Ultimate Bodhichitta

intrinsically obtained ultimate bodhichitta - chos nyid kyis thob pa don dam sems bskyed [RY]

means and knowledge (thabs dang shes rab) - Skt. prajna and upaya. Buddhahood is attained by uniting means and knowledge; in Mahayana, compassion and emptiness, relative and ultimate bodhichitta. In Vajrayana, means and knowledge are the development stage and completion stage.

According to the Kagyü schools, means refers specifically to the 'path of means,' the Six Doctrines of Naropa and knowledge to the 'path of liberation,' the actual practice of Mahamudra.

According to Dzogchen, 'knowledge' is the view of primordial purity, the Trekcho practice of realizing the heart of enlightenment in this present moment, while 'means' is this meditation of spontaneous presence, the Togal practice (through which the rainbow body is realized within one lifetime) of exhausting [ie., bringing to the point of self-dissolution] any defilements and fixations. [RY]