section_path: Worldview/Claims of superiority
section_name: Claims of superiority
paragraph_text: Claims of superiority
  
  Mahāyāna often sees itself as penetrating further and more profoundly into the Buddha's Dharma. An Indian commentary on the Mahāyānasaṃgraha, gives a classification of teachings according to the capabilities of the audience:
  
  According to disciples' grades, the Dharma is classified as inferior and superior. For example, the inferior was taught to the merchants Trapuṣa and Ballika because they were ordinary men; the middle was taught to the group of five because they were at the stage of saints; the eightfold Prajñāpāramitās were taught to bodhisattvas, and are superior in eliminating conceptually imagined forms. - Vivṛtaguhyārthapiṇḍavyākhyā
  
  There is also a tendency in Mahāyāna sūtras to regard adherence to these sūtras as generating spiritual benefits greater than those that arise from being a follower of the non-Mahāyāna approaches. Thus the Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra claims that the Buddha said that devotion to Mahāyāna is inherently superior in its virtues to following the śrāvaka or pratyekabuddha paths.
  
  The commentary on the Abhidharmasamuccaya gives the following seven reasons for the "greatness" of the Mahayana: