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Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c6.s10: Reasons for Regarding Śrāvakayāna as Hīnayāna

Aspects of Mahāyāna Buddhism and its Relation to Hīnayāna c6.s10

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Reasons for Regarding Śrāvakayāna as Hīnayāna

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In spite of the conciliatory attitude of the *Saddharma-Puṇḍarīka* trying to show that the *Nirvāṇagāmins* do ultimately become *sarvajñas* and that Hinayāna was only an *upāya-kauśalya*, it is evident that this, as also other Mahāyāna treatises, assume an air of superiority and seek to establish that Mahāyānism is far superior to Hinayānism. There are seven features, the *Sūtrālaṅkāra* says, for which Mahāyāna should be considered great. First, its bases (*ālambana*) are great, for its *sūtras* are varied and innumerable. Secondly, its achievements (*pratipatti*) are great as it achieves two objects, viz., good for self and good for others. Thirdly, the knowledge imparted by it is deep for it penetrates into the non-substantiality (*nairātmyabhāva*) of both the individuality and the things of the world (*pudgala* and *dharma*). Fourthly, it involves great austerities because it requires strenuous application of energy for incalculable *kalpas*. Fifthly, it is great in its provision of expedients, for, its followers need not leave the worldly life provided they remain unattached to the world. Sixthly, its fruitions (*samudāgama*) are great, for it secures *bala* (power), *vaiśāradya* (self-confidence born of the highest knowledge) and eighteen *āveṇikadharmas*.¹ Seventhly, and lastly, its greatness lies in the performance of the duties of Buddha, namely the showing of the attainment of *sambodhi* and *mahāparinirvāṇa*.²

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¹ For enumeration see *Mvyut.* 7-9.

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² *Sūtrā.*, p. 171; cf. *Gaṇḍavyūha*, leaf 9b; Keith., *B. Phil.*, p. 259.

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The use of the appellation Hinayāna itself shows at a glance the low place to which the Hinayānism was relegated by the Mahāyānists. The names, of course, that are mostly in use in the Mahāyāna scriptures are Śrāvaka and Pratyekabuddha. These are colourless names, and the Hinayānists themselves used the term *sāvaka* or *śrāvaka*, e.g., in the expressions, *pakatisāvaka*, *aggasāvaka*, *sāvakasaṅgha*, sāvikā, and so forth. The Pratyeka-(Pacceka)-buddha is equally in frequent use among the Hīnayānists. The term, Hīnayāna, came into being to indicate that the Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas were hīnādhimukta (of lower aims)¹. They were also called Prādeśikas because their mind (citta) takes only a partial (prādeśika) and not comprehensive view of the whole truth².

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¹ In the Pug. P. (p. 26) the term hīnādhimutta means a person who is immoral, does evil deeds and serves similar other persons. The opposite expression is Paṇītādhimutta, i.e., one who is moral (sīlavā), performs meritorious deeds, and serves similar other persons.

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² See Mvyut. 52; Daśa., p. 25; Lal. Vis., p. 433. Csoma Kőrösi on the basis of the Tibetan rendering translates Prādeśika as "a principle lasting but one day or a very short time". He adds in the footnote that it is "a vehicle or principle observed in a particular country or province". See Mvyut. (A.S.B. ed.), p. 20. For Triyāna see Sūtrā., p. 168; Pañca., leaf 6; Lal. Vis., p. 5; Sad. P., pp. 45, 147.

i. Āśaya

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The Sūtrālaṅkāra shows analytically that the Śrāvakas were hīnādhimukta and in consequence thereof their exertion, instructions, merits, and fruitions were of a lower order in comparison with those of the Mahāyānists³. It is according to one's aspiration that the teaching is imparted, and it is according to the teaching that one exerts himself. He earns merit in proportion to his exertion, and bodhi in proportion to his merits, i.e., either Śrāvakabodhi, Pratyekabuddhabodhi, or Mahābodhi⁴. From this, it is evident that the classification hinges on the āśaya of an individual. The Śrāvaka or Pratyekabuddhayānists are looked down upon by the Mahāyānists because they desire self-emancipation only (ātmaparinirvāṇāśaya) and do not aspire to lead others to Nirvāṇa, ignoring his own self. As they seek to become only Arhats and not Buddhas for the salvation of all beings, and as they wish to possess only Dharma-cakṣu, they are of hīnādhimukti, (i.e., of low aspiration). This ideal of self-emancipation of the Hīnayānists has been condemned in no uncertain terms as spiritual selfishness (ādhyātmika svārthaparatva) by all the schools of Mahāyāna. The Mahāyānists, however unpractical they may be, cannot but be admired for their *Parārthatva*, i.e., sacrificing one’s own gains for the sake of others, or ranking the acquisition of one’s¹ own spiritual gains as subsidiary to the spiritual gains of others. The *Sūtrālaṅkāra*² uses the well-known simile in support of the greatness of the object of the Mahāyānists:

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³ Sūtrā., p. 4.

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⁴ Cf. Lal. Vis., p. 34: āśayo dharmālokamukham Hīnayāna-spṛhaṇatāyai saṃvartate. Adhyāśayo dharmālokamukham udārabuddhadharmādyālambanatāyai saṃvartate.

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¹ *Śikṣā*., p. 17: Tatra Bodhisttvenaivaṃ cittaṃ utpādayitavyaṃ sarvasattvānāṃ ātyayikaṃ parigṛhyaitadapi me varjayan niṣīdāmīti.

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² *Sūtra*., p. 52.

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Yathā puṇyaṃ prasavate pareṣāṃ bhojanaṃ dadat,
Na tu svayaṃ sa bhuñjānas tathā puṇyāmahodayaḥ.

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(As religious merit is produced by giving food to others and not by eating it, so the Mahāyānists earn more merit by helping others to attain nirvāṇa, and not by seeking it themselves like the Hīnayānists.) This ideal of the Mahāyānists is echoed in the *Bhāgavata*,³ where Prahlāda says:—

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³ *Bhāgavata*, VII, ix. 44.

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Prāyeṇa devamunayaḥ svavimuktikāmā
Maunaṃ caranti vijane na parārthaniṣṭhāḥ,
Naitān vihāya kṛpaṇān vimumukṣa eko
Nānyaṃ tvadasya śaraṇaṃ bhramato ’nupaśye.

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(Very often, O Lord, the sages desirous of attaining their own salvation practise silence in the forests without devoting themselves to others’ interests. I do not wish to have salvation for myself forsaking the others. I do not find for my bewildered self any refuge other than in you.)

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The ideal of the Mahāyānists is certainly very noble, and appeals strongly to the minds of men, but their process of attaining salvation through a period covering innumerable rebirths cannot appeal to all minds. The Hīnayānists do not deny that the aspiration to become Buddha is very noble, but they think it useless and unpractical to advise persons, most of whom possess merits and capabilities far inferior to those of a bodhisattva, to strive for Buddhahood. The charge laid against the Śrāvakas that they do not work for others’ benefit is not true. The maxim of the *Dhamma*- pada¹ “dhammadānm sabbadānam jināti” and the admonition of the Dīgha Nikāya and the Vinaya²

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¹ Dh. P., 354.

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² Dīgha, II, p. 45; Vinaya, I, pp. 20, 21.

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“caratha, bhikkhave, cārikam bahujanahitāya bahujanasukhāya lokānukampāya atthāya hitāya sukhāya devamanussānam” (go, O ye preachers, to preach the religion for the benefit and happiness of men and gods)

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clearly shows that they were not as selfish as they have been painted by the Mahāyāna writers. What the Mahāyānists consider selfishness on the part of the Hinayānists is that the latter before they think themselves capable of guiding others to salvation confine themselves in their own cells and strive for their own salvation. It is after they attain true knowledge that they look upon themselves as fit to help others in the attainment of the same. But when they are undergoing the course of training i.e., before reaching the arhathood they visit the householders and preach to them the elementary principles of Buddhism; and the more advanced among them often take antevāsins (disciples) to train them up in the higher principles of the religion. The lives of Sāriputta, Moggallāna, Kaccāyana, Mahākassapa, and others amply show their parārthatva, (i.e., service for others) after their attainment of the arhathood. In the Lohicca sutta it is stated that the truth must be preached; otherwise it would be like a king enjoying the whole revenue of the State himself.³ The Sūtrālaṅkāra does not miss this point even in its effort to prove the selfishness of the Hinayānists. It says that the Śrāvakas do not teach their followers to serve others (parārtha); they teach only how to attain for oneself nirvid (disgust for worldly matters), virāga (non-attachment) and vimukti (emancipation). It concludes by saying that the doctrine which teaches selfishness cannot become parārtha by reason of being preached to others because it engages others to svārtha, their own parinirvāṇa. Hence it is a yāna of selfishness.⁴

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³ Dīgha, I, p. 229.

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⁴ Sūtrā., p. 4: na ca svārtha eva pareṣūpadiśyamānataḥ parārtho bhavitum arhati.

ii. Upadeśa and iii. Prayoga

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It follows as a matter of course that the *Upadeśa* (instruction) and *Prayoga* (exertion) should be in accordance with the *Āśaya*.¹ A Hīnayānist need not develop bodhicitta and try to perform the pāramitās. He need not like a bodhisattva take the vow that he would welcome the sufferings of numberless births in hell or in the Yamaloka as an animal, or as an insect, in order to lead every individual to nirupadhiśeṣanirvāṇadhātu (nirvāṇa without any corporal residue).² The regulation of life according to the rules of the Prātimokṣa, the performance of the duties of the eightfold path, and the realisation of the four truths and the law of causation are sufficient for them. The comprehension of the world as void of individuality or anything belonging to an individual serves their purpose, and they need not go on to ascertain the nature of śūnyatā, the ultimate reality.

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¹ *Śikṣā*., p. 4: those who have pure adhyāśayas practise the pāramitās; those who practise the pāramitās are established in Mahāyāna.

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² *Pañca*., leaf 81b.

iv. Upastambha

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It is essential that in order to be a bodhisattva one must earn sufficient merits in previous lives. Unless and until these merits reach the high standard fixed by the Mahāyānists there is no possibility for a being to become a bodhisattva, or derive the real benefits from the Mahāyāna teachings. The Hinayānists hold quite a different view. According to the *Puggala Paññatti*, the perpetrators of the five deadly sins (ānantarikas) are excluded from the possibility of attaining emancipation,³ while all the rest can attain it, some requiring a little longer time than the others. Hence no *upastambha* is demanded in the code of Hinayāna salvation: every one, other than the above mentioned five kinds of sinners, is eligible for the same. The Hinayānists achieve their end by detachment from worldly activities, while the Mahāyānists do the same through such activities, of course, keeping their minds completely unattached to things of the world.

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³ There are, however, stray instances of even the perpetrators of one of the five deadly sins attaining emancipation. Contrast *Divyā*., p. 261: a Hīnayānist refused ordination to a patricide, who was, however, ordained by a bodhisattvajātika bhikṣu. *Śikṣā*., pp. 17-8: none of the five sinners can develop a citta for śrāvakabodhi or pratyekabodhi.

v. Kāla

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As the Upastambha does not count much with the Hinayānists, and as their āśaya is simply the attainment of emancipation without the extraordinary powers of a Buddha, the time (*kāla*), required by a Hinayānist to reach his goal is infinitely shorter than that of a bodhisattva.¹ The Sūtrālaṅkāra hints that a Hinayānist can even attain the goal in three lives. It refers to the Hinayāna belief that through seven births one can reach the goal, five of them taking place in the Srotāpanna stage.² The Sūtrālaṅkāra in calculating the rebirths leaves out of consideration the first four births preparatory to the final srotāpanna stage. This mode of calculation is also sometimes followed by the Hinayānists themselves.³

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¹ See Kośa, III, 93d-94a: Buddhattva is attained in 3 Asaṅkheyya, kalpas; see also p. 191.

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² See ch. IV for details.

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³ Sūtrā., p. 4; Comp. of Phil., Intro., p. 68.

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