Early Monastic Buddhism v2.c42.s2.t5.41

v2.c42.s2.t5.41

(iv) *Anivartana-caryā* of the *Mahāvastu* is equated by Dr. E. J. Thomas² to the *Avaivartya-caryā* of the later Mahāyānic texts. In the *Mahāvastu*, however, it carries a different sense. In this text some lapses are pointed out as causes for retrogression of a Bodhisattva from a higher to a lower *bhūmi*, and so a Bodhisattva is warned about these lapses in connection with every *bhūmi* that may be reached by him. The word *avaivartya* is used as an adjective of the Bodhisattva³ in every *bhūmi*, implying that the resolution of the Bodhisattva for attaining *bodhi* remains unflinching all along. Incidentally the text⁴ mentions that the Bodhisattva while in one of the first seven *bhūmis* may, for any serious lapse, be reborn in one of the lower forms of existence. In the later Mahāyānic texts, the 8th *bhūmi* is called *Avaivartya* or *Acalā*, from which the Bodhisattva can never have any retrogression; he is destined to attain *bodhi* and become a *samyaksambuddha*, and so it is quite different from the *anivartana-caryā* of the *Mahāvastu*.