ISSN2320-2882
Impact Factor9.17
UGC ParametersAligned
Low Cost₹1501 / $59
CrossRefDOI
ESTD2013
Peer ReviewTransparent
AccessOpen
Submission: Always Open
Paper Title
The Evolution of the Bodhisattva Ideal: A Comparative Philological and Doctrinal Analysis of the Pali Canon and Early Mahayana Literature
Authors
LE AN TOAN , Dr. Chintala Venkata Sivasai
Keywords
bodhisattva, P?li Canon, Mah?y?na Buddhism, comparative Buddhism, Buddhist soteriology
Abstract
This study examines the development and transformation of the bodhisattva concept through comparative analysis of canonical P?li texts and early Mah?y?na literature. Drawing upon philological evidence from the J?taka tales, Buddhava?sa, and foundational Mah?y?na s?tras including the Lotus S?tra and Perfection of Wisdom literature, this research traces the evolution from the historical Buddha's pre-enlightenment journey to the fully developed bodhisattva doctrine. The investigation employs textual criticism and doctrinal comparison to demonstrate how the bodhisattva ideal underwent significant conceptual expansion, shifting from describing the Buddha's past lives to establishing a universal path of compassionate awakening. Findings reveal that while the P?li tradition presents the bodhisattva path as exceptional and primarily retrospective, early Mah?y?na sources reconceptualize it as the supreme spiritual ideal accessible to all practitioners. This transformation reflects broader soteriological developments within Buddhist thought, particularly regarding the tension between individual liberation and universal salvation. The study contributes to understanding how fundamental Buddhist concepts evolved across different textual traditions and geographical contexts.
Full Paper, Downloads & Preview
How To Cite
Choose the style your journal or department asks for, then copy it. Every version below is generated from this paper's own record.
IJCRT — journal style
"The Evolution of the Bodhisattva Ideal: A Comparative Philological and Doctrinal Analysis of the Pali Canon and Early Mahayana Literature", IJCRT - International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts (www.ijcrt.org), ISSN:2320-2882, Vol.13, Issue 8, page no.h67-h75, August 2025, Available :https://ijcrt.org/papers/IJCRT2508820.pdf
APA — 7th edition
TOAN, L. A., & Sivasai, C. V. (2025). The Evolution of the Bodhisattva Ideal: A Comparative Philological and Doctrinal Analysis of the Pali Canon and Early Mahayana Literature. International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts, 13(8), h67-h75. https://ijcrt.org/viewpaperforall.php?paper=IJCRT2508820
MLA — 9th edition
TOAN, LE AN, and Chintala Venkata Sivasai. "The Evolution of the Bodhisattva Ideal: A Comparative Philological and Doctrinal Analysis of the Pali Canon and Early Mahayana Literature." International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts, vol. 13, no. 8, 2025, pp. h67-h75, https://ijcrt.org/viewpaperforall.php?paper=IJCRT2508820.
Chicago — 17th, bibliography
TOAN, LE AN, and Chintala Venkata Sivasai. "The Evolution of the Bodhisattva Ideal: A Comparative Philological and Doctrinal Analysis of the Pali Canon and Early Mahayana Literature." International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts 13, no. 8 (2025): h67-h75. https://ijcrt.org/viewpaperforall.php?paper=IJCRT2508820.
Harvard — author–date
TOAN, L.A. and Sivasai, C.V. (2025) 'The Evolution of the Bodhisattva Ideal: A Comparative Philological and Doctrinal Analysis of the Pali Canon and Early Mahayana Literature', International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts, 13(8), pp. h67-h75. Available at: https://ijcrt.org/viewpaperforall.php?paper=IJCRT2508820
IEEE — numbered reference
L. A. TOAN and C. V. Sivasai, "The Evolution of the Bodhisattva Ideal: A Comparative Philological and Doctrinal Analysis of the Pali Canon and Early Mahayana Literature," IJCRT, vol. 13, no. 8, pp. h67-h75, Sep. 2025.
Vancouver — biomedical
TOAN LA, Sivasai CV. The Evolution of the Bodhisattva Ideal: A Comparative Philological and Doctrinal Analysis of the Pali Canon and Early Mahayana Literature. IJCRT. 2025 Sep;13(8):h67-h75.
AMA — 11th edition
TOAN LA, Sivasai CV. The Evolution of the Bodhisattva Ideal: A Comparative Philological and Doctrinal Analysis of the Pali Canon and Early Mahayana Literature. IJCRT. 2025;13(8):h67-h75. Accessed at https://ijcrt.org/viewpaperforall.php?paper=IJCRT2508820
BibTeX — Zotero, Mendeley, LaTeX
@article{IJCRT2508820,
author = {LE AN TOAN and Chintala Venkata Sivasai},
title = {The Evolution of the Bodhisattva Ideal: A Comparative Philological and Doctrinal Analysis of the Pali Canon and Early Mahayana Literature},
journal = {International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts},
volume = {13},
number = {8},
pages = {h67-h75},
year = {2025},
month = {September},
issn = {2320-2882},
url = {https://ijcrt.org/viewpaperforall.php?paper=IJCRT2508820}
}
RIS — EndNote, RefWorks
TY - JOUR
AU - TOAN, LE AN
AU - Sivasai, Chintala Venkata
TI - The Evolution of the Bodhisattva Ideal: A Comparative Philological and Doctrinal Analysis of the Pali Canon and Early Mahayana Literature
T2 - International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts
JA - IJCRT
VL - 13
IS - 8
PY - 2025
SN - 2320-2882
UR - https://ijcrt.org/viewpaperforall.php?paper=IJCRT2508820
SP - h67-h75
ER -
Issue
Volume 13 Issue 8,
September-2025
Pages : h67-h75
Article Information
- Published In
- International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts — Volume 13, Issue 8, September 2025
- Pages
- h67-h75
- Published
- September 2025
- Registration ID
- IJCRT_293189
- Published Paper ID
- IJCRT2508820
- Research Area
- Others area
- Author Type
- Indian Author
- Location
- greater noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
- Peer Review
- Request Peer Review Report
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0 · Open Access
- ISSN & Impact Factor
- 2320-2882 · IF 9.17
- Downloads
- 243
- Permanent Link
- https://ijcrt.org/viewpaperforall.php?paper=IJCRT2508820
- Published Paper PDF
- https://ijcrt.org/papers/IJCRT2508820.pdf
Summarise this Paper with AI
Opens your assistant with a prepared prompt. AI summaries can be incomplete or wrong — read the full paper before citing it.
Author Services
Certificates, printed copies and official reports for this paper
Published authors can request a hard copy of their certificate or of the printed journal, and obtain the transparent peer review and plagiarism reports for this article — each issued against this paper’s registration record.
Registration ID IJCRT_293189Printed copies
Hard Copy of CertificatePrinted certificate for each author, posted to you.
Hard Copy of JournalA bound printed copy of the issue this paper appears in.
Reports & recognition
Transparent Peer Review Report
The reviewer comments and decisions behind this article.
Turnitin Plagiarism Report
The similarity check run on this manuscript.
Best Paper Nomination
Put this article forward for the issue’s best paper award.
Requests are verified against the registration ID of this article.
About Publisher
International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts
Published by IJCRT Publication
2320-2882
ISSN
9.17
Impact Factor
2013
ESTD Year
Open
Access
Impact Factor 9.17, calculated from Google Scholar citation data — see how it is worked out.
An international scholarly open access journal: peer-reviewed, refereed, multidisciplinary, monthly and multilingual, with Crossref DOI registration, rich metadata and a citation generator. Verified indexing & discovery records.
IJCRT is a Transparent, Peer-Reviewed, Open Access Journal (Refereed Journal). Following the discontinuation of UGC and UGC-CARE journal listing, IJCRT is aligned with UGC’s Suggested Parameters for Choosing Peer-Reviewed Journals. UGC Public Notice
Licence
© 2025 — Authors hold the copyright of this article.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
and The Open Definition.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0),
which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Disclaimer:
The content, data and findings in this article are based on the authors’ research and have been
peer-reviewed for academic purposes only. Readers are advised to verify all information before practical
or commercial use. The journal and its editorial board are not liable for any errors, losses or
consequences arising from its use.
Declarations
Funding
No external funding was received for this study.
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the reviewers and the editorial board of International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts for their careful reading and constructive comments, and all colleagues who supported the preparation of this manuscript.
About the Journal
9.17Impact Factor
UGC AlignedSuggested Parameters
TransparentPeer Review
Open AccessNo Paywall
CrossrefDOI Available
Monthly12 Issues / Year
Since 2013Established
2320-2882ISSN
How Publication Works
1Submit Your PaperOnline or by email. A registration ID is issued straight away.
2Transparent Peer ReviewDouble-blind review by subject experts, reported openly.
3AcceptanceThe result reaches you by email and SMS against your registration ID.
4Published Open AccessFree to read worldwide, with certificate and letter ready to download.
Article Impact
47Views
34Downloads
81Total reads
Sep 2025Published
Published · 406 days ago
Today · last read yesterday
2.0 views and 1.4 downloads per day over 24 days counted.
Counts exclude identified crawler traffic and repeat hits from the same reader within 30 minutes. Downloads reached directly through a search engine or an existing citation link are not included, so the figure is a conservative count of activity through this site. Full statistics
Discovery & Indexing
Find this paper on search engines and scholarly indexes, and check the journal’s verified records.
Find this paperSearch
Google ScholarExact-title search, with citing articles once indexed.Search
CrossrefMetadata search across all Crossref records.Search
Semantic ScholarAI-powered literature search.Search- BASEBASEBielefeld Academic Search Engine — open-access harvester.Search
ResearchGateResearch network publication search.Search
Journal recordsVerified
“Search” opens a live search for this paper; “Verified” opens a journal record checked on the Indexing & Discovery page. Third-party services index at their own discretion, often several weeks after publication.
