菩提树

菩提樹

pútíshù

noun #52,081

Measure Word

一棵菩提树 kē

Meanings

1 bodhi tree; sacred fig
2 linden; lime tree

Characters

bodhi (first syllable of the transliteration)

bodhi (second syllable of the transliteration)

Examples

HSK 7-9

这座寺庙里有一棵很老的菩提树。

Zhè zuò sìmiào lǐ yǒu yì kē hěn lǎo de pútíshù.

There is a very old bodhi tree in this temple.

HSK 7-9

释迦牟尼在菩提树下静坐，最后觉悟成佛。

Shìjiāmóuní zài pútíshù xià jìngzuò, zuìhòu juéwù chéngfó.

Shakyamuni sat in meditation under the bodhi tree and at last awoke and became the Buddha.

Tips

culture

Named for 菩提 (bodhi, "awakening"): the Buddha reached enlightenment under one at Bodh Gaya. In a famous Chan story the monk 神秀 wrote that the body is a 菩提树 and the mind a bright mirror, and 慧能 answered that bodhi was never a tree at all, which won him the robe of the Sixth Patriarch.

usage

Chinese translations also use 菩提树 for the European linden: Schubert's song Der Lindenbaum is 《菩提树》, and Berlin's avenue Unter den Linden carries it in its Chinese name.

Stroke Order

菩 pú

提 tí

树 shù