Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c5.s3.5

c5.s3.5

If the development of Hinayāna in its various phases be examined, one cannot help observing that some of the distinguishing characteristics of Mahāyāna mentioned above are also found in the later phases of Hinayāna, e.g.,
(i) the conception of the Bodhisattva,
(ii) the practice of the six pāramitās,
(iii) the development of Bodhicitta,
(iv) the goal of Buddhahood, and
(v) two of the Kāya conceptions, viz., Rūpa- (or Nirmāṇa-) kāya and Dharmakāya, the conception of the latter being essentially different from that of the Mahāyānists.¹ So, to be exact about the time of emergence of Mahāyana, we should consider when the conceptions of Dharmaśūnyatā and Dharmakāya (=Tathatā) came to be introduced.