arhat

In Buddhism, an ''arhat'' (Sanskrit: अर्हत्) or ''arahant'' (Pali: अरहन्त्, 𑀅𑀭𑀳𑀦𑁆𑀢𑁆) is one who has gained insight into the true nature of existence and has achieved '' Nirvana'' and liberated from the endless cycle of rebirth. Mahayana Buddhist traditions have used the term for people far advanced along the path of Enlightenment, but who may not have reached full Buddhahood.

The understanding of the concept has changed over the centuries, and varies between different schools of Buddhism and different regions. A range of views on the attainment of arhats existed in the early Buddhist schools. The Sarvāstivāda, Kāśyapīya, Mahāsāṃghika, Ekavyāvahārika, Lokottaravāda, Bahuśrutīya, Prajñaptivāda, and Caitika schools all regarded arhats as imperfect in their attainments compared to buddhas.Sree Padma. Barber, Anthony W. ''Buddhism in the Krishna River Valley of Andhra''. 2008. p. 44Warder, A.K. ''Indian Buddhism''. 2000. p. 277

Mahayana Buddhist teachings urge followers to take up the path of a bodhisattva, and to not fall back to the level of arhats and śrāvakas. The arhats, or at least the senior arhats, came to be widely regarded by Theravada buddhists as "moving beyond the state of personal freedom to join the Bodhisattva enterprise in their own way".

Mahayana Buddhism regarded a group of Eighteen Arhats (with names and personalities) as awaiting the return of the Buddha as Maitreya, while other groupings of 6, 8, 16, 100, and 500 also appear in tradition and Buddhist art, especially in East Asia called ''luohan'' or ''lohan''. They may be seen as the Buddhist equivalents of the Christian saint, apostles or early disciples and leaders of the faith.

Etymology

The Sanskrit word ''arhat'' (Pāḷi ''arahant'') is a present participle coming from the verbal root √arh "to deserve", cf. ''arha'' "meriting, deserving"; ''arhaṇa'' "having a claim, being entitled"; ''arhita'' (past participle) "honoured, worshipped". The word is used in the ''Ṛgveda'' with this sense of "deserving".

Meaning

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, Bahuśrutīya, Prajñaptivāda and Caitika schools, advocated the transcendental nature of the buddhas and bodhisattvas and the fallibility of ''arhats''; 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.

According to A. K. Warder, the Sarvāstivādins held the same position as the Mahāsāṃghika branch about ''arhats'', considering them imperfect and fallible. In the Sarvāstivādin ''Nāgadatta Sūtra'', the demon Māra takes the form of Nāgadatta's father and tries to convince Nāgadatta (who was a bhikṣuṇī) to work toward the lower stage of arhatship rather than strive to become a fully enlightened buddha (samyaksaṃbuddha):

In her reply, Nāgadatta rejects arhatship as a lower path: "A Buddha's wisdom is like empty space of the ten-quarters, which can enlighten innumerable people. But an Arhat's wisdom is inferior." The Kāśyapīya school also believed that ''arhats'' were fallible and imperfect, similar to the view of the Sarvāstivādins and the Mahāsāṃghika sects. The Kāśyapīyins believed that ''arhats'' have not fully eliminated desire, their "perfection" is incomplete, and it is possible for them to relapse.

In Theravāda Buddhism

In Theravada Buddhism, an ''arahant'' is a person who has eliminated all the unwholesome roots which underlie the fetters – who upon their death will not be reborn in any world, since the bonds (fetters) that bind a person to the samsara have been finally dissolved. In the Pali Canon, the word '' tathagata'' is sometimes used as a synonym for arhat, though the former usually refers to the Buddha alone.

After attainment of nirvana, the five aggregates (physical forms, feelings/sensations, perception, mental formations and consciousness) will continue to function, sustained by physical bodily vitality. This attainment is termed ''the nirvana element with a residue remaining''. But once the arhat passes away and with the disintegration of the physical body, the five aggregates will cease to function, hence ending all traces of existence in the phenomenal world and thus total release from the misery of samsara. It would then be termed ''the nirvana element without residue remaining''. 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

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