The levels of bodhisattvas are often described through the Ten Grounds (Daśabhūmi), the ten stages of practice on the bodhisattva path. Each stage represents the refinement of the pāramitās, or “perfections,” the noble qualities that include generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, meditative concentration, and wisdom.

The first category of bodhisattvas consists of those who have only just generated bodhicitta, full of zeal but still lacking experience. Through the subsequent stages, they gradually develop immeasurable loving-kindness and compassion (maitrī-karuṇā), the acceptance of the nonarising of phenomena (anutpattika-dharma-kṣānti), and finally reach the tenth bodhisattva level, where they are about to become Buddhas.

The scripture emphasizes that this classification is not meant to create distinctions of higher and lower, but to help practitioners understand their own position and the work that must be completed on the path of practice.