enlightenment; the state of impersonal moral and spiritual perfection sought in Bsm. བྱང་ཆུབ་ལམ། the path to enlightenment (UCO 148), བྱང་ཆུབ་འདོད་པས་ལུས་ཀྱང་བཏང་། those who seek enlightenment will even give up their bodies (GSL 22). Enlightenment differs profoundly from the Biblical idea of salvation in being impersonal, non-theistic, and ineffable.
[Skt. boddhichitta]
the mind of enlightenment; the desire to attain enlightenment in order to benefit other living beings (TRC 317). Attaining enlightenment is believed to be one of the first steps toward becoming a boddhisattva or བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ། the ultimate goal of Tibetan Bsm: ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་ལམ་ལ་ཞུགས་པ་ལ་དེའི་འཇུག་སྒོ་ནི། བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས་ཟེར་བ་དེ་རེད། the gate of the Mahayana path is the mind of enlightenment (TRC 318). It is produced through a six or seven step series of meditations which include considering all beings as one's mother in previous rebirths མར་ཤེས། remembering the kindness of others in other rebirths དྲིན་དྲན། mentally repaying those kindnesses དྲིན་གཟོ། developing the wish for others to be free from suffering བྱམས་པ། and resolving to become an enlightened being in order to effect this (TRC 319).
[Skt. boddhisattva]
one who dedicates the merit of his religious practice towards the liberation of all sentient beings; a Bst. saint and future Buddha. Some boddhisattvas are described as shepherds leading their flocks of sentient beings to buddhahood (JPG 428).