Arahant’s Identity in Buddhist Philosophy

Abstract

The Arahant in Buddhist philosophy is a man who gets himself/herself trained in accordance with Buddhist processes till attains the highest goal: Nibbãna. According to Theravãda Buddhist philosophy, the Arahant is a person who puts an end to defilements, pure and awake, but the Arahant in Mahãyãna philosophy is different; he still possesses a doubt and needs to be trained to be a Buddha. On the one hand, the Arahant’s identity in Theravãda Buddhist philosophy refers to a person who detaches from Five Aggregates of existence as non-self, on the other hand it means a person who just attains Dhamma but not beyond this circle of life in Mahãyãna philosophy. Theravãda Buddhist philosophy, the attainment of Arahant is complete, but Mahãyãna philosophy did not put great emphasis on Arahant but Bodhisattva in order to become the Buddhahood.