The Problem of Becoming a Bodhisattva and the Emergence of Mahāyāna

Abstract

This essay examines how nikāya traditions and early Mahāyānists understood the bodhisattva path. It makes the point that these traditions shared the understanding that it is only possible to enter the path in the presence of a living Buddha and that it is thus impossible for any person now living to do so. It argues that while Buddhists following nikāya traditions found a few ways to work around this problem, the authors of early Mahāyāna sūtras established a coherent bodhisattva tradition by using a bold approach to attribute bodhisattva status to their followers.