Hinduism and Buddhism, Volume 2 | Page 3

beyond dispute for while a considerable consensus of opinion fixes his accession at about 78 A.D., some scholars place it earlier and others in the second century A.D.[4] Apart from this, it appears established that the Sukhavat?-vy?ha which is definitely Mahayanist was translated into Chinese between 147 and 186 A.D. We may assume that it was then already well known and had been composed some time before, so that, whatever Kanishka's date may have been, Mahayanist doctrines must have been in existence about the time of the Christian era, and perhaps considerably earlier. Naturally no one date like a reign or a council can be selected to mark the beginning of a great school. Such a body of doctrine must have existed piecemeal and unauthorized before it was collected and recognized and some tenets are older than others. Enlarging I-Ching's definition we may find in the Mahayana seven lines of thought or practice. All are not found in all sects and some are shared with the Hinayana but probably none are found fully developed outside the Mahayana. Many of them have parallels in the contemporary phases of Hinduism.
1. A belief in Bodhisattvas and in the power of human beings to become Bodhisattvas.
2. A code of altruistic ethics which teaches that everyone must do good in the interest of the whole world and make over to others any merit he may acquire by his virtues. The aim of the religious life is to become a Bodhisattva, not to become an Arhat.
3. A doctrine that Buddhas are supernatural beings, distributed through infinite space and time, and innumerable. In the language of later theology a Buddha has three bodies and still later there is a group of five Buddhas.
4. Various systems of idealist metaphysics, which tend to regard the Buddha essence or Nirvana much as Brahman is regarded in the Vedanta.
5. A canon composed in Sanskrit and apparently later than the Pali Canon.
6. Habitual worship of images and elaboration of ritual. There is a dangerous tendency to rely on formul? and charms.
7. A special doctrine of salvation by faith in a Buddha, usually Amitabha, and invocation of his name. Mahayanism can exist without this doctrine but it is tolerated by most sects and considered essential by some.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: Sanskrit, _Mahayana_; Chinese, _Ta Ch'��ng_ (pronounced _Tai Sh��ng_ in many southern provinces); Japanese, _Dai-jo_; Tibetan, _Theg-pa-chen-po_; Mongolian, _Y?k?-k��lg?n_; Sanskrit, _H?nayana_; Chinese, _Hsiao-Ch'��ng_; Japanese, _Sho-jo_; Tibetan, _Theg-dman_; Mongolian _��ts��k?n-k��lg?n_. In Sanskrit the synonyms agrayana and uttama-yana are also found.]
[Footnote 2: Record of Buddhist practices. Transl. Takakusu, 1896, p. 14. Hs��an Chuang seems to have thought that acceptance of the Yogacaryabh?mi (Nanjio, 1170) was essential for a Mahayanist. See his life, transl. by Beal, p. 39, transl. by Julien, p. 50.]
[Footnote 3: Saddharma-Pundar?ka, chap. III. For brevity, I usually cite this work by the title of The Lotus.]
[Footnote 4: The date 58 B.C. has probably few supporters among scholars now, especially after Marshall's discoveries.]

CHAPTER XVII
BODHISATTVAS
Let us now consider these doctrines and take first the worship of Bodhisattvas. This word means one whose essence is knowledge but is used in the technical sense of a being who is in process of obtaining but has not yet obtained Buddhahood. The Pali Canon shows little interest in the personality of Bodhisattvas and regards them simply as the preliminary or larval form of a Buddha, either Sakyamuni[5] or some of his predecessors. It was incredible that a being so superior to ordinary humanity as a Buddha should be suddenly produced in a human family nor could he be regarded as an incarnation in the strict sense. But it was both logical and edifying to suppose that he was the product of a long evolution of virtue, of good deeds and noble resolutions extending through countless ages and culminating in a being superior to the Devas. Such a being awaited in the Tushita heaven the time fixed for his appearance on earth as a Buddha and his birth was accompanied by marvels. But though the Pali Canon thus recognizes the Bodhisattva as a type which, if rare, yet makes its appearance at certain intervals, it leaves the matter there. It is not suggested that saints should try to become Bodhisattvas and Buddhas, or that Bodhisattvas can be helpers of mankind.[6] But both these trains of thought are natural developments of the older ideas and soon made themselves prominent. It is a characteristic doctrine of Mahayanism that men can try and should try to become Bodhisattvas.
In the Pali Canon we hear of Arhats, Pacceka Buddhas, and perfect Buddhas. For all three the ultimate goal is the same, namely Nirvana, but a Pacceka Buddha is greater than an Arhat, because he has greater intellectual powers though he is not omniscient, and a perfect Buddha is greater still, partly because he is omniscient and partly