The significance of Bodhi-citta (enlightened mind) concept is that one should aspire to benefit others by desiring to cultivate perfect enlightenment. Bodhi-citta is an important basic concept and entry point for Mahayana practitioners. In his book, Lamrim Chenmo, Tsongkhapa included two teachings of Bodhicitta-Samutpada (initiating the enlightened mind), transmitted from the important ancestral Master Atisha of the late Tibetan Buddhism period. The teachings are 1)the Seven Causes-and-Effects and 2) the Exchanging of Self and Other (tonglen). Both Atisha and Tsong་kha་pa highly valued Bodhi-citta. And Lamrim Chenmo expounded the importance of Bodhi-citta many times before sorting out the two teachings from Master Atisha. These two teachings help practitioners initiate Bodhi-citta and is the focus of this study. The concepts of reincarnation and compassion have a huge influence on the concept of Seven Causes-and-Effects. In fact, compassion became the key concept of Seven Causes-and-Effects. Although, Seven Causes-and-Effect was originally passed on by oral teaching, the lineage can be traced back to Mahā-prajñāpāramitā Sūtra. The teaching of Exchanging Self and Other was mainly based on Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra and Śikṣāsamuccaya by Śāntideva. The two teachings have so much in common that they can be combined as one cultivation method. The teaching of Exchanging Self and Other also can be traced back to the spirit of relinquishing oneself for others by the bodhisattvas in Avataṃsaka Sūtra. Thus, it can be seen that the two teachings were developed according to the core ideas of Mahayana Buddhism. Both Mahā-prajñāpāramitā Sūtra and Avataṃsaka Sūtra are important for Chinese Buddhism, so there might be some similar teachings in Chinese Buddhism. This can be a topic for a future comparative study.
