A Bodhisattva Is Also an Arhat

A bodhisattva is also an arhat and possesses the conduct of an arhat; he must also have meditative concentration (samādhi), a mind of purity free from afflictions, and 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 srotāpanna of the first fruit; then he is not a true bodhisattva.