Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c7.s3.t4.1

c7.s3.t4.1

It is stated in the *Puṇḍarīka* that the Hinayānists conceive of Nirvāṇa as passing from the worldly (*laukikadhātu*) to the transcendental sphere (*lokottaradhātu*), *i.e.*, the Hinayānic Nirvāṇa is a transcendental state beyond the three dhātus free from every kind of affliction and beyond any possibility of retrogression to lower stages. The *Laṅkāvatāra*⁵ points out that ordinary knowledge (*laukikajñāna*) of the people of the world has reference to the existence and non-existence of things (*sad asat pakṣābhiniviṣṭa*) while the transcendental knowledge (*lokottarajñāna*) possessed by the Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas has reference to the particular and generic characteristics of things (*svasāmānyalakṣaṇa-patitāśayābhiniviṣṭa*)⁶ penetrating through the notion of existence and non-existence of things. The distinction between laukika and lokottara as drawn in the *Puṇḍarīka* and *Laṅkāvatāra* finds support in the Hinayāna scriptures. There it is stated that the puthujjanas (non-sotāpannas) labour under the notion of individual existence in the worlds while the arhats are free from such notion, as they know that all beings are made of five skandhas devoid of an underlying permanent entity and owing their origin to causes and conditions (pratityasamutpanna), and that the common characteristics of beings are anityatā, duḥkhatā and anātmatā.