Buddhist Philosophy in India and Ceylon c24.s7.4

c24.s7.4

The true ideal is a very different one, that of the search for enlightenment undertaken for the sake of others without any touch of egoism, and prolonged for three incalculable (asaṃkhyeya)² periods, during which the Bodhisattva develops the perfections of virtue, above all generosity and charity, for the benefit of others. The idea is not wholly strange to the Hīnayāna; we have the Buddha’s own authority for the advent of Maitreya, but it is in the latest phase alone, the Jātakas and the Abhidharmakoça, that, the idea becomes distinct. The legend of Pūrṇa,¹ in outline canonical, however, reveals the spirit of the new faith; suddenly converted, the monk demands a summary of the doctrine that he may straightway teach others the doctrine of salvation, and his chosen field of work is the barbarous people of Ṣroṇāparantaka, where he is assured of suffering. The later version of the legend accords to him some of the distinctive marks of the Buddha himself, proof of his extraordinary merit. With this legend accord the birth-tales of the Buddha, destined to exhibit the superhuman generosity and compassion which mark him out, a trace perhaps of a real characteristic of a master of whom, despite the Canon, we know personally so little that seems real. But in the Hīnayāna these elements are indeed of secondary importance, and do not alter the essential fact that the ideal set before us is the Arhant and Nirvāṇa.