Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c6.s12: Gotrabheda, the Main Reason for Persons Having Different Aspirations

Aspects of Mahāyāna Buddhism and its Relation to Hīnayāna c6.s12

Language
English

Gotrabheda, the Main Reason for Persons Having Different Aspirations

c6.s12.1

The *Sūtrālaṅkāra*³ answers the query why among the disciples of Buddha there are persons with high, medium, or low aspirations. This question reduces itself into a discussion of the subject of *gotrabheda*, difference in classes, and the examination of the statement found in the *Akṣarāśi-sūtra*⁴ that on account of the various ingredients (*dhātu*) constituting beings they have endless distinctions of *dhātus* (qualities). It divides them into three classes, *viz.*, *Niyata-gotras*, *Aniyata-gotras*, and *Agotras*. Under the first heading fall all those who by virtue of their previous merits or innate dispositions are destined to become either Śrāvakayānābhisamayagotra, Pratyekabuddhayānābhisamayagotra or Tathāgatayānābhisamayagotra. Under the second heading come all those who are still on the border-line and may become either Hīnayānists or Mahāyānists. Under the third heading fall all other beings, who are again grouped into two sub-classes namely, (*i*) those who will not be able to attain parinirvāṇa at all (atyantam), and (ii) those who for the time being (tatkāla) will not attain parinirvāṇa. Among the Niyatagotrasthas, it is the dhātus (qualities) which settle one's adhimukti (aspiration), while adhimukti determines the pratipatti (attainments) and it is according to one's bīja (seed) that the fruitions become hīna (low), madhya (medium), or viśiṣṭa (excellent). The Śrāvakas are inferior to the Bodhisattvas because the former possess neither powerful merits nor merits of all kinds (or degrees) as they lack the five balas (powers), and the six vaiśāradyas (self-confidence born of the highest knowledge, etc.).¹ Moreover, their merits are not everlasting, because they seek only anupādiśeṣa-nirvāṇa (i.e., Nirvāṇa without any corporal residue); neither are the merits productive of great results, as the Śrāvakas do not dedicate themselves wholly to the service of others (aparārthatvāt).

c6.s12.2

³ *Sūtrā.*, ch. III; cf. *Bodhic.*, p. 14; *Mvyut.*, 81.

c6.s12.3

⁴ *Ibid.*, p. 10 fn.; see also *ante*.

c6.s12.4

¹ See Prof. Lévi's notes on these words in his translation of the Sūtra., pp. 26, 27 fn.

c6.s12.5

The Laṅkāvatāra² also incidentally deals with the gotras, saying that there are five abhisamaya-gotras (i.e., classification of persons with reference to the attainment of enlightenment), viz., Śrāvakayānābhisamayagotra, Pratyekabuddhāyā°, Tathāgatayā°,³ Aniyatagotra, and Agotra. The Śrāvakayānābhisamayagotras are those who are enraptured by the teaching of the generic properties of the various constituents of the body (skandhadhātvāyatanasvasāmānyalakṣaṇa) and who acquire an insight into the properties of things associated with the causal law (pratītyasamutpādavinirbhāgalakṣaṇaparicaye). Being in the fifth or sixth bhūmi (stage of progress), they are free from all forthcoming afflictions, but not vāsanā-kleśa (sufferings due to impressions⁴). They reach a stage from which there is no fall, and by virtue of same they proclaim that they have led the holy life of a saint, realised the egolessness of individuals, attained Nirvāṇa, and are no longer subject to rebirths. The author of the Laṅkāvatāra makes a digression here and says that some of these Śrāvakas think that they have attained Nirvāṇa by realising the egolessness of individuals, and some think that they have attained it by comprehending the causal relation of things, but in fact, there is no real Nirvāṇa without the realisation of the essencelessness of all things (dharmanairātmya). They consider to be an exit (niryāṇa) that which is not really so and hence they hold only one of the many wrong views. The Pratyekabuddhayānābhisamayagotras are those who are enraptured by the hearing of discourses relating to the enlightenment of particular individuals, do not like others' company, and are impressed much by miracles. The Tathāgatayānābhisamayagotras, according to the Laṅkāvatāra, are of three kinds, (i) those who realise the essencelessness of all the so-called existent things, (ii) those who hold that the realisation of the truth can happen only within one's own self, and (iii) those who realise the greatness of all Buddha-kṣetras.

c6.s12.6

² Laṅkā., pp. 63-65.

c6.s12.7

³ These three are called Niyata-gotras. See above.

c6.s12.8

⁴ Vāsanā= "the impression unconsciously left on the mind by past good or bad actions, which therefore produce pleasure or pain." Apte's Dict.

c6.s12.9

The Aniyatagotras are those who take to one of the three gotras mentioned above when they are explained to them. They are really in a preparatory stage. When the Ālayavijñāna of theirs is purged of all kleśas and vāsanās, they become either Śrāvakas or Bodhisattvas after enjoying the bliss of meditation as the result of the realisation of the essencelessness of things. The Hinayānists recognize these classifications but in quite a different sense. The Puggala Paññatti as well as the Kośa mentions Niyata- and Aniyata-puggalas, but according to them the Niyatas are either those who on account of the commission of five deadly sins are destined to have wrong views or are those who are ariya-puggalas, i.e., are in one of the eight stages of sanctification and are destined to attain Nirvāṇa while all the rest are Aniyatas, i.e., their careers are yet unsettled.¹ The term Gotrabhū occupies an important place in the Hinayāna scheme of salvation. It signifies a person who for the first time steps into the path of Nirvāṇa after separating himself from the average mass (puthujjana).¹ It is after a course of spiritual training that a person becomes a gotrabhū who after a "single moment of path-consciousness" discerns the first of the four truths, removes his doubts and errors, obtains an intuition into Nirvāṇa, and commences the performance of the duties of the eightfold path. He becomes an ariya and is fit for passing to the highest state of ariya-puggalas. It is in this sense that the Śatasāhasrikā² also uses the term gotrabhūraṣṭamaka while mentioning the various stages, in which the beings, destined to attain perfection, remain.

c6.s12.10

¹ Pug. Pañ., p. 13; Kośa, III, 44c, pp. 137-8.

c6.s12.11

¹ Comp. of Phil., pp. 68, 129 fn.; Majjhima, III, p. 256; Aṅguttara, IV, p. 373, V, p. 23; Vis. M., p. 138.

c6.s12.12

² Śata., p. 1263.

Linked texts (11)