The Ten Bhūmis: The Bodhisattva Grounds

By Tim Yu, Founder & Editor · Published 27 June 2026 · Updated 8 September 2026

Checked against the primary texts on 6 September 2026 · How we check · Report a correction

The ten bhūmis (Sanskrit daśabhūmi, “ten grounds”) are the ten stages of the Mahāyāna bodhisattva path, running from the first direct seeing of reality to the threshold of buddhahood. They begin at Pramuditā (“Perfect Joy”) and end at Dharmameghā (“Cloud of Dharma”), and each ground completes one of the ten perfections.

They are set out in The Ten Bhūmis (Daśabhūmika Sūtra), chapter 31 of the Buddhāvataṃsaka, the Flower Ornament Sūtra. The scheme belongs to Mahāyāna Buddhism and the wider core teachings — it is not a Pali-canon list; Theravāda maps awakening by four stages instead.

Where the ten bhūmis come from

The Ten Bhūmis is chapter 31 of the forty-five-chapter Tibetan Buddhāvataṃsaka, “A Multitude of Buddhas” — the sūtra Thomas Cleary translated from Chinese as The Flower Ornament Scripture. 84000’s translators call it the standard Mahāyāna presentation of a bodhisattva’s progress to buddhahood. The setting: the second week after the awakening, in the highest paradise of the desire realm, where the bodhisattva Vajragarbha — blessed by countless buddhas, pressed by Vimukticandra — names the ten grounds and describes them one by one.

Dharmarakṣa put it into Chinese in the third century; Śikṣānanda’s 699 Avataṃsaka became the basis for the Huayan school; the Tibetan was made between 815 and 836. Vasubandhu wrote the principal Indian commentary.

The ten grounds, one by one

1. Pramuditā — Perfect Joy

Pramuditā, “perfect joy” — the joy of arrival. The Ten Bhūmis lists the thoughts that spark it: he has left the scope of the world, drawn near buddhahood, become a refuge for beings. Patrul Rinpoche’s Brief Guide to the Stages and Paths of the Bodhisattvas places it at the path of seeing, “the stage at which the truth of the reality of things is seen.” Generosity (dāna) is perfected here.

2. Vimalā — Stainless

Vimalā, “stainless.” In The Ten Bhūmis he keeps the ten good actions, abandons the ten bad ones, and resolves to bring others onto the same road. Patrul Rinpoche calls it Immaculate, “because it is free from the stains of faulty discipline.” Moral discipline (śīla) is the perfection completed — see Buddhist ethics.

3. Prabhākarī — Shining

Prabhākarī, “shining.” The Ten Bhūmis shows a bodhisattva so devoted he would leap into fire for one word of the teaching, cultivating the four dhyānas (Pali jhāna; see the jhānas) and the formless states. Patrul Rinpoche’s gloss: such bodhisattvas “shine the light of Dharma on those beings who are enshrouded in the thick darkness of their negative tendencies.” Patience (kṣānti) is perfected.

4. Arciṣmatī — Brilliance

Arciṣmatī, “brilliance.” In The Ten Bhūmis he enters the family of the buddhas, develops the factors of awakening — the Noble Eightfold Path among them — and eliminates the view of self, the belief that not-self (Pali anattā, Sanskrit anātman) denies. For Patrul Rinpoche they “radiate the fiery wisdom that burns away the emotional and cognitive obscurations.” Diligence (vīrya) is perfected.

5. Sudurjayā — Difficult to Conquer

Sudurjayā, “difficult to conquer.” In The Ten Bhūmis he is expert in worldly knowledge — mathematics, medicine, poetry, music, history, architecture — using it all to bring beings happiness. Patrul Rinpoche says what makes it hard: these bodhisattvas “can remain in samādhi for their own benefit and simultaneously strive to accomplish the welfare of others.” Meditation (dhyāna) is perfected.

6. Abhimukhī — Manifested

Abhimukhī, “manifested,” or face to face. In The Ten Bhūmis he gains the wisdom that sees the twelve phases of dependent origination and attains the three doors to liberation. Patrul Rinpoche calls the ground Clearly Manifest, “because for bodhisattvas at this stage, all the phenomena of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa are fully evident.” Wisdom (prajñā) is perfected — see emptiness.

7. Dūraṃgamā — Gone Far

Dūraṃgamā, “gone far.” The Ten Bhūmis draws a fine line: he attains cessation every instant but, rather than merge into it, takes rebirth to work for beings — and is not yet free of the kleśas (Pali kilesa, defilements; see the three poisons), still desiring buddhahood. Patrul Rinpoche calls it Far Progressed “because it is advanced far beyond the state of samsara.” Skilful means (upāya) is perfected.

8. Acalā — Unwavering

Acalā, “unwavering,” is the great hinge. In The Ten Bhūmis he reaches the acceptance of the birthlessness of phenomena; conceptuality drops away and activity ceases to be dual — 84000’s summary likens his striving to someone trying to wake from a nightmare. Patrul Rinpoche adds that they “cannot be moved by discerning or non-discerning perceptions.” In the sūtra’s order, aspiration (praṇidhāna) is perfected.

9. Sādhumatī — Perfect Understanding

Sādhumatī, “perfect understanding.” The Ten Bhūmis describes a teacher without limits: able to teach in all worlds and languages at once, to make any sound a Dharma teaching (Pali Dhamma), and to answer every being’s question simultaneously. Patrul Rinpoche, whose translator names it Perfect Intellect, says they “possess perfect discriminating awareness.” In the sūtra’s order, strength (bala) is perfected.

10. Dharmameghā — Cloud of Dharma

Dharmameghā, “cloud of Dharma.” Per 84000’s summary of The Ten Bhūmis, he enters millions of samādhis, ending in one called the unique consecration for omniscient wisdom: seated on a vast lotus he receives light from the buddhas of every world, his ten strengths become complete, and he is numbered among the awakened — a consecration the sūtra likens to crowning a crown prince. Knowledge (jñāna) is perfected, and the text explains its image:

One perfection per ground

The list also reshapes the perfections. Most readers meet the six perfections — generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, meditation and wisdom — the count the Perfection of Wisdom sūtras teach. But The Ten Bhūmis, inside a sūtra fond of sets of ten, needed ten. 84000’s introduction notes that this text holds the first appearance in Mahāyāna literature of the ten perfections, adding skilful method, aspiration, strength and knowledge — one per ground. The longer list exists largely because there are ten grounds to fill.

The sūtra also gives each ground a goldsmith’s simile: refined gold, then gold cleaned of impurity, then gold worked by a master; the fifth to seventh set it with coral, beryl and every jewel; the last three place it at the throat of ever greater rulers. The gold never changes, only its setting.

Why the English names differ

Translators render the ten differently: Roberts’s Shining and Brilliance are Pearcey’s Illuminating and Radiant. Match grounds by number and Sanskrit name, never by their English.

Where the traditions differ

The ten grounds are the standard Mahāyāna map, not the only one.

Not every Mahāyāna text counts ten. 84000’s introduction notes that the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra mentions only seven bhūmis, and that the Bodhisattvabhūmi, part of the Yogācārabhūmi, teaches seven bhūmis and thirteen vihāras (“abodes”). The Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra does present the ten, and later sūtras such as the King of Samādhis took them over.

Tibetan presentations keep the ten but arrange them differently. In Tibetan Buddhism they anchor the stages-of-the-path literature. Patrul Rinpoche perfects strength on the eighth ground and aspiration on the ninth — the reverse of the sūtra’s order — groups the first seven as the “seven impure bhūmis,” where impure appearances can still be perceived, and adds an eleventh ground, Universal Radiance, at the path of no-more-learning.

Theravāda does not use the scheme at all. It maps awakening by four stages — stream-winner, once-returner, non-returner and arahant — the four the Buddha names among the monks around him in the Ānāpānasati Sutta (MN 118). 84000’s introduction draws the same contrast: the pre-Mahāyāna sūtras had already mapped progress by those four stages. See Theravāda Buddhism, the four stages of enlightenment, and our comparison of the arahant, buddha and bodhisattva ideals.