Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c5.s2.t3.8

c5.s2.t3.8

One of the main reasons for the differential treatment of the Pāramitās by the three schools is that the Theravādins rejected the idea of any being aspiring to Buddhahood, while the other two regarded the probability of a being becoming Buddha as a very rare event. In the Divyāvadāna,⁵ we find passages in which it is said that after the delivery of a discourse, some beings were established in the Truth, some in one of the four stages of sanctification, some developed aspiration for the attainment of Śrāvakabodhi or Pratyekabodhi, and some for Anuttarasamyaksambodhi. Remarks like these are significant and show that the Sarvāstivādins, to which school the Divyāvadāna belongs, ¹ were not as conservative as the Theravādins. The Mahāsānghikas, as is well-known, were the first to bring about this change in the angle of vision. They were the precursors of Mahāyāna, and hence, it is hardly necessary to adduce reasons why the practice of Pāramitās should form an integral part of their doctrines. So the introduction and formulation of the Pāramitās were due originally either to the Mahāsānghikas or the Sarvāstivādins and were adopted later on in a modified form by the Theravādins.