Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c5.s3.t4.4

c5.s3.t4.4

the nature of their contents, indicating a time when the Mahāyānists were trying to belittle the Hīnayānists. The Prajñāpāramitās are full of Hīnayānic technical expressions and phraseology, meant to show how the position of the Hīnayānists is untenable, how they are deluded by the superficialities of the religion, and how insignificant their knowledge is in comparison with that of a bodhisattva practising the prajñāpāramitā. The Saddharma-Puṇḍarīka sets itself to the task of proving that the Hīnayānists are of poor intellect, but yet they can make progress in religious matters, ultimately turning to Mahāyāna and comprehending the truth. The Gaṇḍavyūha essays to depict the great struggles of a bodhisattva—struggles which are beyond the capacity of the Hīnayānists—in order to learn the Samantabhadra-bodhisattvacaryā; Sudhanu visits many bodhisattvas, bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, and upāsikās versed in certain portions of the Caryā and acquires the same from them. The Daśabhūmikasūtra, as the title indicates, relates the practices connected with the bhūmis, the gradual stages of a bodhisattva's sanctification. It also never misses an opportunity to attack the Hīnayānists and to show how the last four bhūmis of the bodhisattvas are wholly beyond the capacity of the śrāvakas. The Laṅkāvatāra, though one of the latest books of this group to be translated, contains an exposition of the early Yogācāra system and it harps throughout on the theme, viz., how the Hīnayānists are concerned only with svasāmānyalakṣaṇa (particular and generic characteristics of things) and are ignorant of the non-existence of all things.