Arhats are 'saints' or sages who have fully realized for themselves the Buddhist Doctrine. The difference between an Arhat and a Bodhisattva is that the Arhat attains enlightenment for self liberation. The Bodhisattvas vow to dedicate themselves to leading all to ultimate liberation. The Buddha was also considered an Arhat from the point of view of an Arhat. The difference between the Buddha and a simple Arhat was that the Arhat obtains liberation (Nirvana) by realizing the nature of emptiness, while the Buddha obtained Nirvana by complete realization of all truths. In some texts the Buddha is described as being accompanied by 50 Arhats, sometimes by 500 or other multiples of this number (the figure is taken by some simply to mean a large crowd). Here at Buddha Gate we have 18 statues to represent all Arhats.