The Collaborative International Dictionary
Bodhisat \Bo"dhi*sat\, ||Bodhisattva \Bo`dhi*satt"va\, ||Bodhisattwa \Bo`dhi*satt"wa\, n. [Skr. b[=o]dhisattva (perh. through Pali b[=o]dhisatt[=o]); fr. b[=o]dhi knowledge, enlightenment + sattva being, essence.] (Buddhism) One who has reached the highest degree of saintship, so that in his next incarnation he will be a Buddha, or savior of the world. -- Bo"dhi*sat`ship, n.
Usage examples of "bodhisattwa".
The Bodhisattwa or Sangha continues to be such until he has surmounted the very last grade of that vast and laborious ascent by which he is instructed that he can 'scale the heavens,' and pluck immortal wisdom from its resplendent source: which achievement performed, he becomes a Buddha, that is, an Omniscient Being, and a _Tathagata_--a title implying the accomplishment of that gradual increase in wisdom by which man becomes immortal or ceases to be subject to transmigration.