Mahayana (
SanskritSanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is also declared as a classical language by the government of India....
: महायान,
mahāyāna literally 'Great Vehicle') is one of the two main existing branches of
BuddhismBuddhism, as traditionally conceived, is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality. It encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha...
and a term for classification of
Buddhist philosophiesBuddhist philosophy deals extensively with problems in metaphysics, phenomenology, ethics, and epistemology.The Buddha's general outlook has been described as neither ontological nor metaphysical, but empirical. He assumed an unsympathetic attitude toward speculative and religious thought in general...
and practice. It was
founded in IndiaBuddhism is a world religion, which arose in ancient Magadha, India , and is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, who is known as the Buddha . It flourished during the reign of Maurya Empire...
. The name Mahayana is used in three main senses:
- As a living tradition, Mahayana is the larger of the two major traditions of Buddhism existing today, the other being Theravada
Theravada Theravada Theravada (Pāli: थेरवाद theravāda (cf Sanskrit: स्थविरवाद sthaviravāda); literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...
. This classification is largely undisputed by all Buddhist schools.
- According to the Mahayana method of classification of Buddhist philosophies
Buddhist philosophy deals extensively with problems in metaphysics, phenomenology, ethics, and epistemology.The Buddha's general outlook has been described as neither ontological nor metaphysical, but empirical. He assumed an unsympathetic attitude toward speculative and religious thought in general...
, Mahayana refers to a level of spiritual motivation (also known as BodhisattvaIn Buddhism, a bodhisattva means either "enlightened existence " or "enlightenment-being" or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment ." Another translation is...
yana). According to this classification, the alternative approach is called HinayanaHīnayāna is a Sanskrit and Pāli term literally meaning: "the low vehicle", "the inferior vehicle", or "the deficient vehicle".The term appeared around the 1st or 2nd century CE. Its use in scholarly publications is controversial...
, or ShravakayanaŚrāvakayāna is one of the three yānas known to Mahāyāna Buddhism. It translates literally as the "vehicle of hearers [i.e. disciples]".Historically it was the most common term is used by Mahayana Buddhist texts to describe one hypothetical path to enlightenment...
. It is also recognized by Theravada Buddhism, but is not considered very relevant for practice.
- According to the Vajrayana scheme of classification of practice paths, Mahayana refers to one of the three routes to enlightenment
Yāna refers to a mode or method of spiritual practice in Buddhism, and in particular to divisions of various schools of Buddhism according to their type of practice.-Nomenclature, etymology and orthography:...
, the other two being HinayanaHīnayāna is a Sanskrit and Pāli term literally meaning: "the low vehicle", "the inferior vehicle", or "the deficient vehicle".The term appeared around the 1st or 2nd century CE. Its use in scholarly publications is controversial...
and VajrayanaVajrayāna Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle. The period of Vajrayana Buddhism has been classified as the fifth or final period of Indian Buddhism...
. This classification is the teachings of Vajrayana BuddhismVajrayāna Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle. The period of Vajrayana Buddhism has been classified as the fifth or final period of Indian Buddhism...
, and is not recognized by Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism.
Although the Mahayana movement traces its origin to
Gautama BuddhaSiddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher in the north eastern region of the Indian subcontinent who founded Buddhism. He is regarded by Buddhists as the Supreme Buddha of our age. The time of his birth and death are uncertain: most early 20th-century historians dated his lifetime as c...
, scholars believe that it originated in
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
in the 1st century CE, or the 1st century BCE. Scholars think that Mahayana only became a mainstream movement in India in the fifth century CE, since that is when Mahayanic inscriptions started to appear in
epigraphicEpigraphy is the study of inscriptions or epigraphs engraved into stone or other durable materials, or cast in metal, the science of classifying them as to cultural context and date, elucidating them and assessing what conclusions can be deduced from them...
records in India. Before the 11th century CE (while Mahayana was still present in India), the Mahayana Sutras were still in the process of being revised. Thus, several different versions may have survived of the same sutra. These different versions are invaluable to scholars attempting to reconstruct the history of Mahayana.
In the course of its history, Mahayana spread throughout
East AsiaEast Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms. Geographically and geo-politically, it covers about , or about 28 percent of the Asian continent, about 15 percent bigger than the area of Europe, though some categorize Tibet, Xinjiang,...
. The main countries in which it is practiced today are
ChinaThe People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population...
,
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
,
KoreaKorea is a civilization and formerly unified nation currently divided into two states. Located on the Korean Peninsula, it borders China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the east by the Korea Strait....
, and
VietnamVietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east...
and worldwide amongst Tibetan Buddhist practitioners as a result of the Himalayan diaspora following the Chinese invasion of
TibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north of the Himalayas. It is home to the indigenous Tibetan people, and to some other ethnic groups such as Monpas and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han Chinese people. Tibet is the highest region on earth, with an average...
. The main schools of Mahayana Buddhism today are
Pure LandPure land in the Buddhadharma is an English rendering of the celestial realm or pure abode of a buddha or bodhisattva. Various Buddhadharma traditions have arisen that focus on Pure Lands in various capacities, especially what has been given the nomenclature Pure Land Buddhism...
,
Zen (Chan)Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, translated from the Chinese word Chán. This word is in turn derived from the Sanskrit dhyāna, which means "meditation" ....
,
Nichiren BuddhismNichiren Buddhism is a branch of Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th century Japanese monk Nichiren . Nichiren Buddhism is a comprehensive term covering several major schools and many sub-schools, as well as several of Japan's new religions...
, Shingon,
Tibetan BuddhismTibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India...
and
Tendaiis a Japanese school of Mahayana Buddhism, a descendant of the Chinese Tiantai or Lotus Sutra school.Chappell frames the relevance of Tendai for a universal Buddhism:- History :...
. The latter three schools have both Mahayana and
VajrayanaVajrayāna Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle. The period of Vajrayana Buddhism has been classified as the fifth or final period of Indian Buddhism...
practice traditions.
Origin of the name
The historical source of the name Mahayana is
polemicPolemics is the practice of disputing or controverting significant, broad-reaching topics of magnitude such as religious, philosophical, political, or scientific matters...
al, having its origin in a debate about what the real teachings of the
BuddhaSiddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher in the north eastern region of the Indian subcontinent who founded Buddhism. He is regarded by Buddhists as the Supreme Buddha of our age. The time of his birth and death are uncertain: most early 20th-century historians dated his lifetime as c...
are. As such, its use in any context except as that pertaining to a living tradition is controversial amongst Theravadin practitioners and some scholars.
The earliest known mention of "Mahayana" occurs in the
Lotus SutraThe Lotus Sutra or Sutra on the White Lotus of the Sublime Dharma is one of the most popular and influential Mahayana sutras in Asia, and the basis on which the Tien Tai and Nichiren sects of Buddhism were established.-History and background:The Lotus Sutra was probably compiled...
between the first century BCE and the first century CE. However, some scholars such as Seishi Karashima suggest the term first used in an earlier
GandhariThe word Gāndhārī can mean more than one thing:* Gāndhārī is a character in the Indian epic, the Mahabharata.* The Gāndhārī language was a north-western prakrit spoken in Gāndhāra.*The Ghandari people, who lived in Gandhara...
PrakritPrakrit is the name for a group of Middle Indic, Indo-Aryan languages, derived from Classical Sanskrit and other Old Indic dialects. The word itself has a flexible definition, being defined sometimes as, "original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual", or "vernacular", in contrast to the...
version of the Lotus Sutra was not "
mahāyāna" but the Prakrit word "
mahājāna" in the sense of "
mahājñāna" (great knowing). At a later stage when the early Prakrit word was converted into Sanskrit, this "
mahājāna", being phonetically ambivalent, was mistakenly converted into "
mahāyāna", possibly by contamination arising through proximity to the famous Parable of the Burning House which talks of carts (Skt:
yāna).
History
Mahayana Buddhism in India can be divided into two periods: early Mahayana Buddhism and late Mahayana Buddhism
Early Mahayana Buddhism
The period of Early Mahayana Buddhism concerns the origins of Mahayana and the contents of early
Mahayana SutrasMahayana sutras are a very broad genre of Buddhist scriptures of which the Mahayana Buddhist tradition claim that they are original teachings of the Buddha...
.
Origins of Mahayana
The origins of Mahayana are still not completely understood. Although the Mahayana movement traces its origin to
Gautama BuddhaSiddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher in the north eastern region of the Indian subcontinent who founded Buddhism. He is regarded by Buddhists as the Supreme Buddha of our age. The time of his birth and death are uncertain: most early 20th-century historians dated his lifetime as c...
, scholars believe that it originated in
South IndiaSouth India, also known as the Dravida in the Indian anthem, is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of area...
in the 1st century CE, or the 1st century BCE. Alternatively, some scholars say there is some evidence that Mahayana originated in North-west India in the 1st century CE. Some scholars say that Mahayana could have initially developed in the south-east of India as a non-monastic tradition, and that later it underwent a process of monasticization and emerged in the north-west of India as a monastic movement. Mahayana was first propagated into
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
by
LokaksemaLokaksema , born around 147 CE, was the earliest known Buddhist monk to have translated Mahayana sutras into the Chinese language and as such was an important figure in Buddhism in China. The name Lokakṣema means 'welfare of the world' in Sanskrit.-Origins:Lokaksema was a Kushan of Yuezhi ethnicity...
, the first translator of Mahayana
sutrasSutras may refer too:*Sutra - A type of literary composition in Buddhism and Hinduism*Sutras - An album by 1960s rock musician Donovan...
into
ChineseChinese or the Sinitic language is a language family consisting of languages mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
during the second century CE.
Three sources appear to have made significant contributions to the rise of Mahayana Buddhism:
- The Early Buddhist Schools
The Early Buddhist schools are those schools into which, according to most scholars, the Buddhist monastic Sangha initially split, due originally to differences in Vinaya, and later also due to doctrinal differences and geographical separateness of groups of monks.The original Sangha split into the...
. Some important Mahayana texts such as the PrajnaparamitaPrajñāpāramitā Prajñāpāramitā Prajñāpāramitā (Devanagari: प्रज्ञा पारमिता, ་ཤེས་རབ་ཕ་རོལ་, , Japanese: Korean: banya-paramilda (般若波羅蜜多/반야파라밀다) Vietnamese: Bát Nhã Ba La Mật Đa (般若波羅蜜多), Tibetan: Yumchenmo, and , translated as the "Perfection of Wisdom", is one of the aspects of a bodhisattva's...
often refer to doctrines associated with the SarvastivadaSarvastivada is an early school of Buddhism that held to 'the existence of all dharmas in the past, present and future, the 'three times'. The Abhidharma , a later text, states:-Origination and history:According to scholar Charles Prebish,...
, which were mentioned or incorporated into Mahayana texts. In terms of content, however, the Mahasanghika doctrine is closer to Mahayana thought, particularly those of the sub-schools such as the Lokottaravadins.
- Biographical literature of the Buddha composed by people said to have belonged to 'the vehicle that praised the Buddha'. This literature (comprising the Jatakas, Avadana
Avadāna is the name given to a type of Buddhist literature correlating past lives' virtuous deeds to subsequent lives' events...
s and other texts describing the life of Buddha) may have had its origins in the various Early Schools, but developed in ways that transcended the existing sectarian lines and contributed to the rise of Mahayana Buddhism. Buddhist poets wrote their work with purposes different from those of scholars who were concerned with doctrinal issues, and they used literary expressions which transcended doctrinal lines between the schools.
- Stupa
A stupa is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, once thought to be places of Buddhist worship, typically the remains of a Buddha or saint...
worship. Stupas — which were initially mere monuments to Gautama Buddha — increasingly became the place of devotion and of spreading Buddhism to the masses, the majority of whom were illiterate laymen. On the inside wall of the stupa, pictures were drawn or sculpted depicting the life of Buddha and his previous lives as a bodhisattvaIn Buddhism, a bodhisattva means either "enlightened existence " or "enlightenment-being" or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment ." Another translation is...
. This has given rise to devotion to the Buddha and the bodhisattvas, distinct from the purely monastic sangha of the Early Buddhist schoolsThe Early Buddhist schools are those schools into which, according to most scholars, the Buddhist monastic Sangha initially split, due originally to differences in Vinaya, and later also due to doctrinal differences and geographical separateness of groups of monks.The original Sangha split into the...
. However, this theory has been rejected by a number of scholars. Early Mahayanists may well have used the stupas that were not affiliated with the Early Buddhist SchoolsThe Early Buddhist schools are those schools into which, according to most scholars, the Buddhist monastic Sangha initially split, due originally to differences in Vinaya, and later also due to doctrinal differences and geographical separateness of groups of monks.The original Sangha split into the...
as the basis for proselytizing.
The commonly expressed misconception that Mahayana started as a lay-inspired movement is based on a selective reading of a very tiny sample of extant Mahayana Sutra literature. Currently scholars have moved away from this limited corpus of literature, and have started to open up early Mahayana literature which is very ascetic and expounds the ideal of the monks' life in the forest. A scholarly consensus about the origin of the Mahayana has not yet been reached, but it has been suggested that by the time Mahayana in India became mainstream in the 5th century CE, it had become what it originally most strongly objected to: a fully landed, sedentary, lay-oriented monastic institution. Before that, the Mahayana movement may well have been either a marginalized ascetic group of monks living in the forest, or a group of conservatives embedded in mainstream, socially engaged
early BuddhistThe Early Buddhist schools are those schools into which, according to most scholars, the Buddhist monastic Sangha initially split, due originally to differences in Vinaya, and later also due to doctrinal differences and geographical separateness of groups of monks.The original Sangha split into the...
monasteries. Most scholars conclude that Mahayana remained a marginal movement until the 5th century CE.
Earliest Mahayana Sutras
The earliest sutras which show some Mahayana influence are called the Proto-Mahayana Sutras such as the Ajitasena Sutra. These sutras contains a mixture of Mahayana and pre-Mahayana ideas, and occur in a world where monasticism is the norm, which is typical of the Pali Suttas; there is none of the antagonism towards the
śrāvakaŚrāvaka or Shravaka or Sāvaka means "a hearer" or, more generally, "disciple."This term is used by both Buddhists and Jains. In Jainism, a shravaka is any lay Jain...
s or the notion of Arahantship, which is typical of many later Mahayana Sutras such as the
Lotus SutraThe Lotus Sutra or Sutra on the White Lotus of the Sublime Dharma is one of the most popular and influential Mahayana sutras in Asia, and the basis on which the Tien Tai and Nichiren sects of Buddhism were established.-History and background:The Lotus Sutra was probably compiled...
, or Vimalakirti Nirdesha. However, the sutra also has an Arahant seeing all the Buddha fields, it is said that reciting the name of the sutra will save beings from suffering and the hell realms, and a meditative practice is described which allows the practitioner to see with the eyes of a Buddha, and to receive teachings from them that are very much typical of Mahayana Sutras.
The earliest proper Mahayana Sutras were the very first versions of the Perfection of Wisdom series and texts concerning Aksobhya Buddha, which were probably composed in the first century BCE in the south of India. Some slightly
later early Mahayana Sutras are the
ChineseChinese or the Sinitic language is a language family consisting of languages mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
translations made by the Kushan monk
LokaksemaLokaksema , born around 147 CE, was the earliest known Buddhist monk to have translated Mahayana sutras into the Chinese language and as such was an important figure in Buddhism in China. The name Lokakṣema means 'welfare of the world' in Sanskrit.-Origins:Lokaksema was a Kushan of Yuezhi ethnicity...
in the Chinese capital of
LuoyangLuoyang is a prefecture-level city in western Henan province, People's Republic of China. It borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the southeast, Nanyang to the south, Sanmenxia to the west, Jiyuan to the north, and Jiaozuo to the northeast.Situated on the...
, between 178 and 189 CE He translated the following sutras: Astasahasrika, Aksobhyatathagatasyavyuha,
Suramgamasamadhi sutraThe Suramgamasamadhi Sutra is an early Mahayana sutra of Indian origin which focusses on the transcendental nature, magical powers and transformational feats bestowed upon the meditation practitioner by the meditational state called suramgama or 'heroic progress'...
, an early version of a sutra connected to the Avatamsakasutra, Drumakinnararajapariprccha, Bhadrapalasutra, Ajatasatrukaukrtyavinodana, and the Kasyapaparivarta, which were probably composed in the north of India in the first century CE. Thus scholars generally think that the earliest Mahayana sutras were mainly composed in the south of India, and later the activity of writing additional scriptures was continued in the north.
But, to equate evidence for the presence of an evolving body of Mahayana scriptures with the existence at the time of Mahayana as a distinct religious movement, has been described as being an assumption which may be a serious misstep.
Earliest inscription related to Mahayana
The earliest stone inscription containing a recognizably Mahayana formulation and a mention of the Buddha Amitabha was found in the Indian subcontinent in Mathura, and dated to around 180 CE. Remains of a statue of a Buddha bear the Brahmi inscription:
- "Made in the year 28 of the reign of king Huvishka
Huvishka was a Kushan emperor from the death of Kanishka until the succession of Vasudeva I about forty years later. His rule was a period of retrenchment and consolidation for the Empire...
, ... for the Buddha AmitabhaAmitābha is a celestial buddha described in the scriptures of the Mahāyāna school of Buddhism. Amitabha is the principal buddha in the Pure Land sect, a branch of Buddhism practiced mainly in East Asia...
" (Mathura Museum).
However, this image was in itself extremely marginal and isolated in the overall context of Buddhism in India at the time, and had no lasting or long-term consequences
The epigraphical evidence for Mahayana in the period before the 5th century is very limited in comparison to the multiplicity of Mahayana writings transmitted from
Central AsiaAsia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east, and from southern Russia in the north to northern India in the south. It is also sometimes known as Middle Asia or Inner Asia, and is within the scope of the wider Eurasian continent.Various definitions of its...
to
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
at that time.
Late Mahayana Buddhism
During the period of Late Mahayana Buddhism, four major types of thought developed:
MadhyamakaMadhyamaka is a Buddhist Mahāyāna tradition systematized by Nāgārjuna. Nāgārjuna may have arrived at his positions from a desire to achieve a consistent exegesis of the Buddha's doctrine as recorded in the Nikayas...
,
YogacaraYogācāra Yogācāra Yogācāra (Sanskrit: "yoga practice"; "one whose practice is yoga" is an influential school of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing phenomenology and (some argue) ontology through the interior lens of meditative and yogic practices. It developed within Indian Mahāyāna...
, Tathagatagarbha, and
Buddhist Logic'Buddhist Logic', the categorical nomenclature modern Western discourse has extended to Buddhadharma traditions of 'Hetuvidya' and 'Pramanavada' , which arose circa 500CE, is a particular development, application and lineage of continuity of 'Indian Logic', from which it seceded...
as the last and most recent. In India, the two main philosophical schools of the Mahayana were the Madhyamaka and the later Yogacara. There were no great Indian teachers associated with tathagatagarbha thought.
From the 5th century CE onwards, Mahayana was a strong movement in India, possibly owing to support by the
GuptaThe Gupta Empire was an Ancient Indian empire which existed approximately from 320 to 550 CE and covered much of the Indian Subcontinent. Founded by Maharaja Sri-Gupta, the dynasty began the Classical Age in the Middle kingdoms of India...
dynasty. It spread from India to South-East Asia, and towards the north to
Central AsiaAsia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east, and from southern Russia in the north to northern India in the south. It is also sometimes known as Middle Asia or Inner Asia, and is within the scope of the wider Eurasian continent.Various definitions of its...
and
Far EastThe Far East is a term used in English mostly equivalent to East Asia and Southeast Asia, sometimes to the inclusion of South Asia for economic and cultural reasons."Far East" came into use in European geopolitical discourse in...
. The influence of Mahayana in China seems to have been reached at an earlier time than in India, where Mahayan remained an obscure group until the 5th century.
The late stage of Mahayana Buddhism in India are largely Vajrayana schools, and was replaced in India and Central Asia after the early milliennium by Islam and Hinduism, and in South-East Asia by Theravada Buddhism from
Sri LankaSri Lanka , officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka , is an island country in South Asia, located about off the southern coast of India...
and Islam.
Doctrine
Few things can be said with certainty about Mahayana Buddhism, especially its early Indian form, other than that the Buddhism practiced in China, Vietnam, Korea, Tibet, and Japan is Mahayana Buddhism. Mahayana can be described as a loosely bound bundle of many teachings, which was thus able to contain the various contrasting ideas found between those differing teachings of whose elements it is comprised.
Mahayana is a large religious and philosophical structure. It constitutes an inclusive
faithFaith is the confident belief or trust in the truth or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing. The word "faith" can refer to a religion itself or to religion in general....
characterized by the adoption of new Mahayana sutras in addition to the earlier
AgamaAgama is a term for scriptures in Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism:* Āgama * Āgama * Āgama The corresponding adjective is Agamic.Agama can also refer to:* Agama, common name for lizards in the Agamidae family...
texts, and a shift in the basic purpose and concepts of Buddhism. Mahayana sees itself as penetrating further and more profoundly into the Buddha's
DharmaThe term , is an Indian spiritual and religious term, that means one's righteous duty or any virtuous path in the common sense of the term. A Hindu's Dharma is affected by a person's age, class, occupation, and sex. In Indian languages it can be equivalent simply to "religion", depending on context...
. There is a tendency in Mahayana sutras to regard adherence to Mahayana sutras as generating spiritual benefits greater than those which arise from being a follower of the non-Mahayana approaches to Dharma. Thus the
Srimala SutraThe Śrīmālā Sūtra is one of the main early Mahayana Buddhist texts that taught the doctrines of tathagatagarbha and the Single Vehicle, through the words of the Indian Queen Śrīmālā. It was translated to Chinese in 436 CE by Gunabhadra...
claims that the Buddha said that devotion to Mahayana is inherently superior in its virtues to the following of the
SravakaŚrāvaka or Shravaka or Sāvaka means "a hearer" or, more generally, "disciple."This term is used by both Buddhists and Jains. In Jainism, a shravaka is any lay Jain...
or
PratyekabuddhaA Pratyekabuddha or Paccekabuddha , literally "a lone buddha" , "a buddha on their own" or "a private buddha", is one of three types of enlightened beings according to some schools of Buddhism. The other two types are the Śrāvakabuddhas and Samyaksambuddhas...
path.
Mahayana Buddhist schools de-emphasize the ideal of the release from
SufferingDukkha is a Pali term roughly corresponding to a number of terms in English including suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness, sorrow, affliction, anxiety, dissatisfaction, discomfort, anguish, stress,...
and the attainment of
NirvanaIn sramanic thought, Nirvana is the state of being free from suffering. It is an important concept in Buddhism and Jainism....
, found in the
Early Buddhist SchoolsThe Early Buddhist schools are those schools into which, according to most scholars, the Buddhist monastic Sangha initially split, due originally to differences in Vinaya, and later also due to doctrinal differences and geographical separateness of groups of monks.The original Sangha split into the...
. The fundamental principles of Mahayana doctrine were based around the possibility of universal
liberationLiberation, Libération or Liberate may refer to:* Liberty, the condition in which an individual has the ability to act according to his or her own will....
from suffering for all beings (hence "great vehicle") and the existence of Buddhas and Bodhisattva embodying
Buddha-natureBuddha-nature is a doctrine important for many schools of Mahayana...
(佛性). Some Mahayana schools simplify the expression of faith by allowing salvation to be alternatively obtained through the grace of the Buddha
AmitabhaAmitābha is a celestial buddha described in the scriptures of the Mahāyāna school of Buddhism. Amitabha is the principal buddha in the Pure Land sect, a branch of Buddhism practiced mainly in East Asia...
(अमिताभ) by having faith and devoting oneself to
chanting to AmitabhaNianfo , literally "mindfulness of the Buddha" is a term commonly seen in the Pure Land school of Mahayāna Buddhism. It refers to praise offered to Amitabha Buddha as a devotional act...
. This devotional lifestyle of Buddhism is most strongly emphasized by the
Pure LandPure land in the Buddhadharma is an English rendering of the celestial realm or pure abode of a buddha or bodhisattva. Various Buddhadharma traditions have arisen that focus on Pure Lands in various capacities, especially what has been given the nomenclature Pure Land Buddhism...
schools and has greatly contributed to the success of Mahayana in East Asia, where spiritual elements traditionally relied upon chanting of a Buddha's name, of
mantraFor secular and business interpretation, see Motto.A mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that are considered capable of "creating transformation"...
s or
dharaniA ' is a type of ritual speech similar to a mantra. The terms dharani and satheesh may even be seen as synonyms, although they are normally used in distinct contexts....
s; reading of Mahayana sutras and
mysticismMysticism is the pursuit of communion with, identity with, or conscious awareness of an ultimate reality, divinity, spiritual truth, or God through direct experience, intuition, instinct or insight. Mysticism usually centers on a practice or practices intended to nurture those experiences or...
. In Chinese Buddhism, most monks, let alone lay people, practise Pure Land, some combining it with Chan (Zen).
Most Mahayana schools believe in a pantheon of quasi-divine Bodhisattvas (बोधिसत्त्व) that devote themselves to personal excellence, ultimate knowledge, and the salvation of humanity and all other sentient beings (animals, ghosts, demigods, etc.).
ZenZen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, translated from the Chinese word Chán. This word is in turn derived from the Sanskrit dhyāna, which means "meditation" ....
Buddhism is a school of Mahayana which often de-emphasizes the pantheon of Bodhisattvas and instead focuses on the meditative aspects of the religion. In Mahayana, the Buddha is seen as the ultimate, highest being, present in all times, in all beings, and in all places, and the Bodhisattvas come to represent the universal ideal of altruistic excellence.
Mahayana Buddhism can in general be characterized by:
- Universalism, in that, in those schools of Mahayana that still have large followings, everyone will become a Buddha (see, for example, the Lotus Sutra
The Lotus Sutra or Sutra on the White Lotus of the Sublime Dharma is one of the most popular and influential Mahayana sutras in Asia, and the basis on which the Tien Tai and Nichiren sects of Buddhism were established.-History and background:The Lotus Sutra was probably compiled...
);
- Bodhicitta as the main focus of realization (see, for example, various Prajnaparamita Sutras);
- Compassion through the transferral of merit;
- Transcendental immanence, in that the immortal Buddha Principle (see, for example, Buddha-nature
Buddha-nature is a doctrine important for many schools of Mahayana...
, Mahaparinirvana Sutra, Angulimaliya SutraThe Angulimaliya Sutra is a Buddhist scripture belonging to the Tathagatagarbha class of sutras, which teach that the Buddha is eternal, that the non-Self and emptiness teachings only apply to the worldly sphere , and that the tathagatagarbha is real and immanent within all beings and all phenomena...
, Srimala SutraThe Śrīmālā Sūtra is one of the main early Mahayana Buddhist texts that taught the doctrines of tathagatagarbha and the Single Vehicle, through the words of the Indian Queen Śrīmālā. It was translated to Chinese in 436 CE by Gunabhadra...
, Tathagatagarbha SutraThe Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra is an influential and doctrinally striking Mahayana Buddhist scripture which treats of the existence of the "Tathagatagarbha" within all sentient creatures. The Buddha reveals how inside each person's being there exists a great Buddhic "treasure that is eternal and...
) is present within all beings.
“Philosophical” Mahayana tends to focus on the first three characteristics (universalism, enlightened wisdom, compassion) and, in some schools, the
Buddha-natureBuddha-nature is a doctrine important for many schools of Mahayana...
, without showing much interest in supernatural constructions, while “devotional” Mahayana focuses mainly on salvation towards other-worldly realms (see, for example, the
SukhavatiSukhavati is a Sanskrit term that refers to the Pure Land of the Buddha Amitabha in Mahayana Buddhism. A translation of this word might be "Place of Great Bliss"...
sutras).
Universalism
Mahayana traditions generally consider that attainment of the level of an
arhatArhat or arahant , in the sramanic traditions of ancient India , signified a spiritual practitioner who had to use an expression common in the tipitaka "laid down the burden", realising the goal of nirvana, the culmination of the spiritual life...
is not final. This is based on a subtle doctrinal distinction between the Mahayana and some of the
early Buddhist schoolsThe Early Buddhist schools are those schools into which, according to most scholars, the Buddhist monastic Sangha initially split, due originally to differences in Vinaya, and later also due to doctrinal differences and geographical separateness of groups of monks.The original Sangha split into the...
concerning the issues of
nirvana-with-remainder and
nirvana-without-remainder. The Mahayana position here is similar to that of the early school of the Mahasanghika.
Some of the early schools considered that nirvana-without-remainder always follows nirvana-with-remainder (buddhas first achieve enlightenment and then, at 'death', mahaparinirvana) and that nirvana-without-remainder is final; whereas the Mahayana traditions consider that nirvana-without-remainder is always followed by nirvana-with-remainder – the state of attainment of the
HinayanaHīnayāna is a Sanskrit and Pāli term literally meaning: "the low vehicle", "the inferior vehicle", or "the deficient vehicle".The term appeared around the 1st or 2nd century CE. Its use in scholarly publications is controversial...
arhat is not final, and is eventually succeeded by the state of buddhahood, or total Awakening.
This distinction is most evident regarding doctrinal concerns about the capability of a Buddha after
nirvanaIn sramanic thought, Nirvana is the state of being free from suffering. It is an important concept in Buddhism and Jainism....
(which is identified by the early schools as being nirvana-without-remainder). Most importantly, amongst the early schools, a samyaksambuddha is not able to directly point the way to nirvana after death. This is a major distinction between the early schools and some schools of the Mahayana, who conversely state that once a samyaksambuddha arises, he or she continues to directly and actively point the way to nirvana until there are no beings left in
samsaraSamsara is the endless cycle of suffering caused by birth, death and rebirth within Buddhism, Bön, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and other related religions....
(संसार). Because the views of early schools and Mahayana differ in this respect, this is exactly why some Mahayana schools do not talk about a bodhisattva postponing nirvana, and exactly why the early schools do. However, some Mahayana schools do talk of a bodhisattva deliberately refraining from Buddhahood.
For example, the early schools held that
MaitreyaMaitreya or Metteyya is a future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. In some Buddhist literature, such as the Amitabha Sutra and the Lotus Sutra, he is referred to as Ajita Bodhisattva....
(मैत्रेय) will not attain nirvana while Gautama Buddha's teachings still exist. In contrast, some Mahayana schools hold that Maitreya will be the next buddha manifest in this world and will introduce the
dharmaThe term , is an Indian spiritual and religious term, that means one's righteous duty or any virtuous path in the common sense of the term. A Hindu's Dharma is affected by a person's age, class, occupation, and sex. In Indian languages it can be equivalent simply to "religion", depending on context...
when it no longer exists; he is not postponing his nirvana to do so, and when he dies (or enters mahaparinirvana), he will likewise continue to teach the dharma for all time. Moreover, some Mahayana schools argue that although it is true that for this world-system, Maitreya will be the next buddha to manifest, there are an infinite number of world-systems, many of which have currently active buddhas or buddhas-to-be manifesting.
Because the Mahayana traditions assert that eventually everyone will achieve samyaksam (buddhahood) or total enlightenment, the Mahayana is labeled universalist, whereas the stance of the early scriptures is that attaining nibbana depends on effort and is not pre-determined.
Bodhisattva
The later Mahayana school holds that pursuing only the release from suffering and attainment of Nirvana (as held by
Pre-sectarian BuddhismThe term pre-sectarian Buddhism is used by some scholars to refer to the Buddhism that existed before the various subsects of Buddhism came into being. Other terms that have been used to refer to this first period of Buddhism are: the earliest Buddhism, original Buddhism and the Buddhism of the...
and the
Early Buddhist SchoolsThe Early Buddhist schools are those schools into which, according to most scholars, the Buddhist monastic Sangha initially split, due originally to differences in Vinaya, and later also due to doctrinal differences and geographical separateness of groups of monks.The original Sangha split into the...
) is too narrow an aspiration, because it lacks the motivation of actively resolving to liberate all other beings from
samsaraSamsara is the endless cycle of suffering caused by birth, death and rebirth within Buddhism, Bön, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and other related religions....
, as well as oneself.
The primary focus of some Mahayana schools is
bodhicittaIn Buddhism, bodhicitta is the wish to attain complete enlightenment in order to be of benefit to all sentient beings trapped in cyclic existence who have not yet reached Buddhahood...
, the vow to strive for buddhahood or awakened mind both for oneself and for the benefit of all other sentient beings. As Ananda Coomaraswamy notes, "The most essential part of the Mahanyana is its emphasis on the Bodhisattva ideal, which replaces the Arhatta, or ranks before it." According to Mahayana teachings, being a high-level bodhisattva involves possessing a mind of great compassion conjoined with insight into reality (
prajnaPrajñā or paññā has been translated as "wisdom," "understanding," "discernment," "cognitive acuity," or "know-how." In some sects of Buddhism, it especially refers to the wisdom that is based on the direct realization of the Four Noble Truths, impermanence, interdependent origination, non-self,...
), realizing
emptinessŚūnyatā, शून्यता , Suññatā , stong pa nyid , Kòng/Kū, 空 , Gong-seong, 공성 , qoɣusun meaning "Emptiness" or "Voidness", is a characteristic of phenomena arising from the fact that the impermanent...
and/or the buddhic essence of all things. Mahayana teaches that the practitioner will realize the final goal of full Awakening (Buddhahood): an omniscient, blissful mind completely free from suffering and its causes, that is able to work tirelessly for the benefit of all living beings.
Six virtues or perfections (paramitas) are listed for the bodhisattva:
generosityDāna is a Sanskrit and Pali term meaning "generosity" or "giving". In Buddhism, it also refers to the practice of cultivating generosity. Ultimately, the practice culminates in one of the Perfections : the Perfection of Giving...
,
moralityŚīla or sīla is usually rendered into English as "virtue"; other translations include "good conduct," "morality," "moral discipline" and "precept." It is an action that is an intentional effort. It is one of the three practices and the second pāramitā. It refers to moral purity of thought, word,...
, patience,
energyVīrya is a Sanskrit word which can be translated into English as "effort," "vigor," "diligence," "zeal, and "energy."...
,
meditationDhyāna in Sanskrit ) or jhāna in Pāli generally refers to either meditation or meditative states. Equivalent terms are "Chán" in modern Chinese, "Zen" in Japanese, "Seon" in Korean, "Thien" in Vietnamese, and "Samten" in Tibetan....
, and
wisdomPrajñā or paññā has been translated as "wisdom," "understanding," "discernment," "cognitive acuity," or "know-how." In some sects of Buddhism, it especially refers to the wisdom that is based on the direct realization of the Four Noble Truths, impermanence, interdependent origination, non-self,...
. Many “philosophical” schools and
Mahayana SutrasMahayana sutras are a very broad genre of Buddhist scriptures of which the Mahayana Buddhist tradition claim that they are original teachings of the Buddha...
have focused on the nature of enlightenment and nirvana itself, from the Madhyamika and its rival
YogacaraYogācāra Yogācāra Yogācāra (Sanskrit: "yoga practice"; "one whose practice is yoga" is an influential school of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing phenomenology and (some argue) ontology through the interior lens of meditative and yogic practices. It developed within Indian Mahāyāna...
, to the Tathagatagarbha teachings and
ZenZen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, translated from the Chinese word Chán. This word is in turn derived from the Sanskrit dhyāna, which means "meditation" ....
.
Compassion
Compassion, or
KarunaKaruā is generally translated as "compassion" or "pity". It is part of the spiritual path of both Buddhism and Jainism.-Buddhism:...
, is the other key concept of Mahayana, and is a necessity to
BodhicittaIn Buddhism, bodhicitta is the wish to attain complete enlightenment in order to be of benefit to all sentient beings trapped in cyclic existence who have not yet reached Buddhahood...
. Compassion is important in all schools of Buddhism, but is particularly emphasized in Mahayana. It is also linked to the idea that acquired merit can be transmitted to others.
The bodhisattvas are the main actors of compassion,
AvalokitesvaraAvalokiteśvara is a bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas. He is one of the more widely revered bodhisattvas in mainstream Mahayana Buddhism. In China and its sphere of cultural influence, Avalokiteśvara is often depicted in a female form known as Guan Yin...
(known in East Asia as Guan Yin) being foremost among them. Although having reached enlightenment, bodhisattvas usually make a vow to postpone entering into
nirvanaIn sramanic thought, Nirvana is the state of being free from suffering. It is an important concept in Buddhism and Jainism....
until all other beings have also been saved. They devote themselves to helping others reach enlightenment. This teaching may be a "skillful means" teaching; one strives to liberate all beings only as long as one is under the delusion that there are any actual "beings" to save.
The Mahayana idea that liberation is universal (see below) also allows for one to focus less on the release of personal suffering and more on humanity's salvation, and is consequently described to be more universally compassionate and caring for the welfare of others than other traditions of Buddhism.
A comparison between the
HinayanaHīnayāna is a Sanskrit and Pāli term literally meaning: "the low vehicle", "the inferior vehicle", or "the deficient vehicle".The term appeared around the 1st or 2nd century CE. Its use in scholarly publications is controversial...
and Mahayana
Buddhist philosophyBuddhist philosophy deals extensively with problems in metaphysics, phenomenology, ethics, and epistemology.The Buddha's general outlook has been described as neither ontological nor metaphysical, but empirical. He assumed an unsympathetic attitude toward speculative and religious thought in general...
approaches, made by the 10th century Tibetan author
Jé GampopaGampopa "the man from Gampo" — who was equally well known in Tibet as Sonam Rinchen , Dagpo Lhaje , Nyamed Dakpo Rinpoche , and Da'od Zhonnu , — establishedthe Kagyu school, one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism today, as...
in
The Jewel Ornament of Liberation follows:
‘Clinging to the well-being of mere peace' signifies the lower capacity [Hinayana] attitude wherein the longing to transcend suffering is focused on oneself alone. This precludes the cherishing of others and hence there is little development of altruism. [...] When loving kindness and compassion become part of one, there is so much care for other conscious beings that one could not bear to liberate oneself alone. [...] Master Manjushriikiirti has said: ‘A Mahayana follower should not be without loving kindness and compassion for even a single moment', and ‘It is not anger and hatred but loving kindness and compassion that vouchsafe the welfare of others'.
Skillful Means
The term
Skillful Means (Sanskrit:
upāyaUpaya is a term in Mahayana Buddhism which comes from the word upa√i and refers to something which goes or brings you up to something . It is essentially the Buddhist term for dialectics. The term is often used with kaushalya ; upaya-kaushalya means roughly "skill in means"...
) is used in the
Lotus SutraThe Lotus Sutra or Sutra on the White Lotus of the Sublime Dharma is one of the most popular and influential Mahayana sutras in Asia, and the basis on which the Tien Tai and Nichiren sects of Buddhism were established.-History and background:The Lotus Sutra was probably compiled...
, the earliest dated Mahayana Sutra, and is a concept accepted in all Mahayana schools of thought. It refers to any effective method which aids the attainment of Awakening. It does not necessarily mean that that particular method is "untrue", but simply refers to any means or stratagem that is conducive to spiritual growth and which leads the various types of beings to Awakening and
NirvanaIn sramanic thought, Nirvana is the state of being free from suffering. It is an important concept in Buddhism and Jainism....
. A skillful means could thus be certain motivational words for a particular listener or even the noble Eightfold Path itself. Basic Buddhism (what Mahayana would term sravaka-yana or pratyekabuddha-yana) is an expedient method for getting people started on the noble Buddhic path and allowing them to advance quite far. But the path is not wholly traversed (according to some Mahayana schools) until the practitioner has striven for, and attained, Buddhahood for the liberation from unhappiness of all other sentient beings. In an ultimate sense, all of verbalised Dharma is a "skillful means", since Dharma or Truth cannot really be expressed in words or concepts. Anything that effectively points the way to liberation can be termed a "skillful means" - an effective method for awakening beings from the sleep of spiritual ignorance. Mahayana often adopts a pragmatic notion of truth: doctrines are "true" in the sense of being spiritually beneficial.
Some scholars have stated that the exercise of skill to which it refers, the ability to adapt one's message to the audience, is of enormous importance in the Pali Canon. In fact the Pali term upāya-kosalla does occur in the Pali Canon, in the Sangiti Sutta of the Digha Nikaya.
Salvation
“Devotional” Mahayana developed a rich cosmography, with various Buddhas and Bodhisattvas residing in paradisiacal realms. The concept of trinity, or
trikayaThe Trikaya doctrine is an important Buddhist teaching both on the nature of reality, and what a Buddha is. By the 4th century CE the Trikaya Doctrine had assumed the form that we now know...
, supports these constructions, making the Buddha himself into a transcendental figure. Dr. Guang Xing describes the Mahayana Buddha as 'an omnipotent divinity endowed with numerous supernatural attributes and qualities ...[He] is described almost as an omnipotent and almighty godhead.".
Under various conditions, these realms over which Buddha presides could be attained by devotees after their death so that when reborn they could strive towards buddhahood in the best possible conditions. Depending on the sect, this salvation to “paradise” can be obtained by faith, imaging, or sometimes even by the simple invocation of the Buddha’s name. This approach to salvation is at the origin of the mass appeal of devotional Buddhism, especially represented by the
Pure LandPure land in the Buddhadharma is an English rendering of the celestial realm or pure abode of a buddha or bodhisattva. Various Buddhadharma traditions have arisen that focus on Pure Lands in various capacities, especially what has been given the nomenclature Pure Land Buddhism...
(浄土宗).
This rich cosmography also allowed Mahayana to be quite syncretic and accommodating of other faiths or deities. Various origins have been suggested to explain its emergence, such as “popular
HinduA Hindu is an adherent of Hinduism, a set of religious, philosophical and cultural systems that originated in the Indian subcontinent. The vast body of Hindu scriptures, divided into Śruti and Smriti , lay the foundation of Hindu beliefs which primarily include dhárma, kárma, ahimsa and saṃsāra...
devotional cults (
bhaktiBhakti in practice signifies an active involvement by the devotee in divine worship. The term is often translated as "devotion", though increasingly "participation" is being used as a more accurate rendering, since it conveys a fully engaged relationship with God...
), and Persian and Greco-Roman theologies, which filtered into India from the northwest” (Tom Lowenstein, “The vision of the Buddha”).
Buddha-nature
The teaching of a "Buddha Principle" (
Buddha-dhatu) or "Buddha Nature" innate to and inseparable from all sentient beings is a doctrine which according to a number of Mahayana sutras constitutes the "absolutely final culmination" of the Buddha's
DharmaThe term , is an Indian spiritual and religious term, that means one's righteous duty or any virtuous path in the common sense of the term. A Hindu's Dharma is affected by a person's age, class, occupation, and sex. In Indian languages it can be equivalent simply to "religion", depending on context...
(see Nirvana Sutra). It may be based on the "
luminous mindLuminous mind is a term attributed to the Buddha in the Nikayas...
" concept found in the Agamas. The essential idea (articulated in the Tathagatagarbha sutras, but not accepted by all Mahayana) is that no being is without a concealed but indestructible interior link to Awakening (
bodhiBodhi is both a Pāli and Sanskrit word traditionally translated into English as enlightenment, but frequently translated as "awakening"...
), and that this link is an uncreated element [
dhatu] or principle deep inside each being which constitutes nothing less than the deathless, diamond-like "essence of the Self" (
Nirvana Sutra). The Mahaparinirvana Sutra states that: "The essence of the Self (
atman) is the subtle Tathagatagarbha ..." while the later
Lankavatara SutraThe ' is a sutra of Mahayana Buddhism. According to tradition, these are the actual words of the Buddha as he entered Lanka and conversed with a bodhisattva named Mahamati. This sutra figured prominently in the development of Chinese, Tibetan and Japanese Buddhism...
states that the tathagatagarbha might be taken to be atman, but it is not. In the tathagatagarbha class of sutras, the word "atman" is used in a way defined by and specific to these sutras, see
Atman (Buddhism)Ātman or Atta literally means "self", but is sometimes translated as "soul" or "ego". The word derives from the Indo-European root *ēt-men and is cognate with the Old English æthm and German Atem....
.
According to some scholars, the "tathagatagarbha"/Buddha nature discussed in some Mahayana sutras does not represent a substantial self (atman); rather, it is a positive language and expression of sunyata (emptiness) and represents the potentiality to realize Buddhahood through Buddhist practices. It is the "true self" in representing the innate aspect of the individual which makes actualizing the ultimate personality possible.
The actual "seeing and knowing" of this
Buddha-dhatu (co-terminous with the
DharmakayaThe Dharmakāya is a central concept in Mahayana Buddhism forming part of the Trikaya doctrine that was possibly first expounded in the Aṣṭasāhasrikā prajñā-pāramitā , composed in the first century BCE...
or Self of Buddha) is said to usher in nirvanic Liberation. This
Buddha-dhatu or Tathagatagarbha is stated to be found in every single person, ghost, god and creature. In the
tathagatagarbha sutras, the Buddha is portrayed as describing the Buddha-dhatu as uncreated, deathless and ultimately beyond rational grasping or conceptualisation. Yet it is this already real and present, hidden internal element of
bodhiBodhi is both a Pāli and Sanskrit word traditionally translated into English as enlightenment, but frequently translated as "awakening"...
(Awakeness) which, according to the Tathagatagarbha sutras, prompts beings to seek after Liberation from worldly suffering and enables them to attain the spotless bliss which lies at the heart of their being. Once the veils of negative thoughts, feelings and unwholesome behaviour (the kleshas) have been eliminated from the mind and character, the indwelling
Buddha-dhatu (Buddha Principle / "Buddha Nature") is enabled to shine forth unimpededly and to transform the seer of it into a Buddha.
Prior to the period of these sutras, Mahayana
metaphysicsMetaphysics investigates principles of reality transcending those of any particular science. Cosmology and ontology are traditional branches of metaphysics. It is concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world...
had been dominated by teachings on
emptinessEmptiness as a human condition is a sense of generalised boredom, social alienation and apathy. Feelings of emptiness often accompany dysthymia, depression, loneliness, despair, or other mental/emotional disorders such as borderline personality disorder...
in the form of
MadhyamakaMadhyamaka is a Buddhist Mahāyāna tradition systematized by Nāgārjuna. Nāgārjuna may have arrived at his positions from a desire to achieve a consistent exegesis of the Buddha's doctrine as recorded in the Nikayas...
philosophy. The language used by this approach is primarily negative, and the Tathagatagarbha genre of sutras can be seen as an attempt to state orthodox Buddhist teachings of dependent origination and on the mysterious reality of nirvana using positive language instead, to prevent people from being turned away from Buddhism by a false impression of nihilism. In these sutras the perfection of the wisdom of not-self is stated to be the true self; the ultimate goal of the path is then characterized using a range of positive language that had been used in Indian philosophy previously by essentialist philosophers, but which was now transmuted into a new Buddhist vocabulary to describe a being who has successfully completed the Buddhist path.
An
exegeticalExegesis is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text.Biblical exegesis is a critical explanation or interpretation of the Bible. The goal of Biblical exegesis is to find the meaning of the text which then leads to discovering its significance or relevance.Traditionally the term exegesis...
treatise (i.e., interpretive text) on Buddha Nature is the
Uttaratantra, which sees Buddha Nature (
tathagatagarbha) not as that which is caused and conditioned (
samskrta) but as that which is eternal, uncaused, unconditioned, and incapable of being destroyed, while temporarily concealed within worldly beings by adventitious defilements. According to Buddhist scholar Dr. C. D. Sebastian, the
Uttaratantra's reference to a transcendental Self (
atmaAtma may refer to:* A concept in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain traditions. It means the higher self * The American Tamil Medical Association * ATMA - electronic music composer, original from Transylvania, one of the pioneers...
-paramitaThe term Pāramitā or Pāramī means "Perfect" or "Perfection". In Buddhism, the Paramitas refer to the perfection or culmination of certain virtues...
) should be understood as "the unique essence of the universe," thus the universal and immanent essence of Buddha Nature is the same throughout time and space.
Mahayana Scriptures
Like
TheravādaTheravada Theravada Theravada (Pāli: थेरवाद theravāda (cf Sanskrit: स्थविरवाद sthaviravāda); literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...
Buddhism, Mahāyāna Buddhism takes the basic teachings of the Buddha as recorded in early scriptures as the starting point of its teachings, such as those concerning karma and rebirth, the
Four Noble TruthsThe Four Noble Truths is one of the most fundamental Buddhist teachings. In broad terms, these truths relate to suffering , its nature, its origin, its cessation and the path leading to its cessation...
, the
Middle WayIn general, the Middle Way or Middle Path is the Buddhist practice of non-extremism.More specifically, in Theravada Buddhism's Pali Canon, the Middle Way crystallizes the Buddha's Nirvana-bound path of moderation away from the extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification and toward the...
and the Eightfold Path. Whereas these basic teachings are preserved in the
Pali CanonThe Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pali language. It is the only completely surviving early Buddhist canon, and one of the first to be written down...
, transmitted by the Theravādin tradition, Mahāyāna Buddhists use different recensions of these discourses in compilations known as the Agamas, which largely overlap with the
Pali Canon in content. The surviving agamas in Chinese translation belong to at least two schools, while most of the agamas were never translated into Tibetan. In addition to accepting the scriptures of the various
early Buddhist schoolsThe Early Buddhist schools are those schools into which, according to most scholars, the Buddhist monastic Sangha initially split, due originally to differences in Vinaya, and later also due to doctrinal differences and geographical separateness of groups of monks.The original Sangha split into the...
as valid, Mahāyāna Buddhism also maintains large additional collections of sutras not found or recognized in Theravāda Buddhism. In Mahayana Buddhism, these
Mahayana sutrasMahayana sutras are a very broad genre of Buddhist scriptures of which the Mahayana Buddhist tradition claim that they are original teachings of the Buddha...
have a greater importance than the Agamas. Although these scriptures claim to be the factual words of the Buddha, scholars believe that they were written by monks who felt the need to restate and change the doctrines of
Early BuddhismThe term Early Buddhism can refer to:* Pre-sectarian Buddhism, which refers to the Teachings and monastic organization and structure, founded by Gautama Buddha.* The Early Buddhist schools, into which pre-sectarian Buddhism split....
.
The first of the Mahayana-specific writings were written probably around the 1st century BCE or 1st century CE. Some of the Mahayana Sutras, such as certain parts of the Perfection of Wisdom sutras, are presented as actual
sermonA sermon is an oration by a prophet or member of the clergy. Sermons address a Biblical, theological, religious, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law or behavior within both past and present contexts...
s of the Buddha that had been hidden. By some accounts, these sermons were passed on by oral tradition, as with other sutras; other accounts state that they were hidden and then revealed several centuries later by some mythological route. In addition to sutras, some Mahayana texts are essentially commentaries.
Among the earliest major Mahayana scriptures attested to historically are the Perfection of Wisdom (Prajna-Paramita) sutras, the
Avatamsaka SutraThe ' is one of the most influential Mahayana Sutras of East Asian Buddhism. The title is rendered in English as Flower Garland Sutra, Flower Adornment Sutra, or Flowers Ornament Scripture....
, the
Lotus SutraThe Lotus Sutra or Sutra on the White Lotus of the Sublime Dharma is one of the most popular and influential Mahayana sutras in Asia, and the basis on which the Tien Tai and Nichiren sects of Buddhism were established.-History and background:The Lotus Sutra was probably compiled...
, the
Vimalakīrti SutraThe Vimalakīrti Sūtra or Vimalakirti Nirdesa is a Mahayana sutra, belonging to Mahayana Buddhism. The sutra expounds the Mahāyāna as opposed to Hinayana teachings...
, and the Nirvana Sutra.
Three Turnings
Dating back at least to the
Saṃdhinirmocana SūtraThe Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra or the Sutra of the Continuation Stream of Emancipation is a Buddhist scripture classified as belonging to the Yogācāra or Consciousness-only school of Buddhist thought.-Nomenclature and etymology:...
is a classification of exoteric corpus of Buddhism into three categories, based on types of understanding the nature of reality, known as the "
three turnings of the wheel of dharmaThe Three Turnings of the Wheel refers to a framework for understanding the sutra stream of the teachings of the Buddhism originally devised by the Yogachara school...
". According to this view, there were three "turnings of the wheel of dharma".:
- In the first turning Shakyamuni Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths
The Four Noble Truths is one of the most fundamental Buddhist teachings. In broad terms, these truths relate to suffering , its nature, its origin, its cessation and the path leading to its cessation...
at VaranasiVaranasi , also commonly known as Benares or Banaras and Kashi , is a city situated on the left bank of the River Ganga in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, regarded as holy by Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains...
in the 5th century BC, which led to the founding of Buddhism and the later early Buddhist schoolsThe Early Buddhist schools are those schools into which, according to most scholars, the Buddhist monastic Sangha initially split, due originally to differences in Vinaya, and later also due to doctrinal differences and geographical separateness of groups of monks.The original Sangha split into the...
. Details of the first turning are described in the Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta. The oldest scriptures do not mention any further turnings other than this first turning.
- The Mahayana tradition claims there was a second turning in which the Perfection of Wisdom sutras were taught at Vulture's Peak, which led to the Mahayana schools. Generally, scholars conclude that the Mahayana scriptures (including the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras) were composed from the first century CE onwards,
- According to the Vajrayana tradition, there was a third turning which took place at Dhanyakataka sixteen years after Buddha's enlightenment. Scholars have strongly denied that Vajrayana teachings appeared at that time, and placed it at a much later time. The first tantric (Vajrayana Buddhist) texts appeared in the 3rd century CE, and they continued to appear until the 12th century CE.
The
early Buddhist schoolsThe Early Buddhist schools are those schools into which, according to most scholars, the Buddhist monastic Sangha initially split, due originally to differences in Vinaya, and later also due to doctrinal differences and geographical separateness of groups of monks.The original Sangha split into the...
regard the second and third turnings as unauthentic and falsifications of the true teachings of the Buddha contained in the first turning. Mahayana tradition states that the first turning contains the basic doctrines aimed at the initial disciples or
ŚrāvakaŚrāvaka or Shravaka or Sāvaka means "a hearer" or, more generally, "disciple."This term is used by both Buddhists and Jains. In Jainism, a shravaka is any lay Jain...
s. Mahayana claims that the Madhyamika teachings and the Prajna Paramita sutras and
YogācāraYogācāra Yogācāra Yogācāra (Sanskrit: "yoga practice"; "one whose practice is yoga" is an influential school of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing phenomenology and (some argue) ontology through the interior lens of meditative and yogic practices. It developed within Indian Mahāyāna...
doctrines are the most accurate view of reality . Many Tibetan teachers, particularly the Gelugpa school, regard the second turning as the highest teaching. The Tathagatagarbha teachings are normally included in the third turning of the wheel. The Chinese tradition has a different scheme.
Mahayana and the Canon
Scholars have noted that many key Mahayana ideas are closely connected to the earliest texts of Buddhism. The seminal work of Mahayana philosophy,
Nagarjuna'sAcharya Nāgārjuna was an Indian philosopher and the founder of the Madhyamaka school of Mahāyāna Buddhism....
MulamadhyamakakarikaMūlamadhyamakakārikā , or Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way, is a key text by Nagarjuna, one of the most important Buddhist philosophers...
, mentions the Canon's "Katyaayana Sutra" by name, and may be an extended commentary on that work (found in the agamas). Nagarjuna systematized the
MadhyamakaMadhyamaka is a Buddhist Mahāyāna tradition systematized by Nāgārjuna. Nāgārjuna may have arrived at his positions from a desire to achieve a consistent exegesis of the Buddha's doctrine as recorded in the Nikayas...
school of Mahanaya philosophy. Nagarjuna may have arrived at his positions from a desire to achieve a consistent exegesis of the Buddha's doctrine as recorded in the Canon. In the eyes of Nagarjuna the Buddha was not merely a forerunner, but the very founder of the Madhyamaka system. Nagarjuna also referred to a passage in the canon regarding "nirvanic consciousness" in two different works.
Yogachara, the other prominent Mahayana school which exists in dialectic with the Madhyamaka school, gave a special significance to the Canon's "Lesser Discourse on Emptiness". A passage there (which the discourse itself emphasizes) is often quoted in later Yogachara texts as a true definition of
emptinessEmptiness as a human condition is a sense of generalised boredom, social alienation and apathy. Feelings of emptiness often accompany dysthymia, depression, loneliness, despair, or other mental/emotional disorders such as borderline personality disorder...
.
Both the Madhyamakas and the Yogacarins saw themselves as preserving the Buddhist Middle Way between the extremes of nihilism (everything is unreal) and substantialism (substantial entities exist). The Yogacarins criticized the Madhyamakas for tending towards nihilism, while the Madhyamakas criticized the Yogacarins for tending towards substantialism.
Key Mahayana texts introducing the concepts of "
bodhicittaIn Buddhism, bodhicitta is the wish to attain complete enlightenment in order to be of benefit to all sentient beings trapped in cyclic existence who have not yet reached Buddhahood...
" and "
buddha-natureBuddha-nature is a doctrine important for many schools of Mahayana...
" use language parallel to passages in the Canon containing the Buddha's description of "
luminous mindLuminous mind is a term attributed to the Buddha in the Nikayas...
" and may have been based on this idea.
Mahayana and Theravada
Although the Theravada school is usually described as belonging to "
HinayanaHīnayāna is a Sanskrit and Pāli term literally meaning: "the low vehicle", "the inferior vehicle", or "the deficient vehicle".The term appeared around the 1st or 2nd century CE. Its use in scholarly publications is controversial...
", some authors have argued that it should not be considered such from the Mahayana perspective. Their view is based on a different understanding of the concept "Hinayana". Rather than regarding the term as referring to any school of Buddhism that hasn't accepted the Mahayana canon and doctrines (such as those pertaining to the role of the Boddhisatva), these authors argue that the classification of a school as "Hinayana" should be crucially dependent on the adherence to a specific
phenomenologicalThe phenomenology of religion concerns the experiential aspect of religion, describing religious phenomena in terms consistent with the orientation of the worshippers. It views religion as being made up of different components, and studies these components across religious traditions so that an...
position. They point out that unlike the now-extinct
SarvastivadaSarvastivada is an early school of Buddhism that held to 'the existence of all dharmas in the past, present and future, the 'three times'. The Abhidharma , a later text, states:-Origination and history:According to scholar Charles Prebish,...
school which was the primary object of Mahayana criticism, the Theravada does not claim the existence of independent dharmas; in this it maintains the attitude of early Buddhism. On the contrary, some contemporary Theravadin figures have indicated a sympathetic stance toward the Mahayana philosophy found in the
Heart SutraThe Heart of Perfect Wisdom Sutra or Heart Sutra or Essence of Wisdom Sutra is a well-known Mahāyāna Buddhist sutra that is very popular among Mahayana Buddhists both for its brevity and depth of meaning...
and the
Fundamental Stanzas on the Middle WayMūlamadhyamakakārikā , or Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way, is a key text by Nagarjuna, one of the most important Buddhist philosophers...
. The Mahayanists were bothered by the substantialist thought of the Sarvastivadins and Sautrantikas, and in emphasizing the doctrine of emptiness, Kalupahana holds that they endeavored to preserve the early teaching. The Theravadins too refuted the Sarvastivadins and Sautrantikas (and other schools) on the grounds that their theories were in conflict with the non-substantialism of the canon. The Theravada arguments are preserved in the
KathavatthuKathāvatthu , literally "Points of Controversy", is a Buddhist scripture, one of the seven books in the Theravada Abhidhamma Pitaka. It primarily documents doctrinal points that were debated from the time of King Ashoka....
. Thus, according to this view, no form of real "Hinayana" Buddhism survives today.
See also
- History of Buddhism
The History of Buddhism spans the 6th century BCE to the present, starting with the birth of Buddha Siddhartha Gautama in Lumbini, Nepal. This makes it one of the oldest religions practiced today. Starting in Nepal, the religion evolved as it spread through Central Asia, East Asia, and Southeast...
- Mahayana sutras
Mahayana sutras are a very broad genre of Buddhist scriptures of which the Mahayana Buddhist tradition claim that they are original teachings of the Buddha...
- Silk Road transmission of Buddhism
The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism to China started in the 1st century CE with a semi-legendary or quasi-historical account of an embassy sent to the West by the Chinese Emperor Ming...
- Early Buddhist Schools
The Early Buddhist schools are those schools into which, according to most scholars, the Buddhist monastic Sangha initially split, due originally to differences in Vinaya, and later also due to doctrinal differences and geographical separateness of groups of monks.The original Sangha split into the...
- Schools of Buddhism
Schools of Buddhism are classified in various ways. Normal English-language usage divides Buddhism into Theravada and Mahayana...
- Rebirth
- Shunyata
Śūnyatā, शून्यता , Suññatā , stong pa nyid , Kòng/Kū, 空 , Gong-seong, 공성 , qoɣusun meaning "Emptiness" or "Voidness", is a characteristic of phenomena arising from the fact that the impermanent...
- Buddha nature
- Tathagatagarbha
- Nirvana Sutra
- God in Buddhism
Since the time of the Buddha, the refutation of the existence of a creator has been seen as a key point in distinguishing Buddhist from non-Buddhist views. Buddhism is usually considered a religion, but is also commonly described as a "spiritual philosophy", because it generally lacks an Absolute...
- Faith in Buddhism
Faith is an important constituent element of the teachings of the Buddha for all traditions of Buddhism, though the kind and nature of faith changes in the different schools...
- Lotus Sutra
The Lotus Sutra or Sutra on the White Lotus of the Sublime Dharma is one of the most popular and influential Mahayana sutras in Asia, and the basis on which the Tien Tai and Nichiren sects of Buddhism were established.-History and background:The Lotus Sutra was probably compiled...
- Pure Land
Pure land in the Buddhadharma is an English rendering of the celestial realm or pure abode of a buddha or bodhisattva. Various Buddhadharma traditions have arisen that focus on Pure Lands in various capacities, especially what has been given the nomenclature Pure Land Buddhism...
- Zen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, translated from the Chinese word Chán. This word is in turn derived from the Sanskrit dhyāna, which means "meditation" ....
- Dzogchen
According to some schools of Tibetan Buddhism and Bön, Dzogchen is the natural, primordial state or natural condition of the mind. Dzogchen, or "Great Perfection", is a central teaching of the Nyingma school, that is also practised by adherents of other Tibetan Buddhist sects. According to...
- Tendai
is a Japanese school of Mahayana Buddhism, a descendant of the Chinese Tiantai or Lotus Sutra school.Chappell frames the relevance of Tendai for a universal Buddhism:- History :...
- Buddhist Ceremonies
Further reading
- Paul Williams, Mahayana Buddhism, Routledge, 1989
- Schopen, G. "The inscription on the Kusan image of Amitabha and the character of the early Mahayana in India", Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 10, 1990
- ”The Vision of the Buddha”, Tom Lowenstein, ISBN 1-903296-91-9
- Kevin Lynch, The Way Of The Tiger: A Buddhist's Guide To Achieving Nirvana, Yojimbo Temple, 2005
- Beal, Catena of Buddhist Scriptures from the Chinese, (London, 1871)
- S. Kuroda, Outline of Mahayana, (Tokyo, 1893)
- D. T. Suzuki, Outline of Mahayana Buddhism, (London, 1907)
- Murdoch, History of Japan, volume i., (Yokohama, 1910)
- D. T. Suzuki, in The Monist
The Monist: An International Quarterly Journal of General Philosophical Inquiry is an American academic journal in the field of philosophy. It was first published in 1890, making it one of the longest-established of philosophy publications. There was a long break 1936 to 1962 in its history.The...
, volume xxiv, (Chicago, 1914). The Monist was edited by Paul CarusPaul Carus, Ph.D. was a German-American author, editor, a student of comparative religion, and professor of philosophy.-Life and education:...
.
External links