Bodhisattva

== In the Nikāya schools ==
[[Image:Cave 224, Maitreya (entrance lunette).jpg|thumb|right|6th century painting of Maitreya, [[Kizil Caves]], Cave 224]]
By the time that the Buddhist tradition had developed into various competing sects, the idea of the bodhisattva vehicle (Sanskrit: ''bodhisattvayana'') as a distinct (and superior) path from that of the [[arhat]] and [[Pratyekabuddhayāna|solitary buddha]] was widespread among all the major non-Mahayana Buddhist traditions or [[Nikaya Buddhism|Nikaya schools]], including [[Theravada|Theravāda]], [[Sarvastivada|Sarvāstivāda]] and [[Mahāsāṃghika]].<ref name=":23">Werner et al. 2013, p. 82.</ref><ref name=":24" /> The doctrine is found, for example, in 2nd century CE sources like the ''[[Avadanasataka|Avadānaśataka]]'' and the ''[[Divyavadana|Divyāvadāna.]]''<ref name=":24">Dayal 1970, p. 10.</ref> The bodhisattvayana was referred by other names such as "vehicle of the perfections" (''pāramitāyāna''), "bodhisatva dharma", "bodhisatva training", and "vehicle of perfect Buddhahood".<ref name=":23" />

According to various sources, some of the Nikaya schools (such as the [[Dharmaguptaka]] and some of the [[Mahāsāṃghika|Mahasamghika]] sects) transmitted a collection of texts on bodhisattvas alongside the [[Tripiṭaka|Tripitaka]], which they termed "Bodhisattva Piṭaka" or "Vaipulya (Extensive) Piṭaka".<ref>Walser, Joseph (2005), ''Nāgārjuna in Context: Mahāyāna Buddhism and Early Indian Culture'', p. 53, Columbia Univ Pr, {{ISBN|978-0-231-13164-3}}</ref><ref name=":21">Werner et al. 2013, pp. 81, 94.</ref><ref>Baruah, Bibhuti (2008). ''Buddhist Sects and Sectarianism''. p. 52</ref> None of these have survived.<ref name=":21" /> Dar Hayal attributes the historical development of the bodhisattva ideal to "the growth of [[bhakti]] (devotion, faith, love) and the idealisation and spiritualisation of the Buddha."<ref>Dayal 1970, p. 31.</ref>

The North Indian [[Sarvastivada|Sarvāstivāda]] school held it took Gautama three "incalculable aeons" ([[Asaṃkhyeya|''asaṃkhyeyas'']]) and ninety one aeons (''[[Kalpa (aeon)|kalpas]]'') to become a Buddha after his resolution (''praṇidhāna'') in front of a past Buddha. During the first incalculable aeon he is said to have encountered and served 75,000 Buddhas, and 76,000 in the second, after which he received his first prediction (''vyākaraṇa'') of future Buddhahood from [[Dīpankara Buddha|Dīpankara]], meaning that he could no longer fall back from the path to Buddhahood.<ref name=":0" /> For Sarvāstivāda, the first two incalculable aeons is a period of time in which a bodhisattva may still fall away and regress from the path. At the end of the second incalculable aeon, they encounter a buddha and receive their prediction, at which point they are certain to achieve Buddhahood.<ref name=":8" />

Thus, the presence of a living Buddha is also necessary for [[Sarvastivada|Sarvāstivāda]]. The [[Mahavibhasa|''Mahāvibhāṣā'']] explains that its discussion of the bodhisattva path is partly meant "to stop those who are in fact not bodhisattvas from giving rise to the self-conceit that they are."<ref name=":0" /> However, for Sarvāstivāda, one is not technically a bodhisattva until the end of the third incalculable aeon, after which one begins to perform the actions which lead to the manifestation of the [[Physical characteristics of the Buddha|marks of a great person]].<ref name=":0" />

The ''[[Mahāvastu]]'' of the [[Mahāsāṃghika]]-[[Lokottaravāda|Lokottaravādins]] presents various ideas regarding the school's conception of the bodhisattva ideal. According to this text, bodhisattva Gautama had already reached a level of dispassion at the time of Buddha [[Dipankara|Dīpaṃkara]] many aeons ago and he is also said to have attained the perfection of wisdom countless aeons ago.<ref>Werner et al. 2013, p. 178.</ref> 

The ''[[Mahāvastu]]'' also presents four stages or courses (''caryās)'' of the bodhisattva path without giving specific time frames (though it's said to take various [[Asaṃkhyeya|incalculable aeons]]).<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":27">Wayman, Alex. [https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/jiabs/article/view/8454/2361 "The Mahāsāṃghika and the Tathāgatagarbha (Buddhist Doctrinal History, Study 1)."] ''Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies'' 1, no. 1 (1978): 35–50. </ref> This set of four phases of the path is also found in other sources, including the [[Gandhāran Buddhist texts|Gandhari]] “''Many-Buddhas Sūtra''” (*''Bahubudha gasutra'') and the Chinese ''Fó běnxíng jí jīng'' (佛本行 集經, Taisho vol. 3, no. 190, pp. 669a1–672a11).<ref name=":28">Salomon, Richard. '[https://buddhism.lib.ntu.edu.tw/en/search/search_detail.jsp?seq=659334 New Biographies of the Buddha in Gāndhārī]': (Studies in Gāndhārī Manuscripts 3). Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, v.44, 2021, pp. 355-401.</ref> 

The four ''caryās'' (Gandhari: ''caria'') are the following:<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":27" /><ref name=":28" /> 

# Natural (Sanskrit: ''prakṛti''-''caryā,'' Gandhari: ''pragidi'', Chinese: 自性行 zì xìng xíng), one first plants the roots of merit in front of a Buddha to attain Buddhahood.
# Resolution (''praṇidhāna-caryā,'' G'': praṇisi'', C: 願性行 yuàn xìng xíng), one makes their first resolution to attain Buddhahood in the presence of a Buddha.
# Continuing (''anuloma-caryā'', C: 順性行 shùn xìng xíng) or "development" (''vivartana'', G: ''vivaṭaṇa''), in which one continues to practice until one meets a Buddha who confirms one's future Buddhahood.
# Irreversible (''anivartana-caryā'', C: 轉性行 zhuǎn xìng xíng) or “course of purity” (G: śukracaria), this is the stage at which one cannot fall back and is assured of future Buddhahood.