In early Buddhist schools In pre-Buddhist India, the term
arhat (denoting a saintly person in general) was closely associated with miraculous power and asceticism. Buddhists made a sharp distinction between their
arhats and Indian holy men, and miraculous powers were no longer central to
arhat identity or mission. A range of views on the relative perfection of
arhats existed in the early Buddhist schools.
Mahāsāṃghikas, such as the
Ekavyāvahārika,
Lokottaravāda,
Prajñaptivāda and
Caitika the Caitikas advocated the ideal of the bodhisattva (
bodhisattvayāna) over that of the arhat (
śrāvakayāna), and viewed
arhats as fallible and still subject to ignorance.
Parinirvana occurs at the death of an arhat. In Theravada Buddhism, the Buddha himself is first identified as an arhat, as are his enlightened followers, because they are free from all defilements, existing without greed,
hatred,
delusion,
ignorance and
craving. Lacking "assets" which will lead to future birth, the arhat knows and sees the real here and now. This virtue shows stainless purity, true worth, and the accomplishment of the end,
nirvana. In the Pali canon,
Ānanda states that he knows
monastics to achieve nirvana in one of four ways: • one develops
insight preceded by
serenity (Pali: ''''), • one develops serenity preceded by insight (''''), • one develops serenity and insight in a stepwise fashion (''''), • one's mind becomes seized by excitation about the
dhamma and, as a consequence, develops serenity and abandons the
fetters (''''). For those that have destroyed greed and hatred (in the sensory context) with some residue of delusion, are called
anagami (non-returner). Anagamis will not be reborn into the human world after death, but into the heaven of the
Pure Abodes, where only anagamis live. There, they will attain full enlightenment. The Theravadin commentator
Buddhaghosa placed the
arhat at the completion of the path to liberation.
In Mahāyāna Buddhism , around 1000, one of a famous
group of glazed pottery luohans from Yixian;
British Museum Mahayana Buddhists see Gautama Buddha himself as the ideal towards which one should aim in one's spiritual aspirations. A hierarchy of general attainments is envisioned with the attainments of arhats and pratyekabuddhas being clearly separate from and below those of samyaksambuddha or
tathāgatas such as Gautama Buddha. In contrast to the goal of becoming a fully enlightened buddha, the path of a śrāvaka in being motivated by seeking personal liberation from saṃsāra is often portrayed as selfish and undesirable. There are even some Mahāyāna texts that regard the aspiration to arhatship and personal liberation as an outside path. Instead of aspiring for arhatship, Mahayanins are urged to instead take up the path of the bodhisattva and to not fall back to the level of arhats and śrāvakas. Mahāyāna teachings often consider the śrāvaka path to be motivated by fear of saṃsāra, which renders them incapable of aspiring to buddhahood, and that they therefore lack the courage and wisdom of a bodhisattva. Novice bodhisattvas are compared to śrāvakas and arhats at times. In the '
, there is an account of sixty novice bodhisattvas who attain arhatship despite themselves and their efforts at the bodhisattva path because they lacked the abilities of prajnaparamita and skillful means to progress as bodhisattvas toward complete enlightenment (Skt. '). This is because they are still viewed as having innate attachment and fear of saṃsāra. The
Prajnaparamita#A.E1.B9.A3.E1.B9.ADas.C4.81hasrik.C4.81 Praj.C3.B1.C4.81p.C4.81ramit.C4.81| compares these people to a giant bird without wings that cannot help but plummet to the earth from the top of
Sumeru.
Chinese Buddhism and other East Asian traditions have historically accepted this perspective, and specific groups of arhats are venerated as well, such as the
Sixteen Arhats, the
Eighteen Arhats, and the Five Hundred Arhats. The first famous portraits of these arhats were painted by the Chinese monk
Guanxiu () in 891 CE. He donated these portraits to Shengyin Temple in Qiantang (modern
Hangzhou), where they are preserved with great care and ceremonious respect. In some respects, the path to arhatship and the path to complete enlightenment are seen as having common grounds. However, a distinctive difference is seen in the Mahāyāna doctrine pushing emotional and cognitive non-attachment to their logical consequences. Of this, Paul Williams writes that in Mahāyāna Buddhism, "Nirvāṇa must be sought without being sought (for oneself), and practice must be done without being practiced. The discursive mode of thinking cannot serve the basic purpose of attainment without attainment." ==Attainments==