The History of Buddhist Thought c24.27

c24.27

The fullest Mahāyāna statement of the bodhisattva doctrine is in the Daśabhūmika-sūtra. Another scheme of ten stages appears here and is repeated with variations in other works. The stages of progress to arhatship already existed in the older doctrine, and they have been enlarged and adapted to the bodhisattva’s career.¹ There can be no doubt that such schemes formed part of the regular oral teaching of the schools. The teaching would differ according to the school and the character of the individual teachers, for it is combined all through with the other doctrines prominent in each school. This rivalry and hostility is very clear in the *Bodhisattvabhūmi*, a work of the Yogāchāra school.