Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c7.s3.t1.1

c7.s3.t1.1

The Hinayānist considers himself afflicted with three kinds of misery (duḥkha), viz., (a) suffering due to mental and physical causes (*duḥkha-duḥkhatā*), (b) that inhering in caused and conditioned existences (*saṃskāra-duḥkhatā*) subject as they are to origin and destruction, and (c) that due to transformation of pleasurable sensations into painful ones e.g. (*vipariṇāma-duḥkhatā*)¹. He seeks release from these miseries incidental to life in any of the three worlds, Kāma, Rūpa, and Arūpa² (including the six ordinary forms of existence³) by realising the formula of the law of causation (pratītyasamutpāda) and the four āryasatyas, and the transitoriness (anityatā) and essencelessness (anātmatā) of the things of this world and the miseries to which they lead. The *Puṇḍarīka* concedes that many of the disciples of Buddha attained Arhatship or Nirvāṇa by perceiving the non-existence of anything corresponding to soul (ātmā) in any of the five categories of mental and physical elements (skandhas)⁴. The Hinayānists admit that their Nirvāṇa consists in a liberation from the three kinds of duḥkhatā, incidental to existence in the three laukikadhātus. Thus, according to the Hinayānic conception, beings obtain liberation by attaining nibbānadhātu without any residue¹. The Pāli works, canonical or post-canonical, agree on the point that this release is obtained by realising anityatā, duḥkhatā and anātmatā as well as pratītyasamutpannatā of the world.