Sacred Texts: Buddhism

A Buddhist Bible: The Lankavatara Sutra: Chapter X. Discipleship: Lineage of the Arhats

Dwight GoddardTaoism and ZenZen Buddhism

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This is a doctrinal passage from the *Lankavatara Sutra*, a foundational Mahayana Buddhist scripture, presented as a dialogue in which the Bodhisattva Mahamati questions the Buddha on the classification of spiritual disciples. The text lays out a detailed taxonomy of practitioners: disciples are divided first into Arhats and Bodhisattvas, then subdivided by how many rebirths they face (Stream-entered, Once-returning, Never-returning) and by spiritual class (sravaka, pratyekabuddha, Arhat, and Bodhisattva). Each class is characterized by the specific attachments and hindrances still blocking its progress — ranging from clinging to moral practice for worldly reward, to residual ego-identification, to subtle discrimination between self and Nirvana. The text's most distinctive claim is its sharp critique of the Arhat: though the Arhat has mastered the Dhyanas and Samadhis and achieved genuine insight into egolessness, they still commit a "double fault" by both denouncing ego and remaining entangled in it, ultimately entering a lesser Nirvana rather than full Buddhahood. Perfect emancipation, the text argues, requires going beyond all discriminative thought — including the concept of Nirvana itself — into complete imagelessness, something only achievable at the seventh stage and beyond. This reflects the classic Mahayana argument that the Arhat path, while impressive, is spiritually incomplete compared to the Bodhisattva ideal.

A Buddhist Bible: The Lankavatara Sutra: Chapter X. Discipleship: Lineage of the Arhats

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