The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature c6.s2.3

c6.s2.3

(1) In the early Mahāyāna, the bodhisattvas are inferior and subordinate to the Buddhas; but they acquire greater importance in course of time till they are at last regarded as equal to the Buddhas in many respects. They are also endowed with ten balas, four vaiçāradyas and eighteen āveṇika-dharmas.60 They are to be worshipped like the Buddhas, or even in preference to them. This gradual exaltation of the bodhisattvas at the expense of the Buddhas culminates in the apotheosis of Avalokiteçvara, who is declared to be a kind of “Buddha-maker”. He helps others to acquire Buddhahood, while he himself remains the eternal bodhisattva.