India history and geography

Source: Mandala Texts: Jangchupsem: The Thought of Awakening

Jangchubsem (བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་) or Bodhicitta in Sanskrit is the thought of enlightenment or awakening. It is a desire to take all sentient beings, leaving no one behind, to the ultimate state of happiness, which is Buddhahood. Bodhicitta is considered as the essence of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Just as taking refuge is said to differentiate Buddhists from non-Buddhists, Bodhicitta is said to distinguish the followers of Mahāyāna from non-Mahāyāna. The entire Mahāyāna system is characterized by the theory and practice of Bodhicitta and said to be encompassed by Bodhicitta. Thus, in a Mahāyāna Buddhist country like Bhutan, Bodhicitta plays a vital role in people’s spiritual culture.

Śāntideva divided Bodhicitta (i.e., jangchubsem) into two types of Aspiring Bodhicitta (བྱང་ཆུབ་སྨོན་པའི་སེམས་) and Engaged Bodhicitta (བྱང་ཆུབ་འཇུག་པའི་སེམས་). The first is the desire to take all sentient beings to Buddhahood, like a wish to go somewhere, and the second is to engage in the activities to take them to Buddhahood, like making the journey towards a destination. In other treatises, Bodhicitta is classified into four, six and twenty-two depending on the reasons for classification.

context information

The history of India traces the identification of countries, villages, towns and other regions of India, as well as royal dynasties, rulers, tribes, local festivities and traditions and regional languages. Ancient India enjoyed religious freedom and encourages the path of Dharma, a concept common to Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism.

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