Bodhisattvas assemble in order to preserve the Mahayana teachings. There was a requirement that to ensure the authenticity of the teachings, only arhats could attend the First Council, which is said to have taken place shortly after the Buddha entered parinirvana.
According to scriptures, there was a group of 500 arhats who assembled to recite the general teachings of the Buddha at the First Council. One of the Buddha’s disciples, Ananda, had not attained nirvana at that point (so was not an arhat). He was about to be excluded from the Council. He spent the night in meditation and just as he had given up, and was laying down to rest, he attained nirvana at the moment his head touched the pillow.
This story is very important because Ananda was the only person who had heard all the Buddha’s teachings and also, he remembered them so perfectly that all the sutras which begin with the words “Thus I have heard” were recited by Ananda. This story also shows that even though Ananda had spent his entire life serving the Buddha as his personal attendant and so had not had the time or opportunity to practise meditation, when he turned his mind to it, he attained realisations easily.
The names of the 500 Arhats have not been preserved, except for the closest disciples, who were historical persons, and the number “500” indicates a great number rather than an actual head-count.
The 16 Arhats, with whom we are more familiar, were actually part of that first group of 500 who attended the First Council, but they were bodhisattvas, and so vowed to renounce nirvana in order to devote themselves more effectively to the relief of misery.
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