The "two vehicles" of /sra^vaka 声闻 and pratyekabuddha 辟支佛. These two practitioners are regularly introduce in Maha^ya^na literature where they are cast in a negative light as representatives of the so-called "hi^naya^na" 小乘 tradition， where they are set up in contradistinction to the bodhisattva 菩萨. They are understood as practitioners who are engaged in a view toward practice and enlightenment which will permit them to reach the level of arhatship 阿罗汉 and not Buddhahood. This means that they are able to permanently sever the multitude of afflictions engendered by the three poisons 三毒. But they are unable to progress further along the path in the manner of the bodhisattva due to a lack in the development of their compassion 慈悲 for other beings as well as a limitation in their understanding of the emptiness 空 of all phenomena 法. One of the first Maha^ya^na scriptures to make detailed distinctions between the practitioners of the two vehicles and the bodhisattvas was the S/ri^ma^la^-su^tra 胜鬘经.