A mahāsattva ( lit. 'great being') ^[1] is a great bodhisattva who has practiced Buddhism for a long time and reached a very high level on the path to awakening ( bodhi). Generally refers to bodhisattvas who have reached at least the seventh of the ten bhumis. The transcription of mahāsattva in Chinese is móhé-sāduò (摩訶薩埵), often simplified in móhésà (摩訶薩/大菩薩, Japanese: makasatsu). It is also calqued as dàshì (大士, "great being", Japanese: daishi).

The eight most famous mahāsattvas are Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra, Avalokiteśvara, Mahāsthāmaprāpta, Akasagarbha, Kṣitigarbha, Maitreya and Sarvanivarana-Vishkambhin.^{[ citation needed]}

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