Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c6.s12.9

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.