Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c6.s8.1.1

c6.s8.1.1

The view shared by Dr. Enryo Inouye and a few other scholars¹ on the strength of the Japanese traditions that Śākyamuni imparted two forms of teaching, esoteric and exoteric, is very probably derived from statements in Mahāyāna works, in which it is said that Buddha’s teachings were based on two kinds of truth, conventional and transcendental, and from the Puṇḍarīka which seeks to maintain that Hīnayāna was only an upāya-kauśalya adopted by Śākyamuni to attract people of average intellect to his teachings and then ultimately to Mahāyāna. It is well known how popular the Puṇḍarīka is among the Mahāyānists, and what a great influence it still exercises over their opinion. The statements are valuable from our standpoint, because their chief aim is the reconciliation of Hīnayāna with Mahāyāna. It is stated that the Hīnayānists like Śāriputra acquired merits in previous births like the Bodhisattvas, but these they cannot remember now². It is to remind them of these merits, and also the resolutions formed by them in the previous births, that the Puṇḍarīka is preached to the Śrāvakas¹. Though the treatise maintains throughout the superiority of the doctrines and practices of the Mahāyānists to those of the Hīnayānists, yet it does not disparage the latter as quite worthless. It tries to show that Hīnayāna is an expedient (*upāya-kauśalya*) that was adopted by Buddha to suit his disciples in a lower stage of intellectual and spiritual progress, and to serve as a step to Mahāyāna.