234 The Mahayanacontinuation of the practice of the recollection and visualization
of the Buddha and his qualities (buddhiinusmrti!buddhiinussati),
and the contrast with contemporary Theravadin attitudes can
be overstated. While the Theravadin doctrinal position on the
ontological status of the Buddha and arhats of the past (which,
we should remember, includes the stricture that we should not
say that they do not exist) remains, in practice the power of the
Buddha Gautama is thought of as somehow persisting until
the final disappearance of all his relics, which, it is thought, in
the last days of the Dharma will spontaneously come together
at the site of the Buddha's awakening and vanish (the tradition
of dhiitu-parinibbiina).^21 The devotional cult of arhats is anci~
ent, and the presence of the arhats is invoked in. South-East
Asia, and one whom many regarded as a twentieth-century arhat,
Ajahn Mun, is described as meeting and conversing with the arhats
of the past.^22
Emptiness (siinyata) and the 'perfection of wisdom'
(prajiiaparamita)
Mahayana siltras see the motivation underlying the arhat's attain-
ment as lacking the great compassion (mahii-karwJii) of a buddha;
of equal concern to the siltras. is perfect wisdom. Together, wis-
dom and compassion become the two great themes of Mahayana
thought.
The 'Perfection of Wisdom' (prajftiipiiramitii) literature
evolved over many centuries and comprises a variety of texts,
including some of the oldest Mahayana siltra material. Edward
Conze, a pioneer of the scholarly study of this literature,. con-
sidered the oldest and most basic text to be the A~{asiihasrikii
Prajftiipiiramitii ('Perfection of Wisdom in 8,ooo Lines'), which
he dates from the first century BCE. Subsequent centuries saw the
production of vast expanded versions, such as those of Ioo,ooo
lines, 25,000 lines, and I8,ooo lines, as well as shorter versions,
such as the Vajracchedikii and Hrdaya (the 'Diamond' and
'Heart' Siltras), although it now appears that the last, a text only