Bodhisattvas Are Also Arhats

A bodhisattva is also an arhat and also possesses the conduct of an arhat: he must have meditative concentration (dhyāna), his mind must be pure and free of afflictions, and he must have the wisdom of liberation. The conduct of a bodhisattva can only be higher than that of an arhat, never lower. A bodhisattva must possess all the virtues of an arhat, except that he does not wish to enter nirvāṇa without remainder (anupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa)—only this is a truly great bodhisattva. If a bodhisattva has very heavy afflictions, he is of course inferior to an arhat, and even inferior to a stream-enterer (Srotaāpanna; Pali Sotāpanna) of the first fruit; such a person is not a true bodhisattva.