A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s6.8.2

v2.c19.s6.8.2

Now, if this aim is to be within the reach of the many, then there must be more convenient means of attaining it than are provided in the Hīnayāna. Thus, according to the teachings of the Mahāyāna, even in the householder in the midst of family life, the merchant, the artisan, the king, nay, even the labourer, the pariah, can attain salvation, on the one hand by practising pity and friendliness to all beings, by exceptional generosity and self-denial, and on the other hand by faithful and devoted worship of the Buddha, the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas.¹ Though, as we have seen, Buddha is frequently described as a superhuman being, even in the Pāli Canon, it is nevertheless the enlightenment which first makes him a superman, with power to perform many a miracle, and finally he enters into Nirvāṇa, leaving behind him only his doctrine, and at all events his relics, as objects of worship. The Lokottaravādins, who were still adherents of the Hīnayāna, went further than this. They regarded the Buddhas not as ordinary men, but as supernatural (lokottara) beings, who descend to earth for a certain period, in order to partake of all human experiences. In the Mahāyāna, on the other hand, the Buddhas are from the outset nothing but divine beings, and their sojourn on earth and their entry into Nirvāṇa are purely and simply sportive and a delusion.