The original, mixed-sex, followers of the Buddha wandered through the forests, spreading their message. This was Hinayana Buddhism.
A Boddhisatva is one who renounces nirvana for themselves to stay to help others The ideal of the Boddistava appears with the emergence of the ‘greater vehicle’ of Mahayana Buddhism which itself seems to have coincided with the coming forth of the Telestai of the Gnostic Mysteries to speak to the public. Could the ideal of the Boddhisatva be a result of an overlap of these two streams of thought?
The Diamond Sutra teaches about pretences. Boddhisattvas liberate orginal awaremess from the pretences that have become attached to it. When life in the form of Dhumavati takes away from you that which you cannot remove yourself you put together insights that can be seen as a kind of instruction.