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Bodhisattva (a great being who aspires to help all sentient beings be free of suffering before entering the bliss of Buddhahood).
The term Bodhisattva refers to someone on the path to Awakening. The Mahayana has conceived them as having renounced the ultimate state out of pure compassion towards all beings, and can therefore refers to anyone en route.
in Mahayana tradition, Bodhisattva & deity means the same (but not in western terms).
It is important to not end up with considering a deity as an external god, just to send prayers to with the request to fix things for us - that's not really Buddhism. The point in Buddhism is always to evolve and transform ourselves, and in that way to help others in a much more effective way.
Buddhists don?t pray to a Creator God/ deities/ Bodhisattva, but they do have devotional meditation practices which could be compared to praying. Radiating loving-kindness to all living beings is a practice which is believed to benefit those beings. The sharing of merit is a practice where one dedicates the goodness of one?s life to the benefit of all living beings as well as praying for a particular person.
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Woould it be incorrect to say that in the Mahayana tradtition, the Bobbhisattva funct
