Virtues
Pranidhana (The Vow)
Paramita Virtues
Citation Formats
General Reference
APA Style
BibTeX
The eighth of the ten Mahayana paramitas: the bodhisattva's own resolve, formalized as a vow, to continue working for the liberation of every being across however many lifetimes that takes, rather than settling for one's own release. The bodhisattva vow recited across East Asian Mahayana liturgy today, beings are numberless, I vow to save them all, is the tradition's most widely repeated expression of this perfection in practice.
Facts
Origins
Place of OriginIndia, with its liturgical form developed later across East Asia. 1 Origin of the NameSanskrit pranidhana, resolution or vow, from a root meaning to set down firmly. 1 Attributed Author / CompilerSystematized as the eighth of ten paramitas in the Dasabhumika Sutra's bodhisattva-stage scheme; its liturgical expression as the fourfold bodhisattva vows spread widely across later East Asian Mahayana practice. 1 Status
Status Within the TraditionStandard teaching, not formally defined 1 Doctrinal Status DetailThe second of four further perfections the ten-paramita scheme adds beyond the six already held on this axis; understood as the resolve that binds a bodhisattva to the task of liberating all beings across countless future lives rather than accepting personal release alone. 1 Attestation
Meaning in the Attesting SourceThe bodhisattva's resolve, formalized as a vow, to work for every being's liberation across however many lifetimes it takes. 1 Disputed
Origin PeriodThe same Mahayana sutra dating difficulty as the scheme's other later additions applies here; the liturgical bodhisattva vows recited today are attested considerably later than the sutra literature that first names this perfection, with no single settled date for either. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Belongs to Tradition
Opposes
A vow sustained across countless lifetimes is the direct contrary of a collapse of resolve; Sloth, already catalogued among the seven deadly sins, is the atlas's existing entry nearest that failure, a cross-tradition approximation rather than an equivalence.
Related To
Consecutive perfections in the Dasabhumika Sutra's ten-bhumi scheme.
Consecutive perfections in the Dasabhumika Sutra's ten-bhumi scheme.
Sources
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.