Buddhas. In fact the Arhat, engrossed in his own salvation, is excused
only by his humility and is open to the charge of selfish desire,
since the passion for Nirvana is an ambition like any other and the
quest for salvation can be best followed by devoting oneself entirely
to others. But though my object here is to render intelligible the
Mahayanist point of view including its objections to Hinayanism, I
must defend the latter from the accusation of selfishness. The
vigorous and authoritative character of Gotama led him to regard all
mankind as patients requiring treatment and to emphasize the truth
that they could cure themselves if they would try. But the Buddhism of
the Pali Canon does not ignore the duties of loving and instructing
others;[7] it merely insists on man's power to save himself if
properly instructed and bids him do it at once: "sell all that thou
hast and follow me." And the Mahayana, if less self-centred, has also
less self-reliance, and self-discipline. It is more human and
charitable, but also more easygoing: it teaches the believer to lean
on external supports which if well chosen may be a help, but if
trusted without discrimination become paralyzing abuses. And if we
look at the abuses of both systems the fossilized monk of the Hinayana
will compare favourably with the tantric adept. It was to the
corruptions of the Mahayana rather than of the Hinayana that the decay
of Buddhism in India was due.

The career of the Bodhisattva was early divided into stages (bhûmi)
each marked by the acquisition of some virtue in his triumphant
course. The stages are variously reckoned as five, seven and ten. The
Mahâvastu,[8] which is the earliest work where the progress is
described, enumerates ten without distinguishing them very clearly.
Later writers commonly look at the Bodhisattva's task from the humbler
point of view of the beginner who wishes to learn the initiatory