Mahāsattva, sanskrit word belonging to the vocabulary of Buddhism

Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

 Mahāyāna

Mahayana

Mahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...

, meaning literally "great being", is a great Bodhisattva

Bodhisattva

In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is either an enlightened existence or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment ." The Pali term has sometimes been translated as "wisdom-being," although in modern publications, and...

 practicing the Buddhism for a long time and reaching a very high level on the path to awakening (bodhi

Bodhi

Bodhi is both a Pāli and Sanskrit word traditionally translated into English with the word "enlightenment", but which means awakened. In Buddhism it is the knowledge possessed by a Buddha into the nature of things...

), generally refers to the Bodhisattvas who have reached at least the seventh ground of the ten Bodhisattvas' grounds (bodhisattvānām daśabhūmīḥ).

The translation of the word Mahāsattva in Chinese is móhé sāduò 摩诃萨埵 (often simplified in móhésà 摩诃萨) and dàshì 大士, in Japanese, makasatsu or daishi.

The eight most famous Mahāsattvas are Mañjuśrī

Manjusri

Mañjuśrī is a bodhisattva associated with transcendent wisdom in Mahāyāna Buddhism. In Esoteric Buddhism he is also taken as a meditational deity. The Sanskrit name Mañjuśrī can be translated as "Gentle Glory"...

, Samantabhadra

Samantabhadra

Samantabhadra , is a bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism associated with Buddhist practice and meditation. Together with Shakyamuni Buddha and fellow bodhisattva Manjusri he forms the Shakyamuni trinity in Buddhism...

, Avalokiteśvara

Avalokitesvara

Avalokiteśvara is a bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas. He is one of the more widely revered bodhisattvas in mainstream Mahayana Buddhism....

, Mahāsthāmaprāpta, Âkāśagarbha (Akasagarbha

Akasagarbha

Ākāśagarbha Bodhisattva is one of the eight great bodhisattvas. His name can be translated as "boundless space treasury" or "void store" as his wisdom is said to be boundless as space itself...

), Kṣitigarbha

Ksitigarbha

Ksitigarbha is a bodhisattva primarily revered in East Asian Buddhism, usually depicted as a Buddhist monk in the Orient. The name may be translated as "Earth Treasury", "Earth Store", "Earth Matrix", or "Earth Womb"...

, Maitreya

Maitreya

Maitreya , Metteyya , or Jampa , is foretold as a future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. In some Buddhist literature, such as the Amitabha Sutra and the Lotus Sutra, he or she is referred to as Ajita Bodhisattva.Maitreya is a bodhisattva who in the Buddhist tradition is to appear on...

 and Sarvanīvaraṇaviṣkambhin (Sarvanivarana-Vishkambhin

Sarvanivarana-Vishkambhin

Sarvanivāraṇaviṣkambhin is a bodhisattva revered in Mahāyāna Buddhism...

).