Different Mahāyāna sūtras treat the status of Arhatship — the goal of the mainstream tradition — in different ways, for example, as a lesser but still viable goal (as in The Inquiry of Ugra) or as an outright misunderstanding on the part of the Buddha’s disciples (as in the Vimalakirti Sūtra). There was a shared consensus, however, that persons of the first two vehicles, in liberating themselves from rebirth by achieving the goal of nirvāṇa, were thereby excluded from achieving the buddhahood that is gained on the bodhisattva path. The Lotus Sūtra is distinct in asserting that the apparent threefold division of the teaching into the distinct vehicles of śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas is only apparent: ultimately, all are following the bodhisattva path and will eventually become buddhas. This “revival” of śrāvakas, causing them to realize that they are actually bodhisattvas, was identified early on by Chinese exegetes as a crucial feature of the Lotus.