Hinduism and Buddhism - an Historical Sketch

These are the grdvakaydna the vehicle of the ordinary Bhikshu who hopes to become an Arhat the Pratyekabuddhaydna for the rare beings who are able to become Buddhas but do not preach the law to others and in contrast to both of these the Mandydna or vehicle of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. [...] But if we admit that the career of the Buddha is better and nobler and also that it is as the Introduction to the Jiltaka recounts simply the result of an earnest resolution to school himself and help others kept firmly through the long chain of existences there is nothing illogical or presumptuous in making our goal not the quest of personal salvation but the attainment of Bodhisattvaship [...] For them the Bodhisattva is primarily not a supernatural being or even a saint but simply a religious person who wishes to perform the duties and enjoy the privileges of the Church to the full much like a communicant in the language of contemporary Christianity. [...] He is then a "son 1 The career of the Bodhisattva is also discussed in detail in the Avatameaka sutra and in works attributed to Nigarjuna and Sthiramati the Lakshana-vimukthridaysedilstra and the Mahilyana-dharma-dhatvaviieshata-iilstra. [...] Siva is the law of change of death and rebirth with all the riot of slaughter and priapism which it entails: Vishnu is the protector and preserver the type of good energy warring against evil but the unity of the figure is smothered by mythology and broken up into various incarntions.