Early Monastic Buddhism v2.c34.s2.11

v2.c34.s2.11

According to the Theravādins, the Bodhisattvas as a class of beings as envisaged in the *Sūtrālaṅkāra* and *Laṅkāvatāra* do not exist. The individual, who happens to become the Buddha, is called a bodhisattva in his previous existence just to distinguish him as a being superior to an average one; by calling him a bodhisattva the Theravādins do not attribute to him any special virtues unattainable by a śrāvaka. The Mahāsaṅghikas or the Andhakas do not subscribe to the above view. According to them an individual from the moment he develops *bodhicitta* becomes a bodhisatta and is destined (*niyata*) to become a Buddha and follows a career which is quite different from that of a śrāvaka. The career of the former is marked more by love and compassion for the suffering beings than by path-culture while that of the latter has more of path-culture and *sādhanā* than exercise of *mettā* and *karuṇā*.