[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [Dictionary of Pali Proper Names](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.malalasekera-1937) › v2.c29.836 # Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c29.836 Dictionary of Pāli Proper Names v2.c29.836 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c29.836](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.malalasekera-1937.v2.c29.836) \*\*Bodhisatta.\*\*—The name given to a being who aspires to \*Bodhi\* or Enlightenment.¹ The word can therefore be used in reference to all those who seek Nibbāna, including Buddhas, Pacceka-Buddhas, and the disciples of Buddhas (\*Buddhapacekabuddhabuddhasāvakā\*), but is commonly used only of those beings who seek to become Buddhas. The word may have been used originally only in connection with the last life of a Buddha, in such contexts as "in the days before my Enlightenment, when as yet I was only a Bodhisatta."² But already in the Kathāvatthu³ the previous lives of Gotama Buddha and other saints had begun to excite interest and speculation. - [Previous: v2.c29.835](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.malalasekera-1937.v2.c29.835) - [Next: v2.c29.837](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.malalasekera-1937.v2.c29.837) - [Up: v2.c29](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.malalasekera-1937.v2.c29) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.malalasekera-1937.v2.c29.836](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.malalasekera-1937.v2.c29.836) · Pramāṇa