Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c5.s2.t13.38

c5.s2.t13.38

These Buddhological speculations are more or less corollaries to the Mahāsānghika conception of the life of Śakyamuni. The Mahāsānghikas do not show thereby any recognition that all beings can become Bodhisattvas and ultimately Buddhas. The conception of the four caryās and the ten bhūmis of the Lokottaravādins indicates a slight leaning to Mahāyānism. Thus there appears to be little of Mahāyāna in the tenets of the Mahāsānghikas.¹ The Mahāsānghikas, therefore, were essentially Hinayānists, only with the conception of Buddha slightly different.