In the Hinayāna teachings the attainment of buddhahood is not presented as the goal of Buddhist practice, so the bodhisattva vehicle is also not presented as something that can be taken up by ordinary people. The Hinayāna teachings state that there can only be one buddha on any given world at a time. Furthermore, the time between the appearances of a buddha is vast. Each time a buddha appears they set in motion the Wheel of the Dharma (i.e. they expound the Buddha Dharma), and after a buddha’s final nirvāṇa the teachings may last for a period of time known as the Age of the True Dharma, linger on in a corrupted form during a period of time known as the Age of the Semblance of the Dharma, and finally they begin to disappear during a Latter Age of Degeneration that can last for ten thousand years or more until the Dharma is completely forgotten. There may then be a period of millions of years before another buddha rolls the Wheel of Dharma again. The Hinayāna teachings do not speak of buddhas in other regions of the universe. The only two bodhisattvas who are recognized are the bodhisattva who became Śākyamuni Buddha, and Maitreya Bodhisattva who resides in the Tushita Heaven awaiting his time to become the next buddha in the distant future after Śākyamuni Buddha’s Dharma has completely disappeared. Bodhisattvas are therefore rare and extraordinary beings. What all of this means is that the attainment of buddhahood is not presented as an even remotely realistic goal. The Hinayāna teaches that the only feasible way to attain cessation from suffering and escape saṃsāra is to take up one the two vehicles of the śrāvaka or pratyekabuddha, with the former being the easier as the śrāvakas can rely upon the four noble truths and the Middle Way taught by Śākyamuni Buddha.