Early Monastic Buddhism v2.c42.s2.t5.1

v2.c42.s2.t5.1

As has already been mentioned, the Mahāsanghikas were the first to usher in the conception of Bodhisattva, viz., that a being in any form of existence can have or develop the determination to attain *bodhi* (*bodhicittotpāda*) at sometime or other, however long and arduous the process may be, no matter even if it entails self-immolation, not once but several times in different existences. This conception is not quite clearly expressed in the *Mahāvastu*, where we find the first attempt to detail the career of a Bodhisattva, which is as follows:—