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Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c6.s10.t3: iv. Upastambha

Aspects of Mahāyāna Buddhism and its Relation to Hīnayāna c6.s10.t3

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iv. Upastambha

c6.s10.t3.1

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.

c6.s10.t3.2

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.

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