SOTERIOLOGY AND PANTHEON OF THE MAHAYANA 105bodhisattvas until the following century, when images of Maitreya (see Sec-
tion 5.4.1) were sculpted. In the second century c.E., differences between the
iconography of Buddha and bodhisattva images began to appear, along with
the first image of a Cosmic Buddha, Arnitabha (see Section 5.5.4), dated 104
c. E. The image of the pensive bodhisattva-his right foot on his left knee, his
right hand to his temple-which was to have a long history in Buddhist art,
also first appeared at this time. These artistic trends suggest that the late first
and early second centuries mark the beginning of independent bodies of bod-
hisattva and Cosmic Buddha lore. Only later were images of Avalokitdvara,
Maiijusri, and Tara produced. Mahayana versions of Sakyamuni-identifiable
because they portray him sitting western style on a throne, an attitude com-
mon to the Mahayana Sutras but never used in the earlier texts-were not
sculpted until the third or fourth century c.E. These images probably reflect
the growing tendency among Mahayanists at that time to view themselves as a
distinct group, separate from their Hinayana contemporaries and forebears.
5.4 THE COSMIC BODHISATTVAS
Many Mahayana Sutras begin with a catalog of the assembly present on the
occasion when the Sutra was uttered by the Buddha. The Lotus Siltra, for ex-
ample, opens with Sakyamuni sitting on Mount G:rdhrakuta (Vulture Peak)
surrounded by twelve hundred arhant-bhik~us, eighty thousand nonrelapsing
bodhisattvas, Sakra, the Four Great Kings, Siva, Brahma, and contingents of
spirit beings. This is a literary device that, in addition to cataloging the pan-
theon, expresses the early Buddhist claim that Sakyamuni is the teacher of
gods and men.
The chief innovation in this Mahayana pantheon is the class of great bod-
hisattvas, also called mahasattvas (great beings). The Lotus Sutra names 23; the
Vimalakirti, more than 50. Of these, three became most important: Maitreya,
Maiijusri, and Avalokitdvara. All three figure as interlocutors in Mahayana
Sutras, where they appear as men and converse with the great disciples and
Sakyamuni. These great beings are nonhistorical; there is no evidence that any
one of them is an apotheosis of a human hero, as was the case with the Hindu
Rama. Instead, they appear to be unabashed products of the visionary,
shamanic mode of perception that is celebrated in these Sutras. Strangely, no
Sutra preaches devotion to a celestial bodhisattva until the third century C.E., a
full three centuries after these beings entered the literature.5.4.1 Maitreya
(Strong EB, sec. 1.9)
Maitreya was the earliest cult bodhisattva, mentioned even in the early
Hinayana Sutras. A Pali Sutta (D.26) predicts that in the distant future there
will arise in the world a Blessed One named Metteyya (Pali for Maitreya),
who will be attended by a company of thousands of monks just as Sakyamuni