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Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c6.s10.t1: i. Āśaya

Aspects of Mahāyāna Buddhism and its Relation to Hīnayāna c6.s10.t1

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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.

Cites (7)