BODHISATTVAS AND ARHATS | Zen Wisdom

QUESTION:
Can Shih-fu discuss the similarities and differences between arhats and bodhisattvas? When someone attains arhatship, what reason is there to do anything but remain in that state? Does an arhat stay that way for eternity, or can arhats become bodhisattvas or Buddhas? If bodhisattvas have no more desire, what causes them to progress further?

SHIH-FU:
First we have to understand the position of arhatship. When a person has attained arhatship, what has been attained and what has been left behind? Is an arhat necessarily a Hinayana practitioner? Could a bodhisattva also be or have been an arhat? Under what circumstances can an arhat change to the Bodhisattva Path? Or will he or she stay an arhat indefinitely? Finally, if a bodhisattva has terminated desire, what factors push him or her to practice further?

People do not become arhats because they have ideas that they want to become arhats; rather, when vexations have ceased or have been eradicated through long cultivation, people become arhats. Some people, upon having heard a phrase or sutra from the Buddha, instantly eradicated all vexations, greed, anger and ignorance and immediately attained arhatship.

Such people were very rare, but we do read about them in the sutras. Others, with the goal to cut off all vexations, practice in a gradual manner.

There are four stages of arhatship. The first stage is achieved when the practitioner eliminates the view of the self and eradicate doubt. The second, when greed, anger and ignorance are alleviated. The third, when greed and anger in the realm of desire are completely cut off. The fourth stage is true arhatship, when greed, anger and desire in the three realms (desire, form, formlessness) are eradicated. At this point all vexations are cut off. People who practice gradually differ from those who attain arhatship instantly; nonetheless, gradual practitioners do not have the intention or desire to become arhats. Their goal is to terminate vexation.

There is a correspondence between the Hinayana arhat and the Mahayana bodhisattva insofar as how much vexation has been alleviated or eradicated. For example, the first position of Hinayana attainment is attained when one has dissolved one’s view of the self and has also eradicated all doubt. Doubt here means doubting the Three Jewels as well as doubting whether one can transcend samsara and eradicate vexation. In Mahayana Buddhism, this level of attainment is considered the first bhumi level of Bodhisattvahood. Bhumi means ground, and can be considered the fertile ground of practice from which wisdom sprouts. There are ten bhumis, of which the tenth is at the threshold of Buddhahood. The fourth stage of arhatship corresponds to the end of the seventh bhumi.

Realize that these positions in the Hinayana and Mahayana traditions are extremely advanced. The difference between the two paths is that bodhisattvas continue to exist, incarnation after incarnation, in samsara, interacting with and helping sentient beings. They do so because of their vows. Yet, althought they are within samsara, they do not experience suffering; neither do they think about leaving behind samsara to attain Buddhahood. Arhats, on the other hand, have more of an affinity for the Hinayana path. They do not have as their highest aspiration the impetus to deliver sentient beings. However, this is temporary, and after a long time (many lifetimes), arhats may follow the Bodhiosattva Path.

Practitioners of the Hinayana Path may attain higher levels of cultivation more quickly than Mahayana practitioners because their aspiration is to eradicate vexations. Bodhisattva Path practitioners, however, do not have as their objective the termination of vexations. Their goal is to cultivate merit and virtue for the sake of sentient beings. Practitioners of the Mahayana Path are forever immersed in the world of vexation. Therefore, it is more difficult to transcend the view of the individual self; and until they do so, such practitioners cannot be consider true bodhisattvas. After they reach the first bhumi (eradication of the view of the individual self, ) they are true bodhisattvas. Still, they must continue to practice and make vows to help others because merit and virtue are not complete, even at the eight bhumi.

Most of the Buddha’s famous disciples became arhats. It is obvious that they were concerned with the welfare of sentient beings. Mahakasyapa was the First Patriarch, Ananda and Sariputra appeared in many sutras. They asked the Buddha important questions for the sake of sentient beings. Therefore they cannot be purely Hinayana in their mentality. Also, in the Lotus Sutra, it is said that all of the Buddha’s disciples will eventually become Buddhas.

Once his disciples attained arhatship, the Buddha asked them to teach others. The original five bhiksus who studied with the Buddha were also bodhisattvas because, after attaining arhatship, they went out to teach others. The Buddha told them to go in different directions so that they could help more people. So among arhats there were some who had bodhisattva attitudes. Among the 1, 250 arhats under the Buddha, we only read about a few dozen, so it is hard to tell.

Why would arhats not pursue the Bodhisattva Path? It is not that they aren’t compassionate. Arhats follow the teachings of the Buddha, and so they would help others; but they do not have the inclination to deliver sentient beings as their highest aspiration. There is also the possibility that they may feel they have already attained the ultimate position. There exist four lines in the scriptures which read:
My birth and death are over;
My purity has been established;
All that needs to be done has been accomplished;
There will be no more retribution.Some arhats, chanting these lines as descriptive of their own experiences, may have felt they attained the ultimate goal. They felt confident that their practice was complete. After all, the Buddha had ascertained that they had attained liberation. If they think there is nothing higher, then there is no reason to return to the human realm.

Perhaps some arhats felt that the human realm is filled with too much suffering. They may have helped others for the remainder of their lives, but then they feel their duty has been fulfilled. Some arhats changed their attitudes before they died and started following the Bodhisattva Path, but others entered nirvana. From a Buddha’s point of view, the latter arhats may have attained liberation, but they did not have sufficient merit and virtue. And so the sutras state that these arhats who felt they were liberated were in fact only taking a temporary rest in nirvana. Ultimately they will return.

From this perspective, then, there is no permanent Hinayana practitioner. Eventually, all arhats who enter nirvana will return and follow the Mahayana Path.

Beginning bodhisattvas have strong self-centeredness, but they have learned that to make progress and attain Buddhahood they must help sentient beings. Not doing so would be truly selfish; their self-centeredness would never diminish. That is why the first Great Vow is to help sentient beings. Through this process self-centeredness can be diminished.

There are also bodhisattvas between the first and eighth bhumis who have terminated the view of the self. For them, however, the goal is still to help others. On the other hand, the goal for Hinayana practitioners is to end vexations. For this reason, it is much quicker for Hinayana practitioners to end all vexations.

Finally, there are bodhisattvas on the eighth bhumi or above. These are the positions of non-functioning. At this point bodhisattvas are already on track helping sentient beings. It’s like riding a bicycle downhill. No more effort is needed to keep the bike moving. One can also use the analogy of inertia. Once

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