Mahayana Buddhism: Definition, Beliefs & Practices

Mahayana Buddhism is a major school of Buddhism that originated around the 1st century AD and spread throughout East Asia, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. It is characterized by an inclusive and comprehensive approach to Buddhist teachings. Mahayana means “Great Vehicle”, symbolizing its goal of helping all sentient beings achieve enlightenment.

Key features of Mahayana Buddhism include a belief in the bodhisattva ideal, where individuals strive not only for their own enlightenment but also to help others achieve it. This school includes a wide range of texts, including the Mahayana sutras, which emphasize compassion, wisdom, and the concept of emptiness (shunyata). Iconic figures such as Avalokiteshvara and Tara are revered in Mahayana Buddhism.

Mahayana practices often involve meditation, devotion, and ritual and include various schools and sects such as Zen, Pure Land, and Tibetan Buddhism. Its adaptability and inclusiveness have contributed to its enduring popularity and influence in shaping the diverse Buddhist traditions of Asia.mahayana buddhism introduction, mahayana buddhism explained, hinayana and mahayana buddhism differences

History of Mahayana Buddhism

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Historical FactsMahayana Buddhism
MeansThe great vehicle
NowTheravada Buddhism
The doctrine of emptinessSunyata
A supernatural beingGautam Buddha

Introduction

Mahayana (the greater means) is one of the two main branches of contemporary Buddhism, the other being the school or sects of Buddhism the Elders, which today is often identified with Theravada Buddhism. He is called the greater means because he claims that his path offers liberation from dukkha (the miseries and uncertainties of everyday life) and samsara (repeated lives of dukkha) to all people, not just monks; moreover, it has the intention of liberating all beings (e.g., mountains, streams, insects), not just human beings.

The image of the bodhisattva, representing this compassionate vision, stands in contrast to the image of the arhat, whose goal is often described as solely personal salvation. Regardless of the truth of this polemic, the Mahayana is characterized by a comprehensive reinterpretation of the goals and nature of early Buddhism. This reinterpretation is considered a deeper understanding of the Buddha’s Dharma than that of the elder school. It first appeared as an incipient movement in Indian Buddhism in the early AD, and by the ninth century, it had become the major influence on Buddhist schools in Central and East Asia as it is today. In its early history, its teachings appeared mainly in sutras. Because of the many contrasts and contradictions in these writings, one scholar claims that there are “very few things that can be said with certainty about Mahayana Buddhism.”

Origins

When, where, and why Mahayana Buddhism first emerged as a reinterpretation of Buddhism remains unclear, as many once-obvious understandings of its origins have been disproved or at least challenged. The main cause of the confusion seems to be that the ideas that eventually coalesced into Mahayana doctrine came from different sources whose intent was somewhat different, a situation that led to contradictions and different emphases. To add to the confusion, as these ideas developed over time, they became embroiled in bitter sectarian disputes, which is not uncommon in Buddhism. Nevertheless, hints of Mahayana thought appeared at least in the first century BCE, gathered energy and became a recognizable, if disjointed, doctrine in the first few centuries CE. Between the seventh and twelfth centuries, the large, flourishing Buddhist educational centers in India contained monks with Mahayana leanings, although they were generally in the minority and sometimes marginalized.

Regardless of the details of Mahayana’s origins, it eventually spread most successfully as a doctrine to Central and East Asia, where major later traditions include Chinese Chan, Korean Son, Japanese Zen Buddhism, Pure Land Buddhism, and Nichiren Buddhism. The Vajrayana traditions of Tiantai, Tendai, Shingon Buddhism, and Tibetan Buddhism, which have added esoteric teachings and practices, are generally, but not always, subsumed under the Mahayana umbrella. Mahayana teachings also spread to Southeast Asia but eventually gave way to other religions, including Theravada Buddhism.


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Doctrinal beliefs

Although a loosely bound volume of many contradictions exists, recurring themes are found in the Mahayana sutras that have become the core beliefs of the schools in that tradition. Unlike the Elder School, which in its newer Theravada form has a canon (the Pali canon), Mahayana lacks a similar canon.

(i) The Universality of Buddha Nature

A central understanding of Mahayana Buddhism is that all beings embody Buddha-nature, the potential for Buddhahood that, when manifested, makes one a Bodhisattva and leads to awakening and Buddhahood itself.

(ii) Bodhisattva Ethics

A central concept in Mahayana Buddhism is the bodhisattva, a person who dedicates his life to becoming a Buddha in this lifetime (or at least in several lifetimes) to save all beings from dukkha and samsara. It is this compassionate goal that separates the Mahayana (according to the Mahayanists) from the school of the elders. Ethics introduces a new paradigm for the goal of practice in Buddhism. In non-Mahayana Buddhism, the concept of a bodhisattva is limited to the historical Shakyamuni Buddha before his awakening.

(iii) Doctrine of Emptiness

Although the doctrine of emptiness (sunyata) is present in non-Mahayana forms of Buddhism, the doctrine is particularly prominent in Mahayana Buddhism, where it takes on an expanded definition. In non-Mahayana forms of Buddhism, emptiness generally refers to the absence of self (atman) in persons; the doctrine is expanded in the Mahayana to include the emptiness of all things and concepts, not just persons. Emptiness in these contexts does not mean that the self or thing does not exist in any sense. Instead, it refers to the absence of a separately existing essence (atman) in the self, thing, or concept, since all things come into being through connection with all other things (the doctrine of dependent origination) and concepts are inherently empty. As a result, ultimately there are no divisions between “this” and “that” or “good” and “bad” because words and concepts are only tools used to create the world in which we live. Again, this is a matter of practice. to understand the nature of this reality and its implications for how we construct our conventional, delusional reality.

(iv) Nature of the Buddha

In early Buddhism, the Buddha was the historical Siddhartha Gautama, a man who became enlightened and died of old age. In the Mahayana, the Buddha became a supernatural being who manifested in three different forms: nirmanakaya (his historical form on earth), sambhogakaya (the form in which he appears to other kinds of beings in other, often supernatural worlds), and dharmakaya (the essence of the universe, the absolute basis of reality). This is the doctrine of the trikaya (the three bodies or modes of the Buddha). This newly emerging view of the nature of the Buddha erased the idea that the Buddha would cease to exist after his death (Parinirvana). Coupled with the idea that there are an infinite number of worlds, it has been concluded that there are an infinite number of buddhas (examples are Amitabha and Vairócana), each in his own world. Many Mahayana sutras represent one or more of these Buddhas, as well as the movement of bodhisattvas and other spiritual beings from one world realm to another. In some forms of Mahayana, the Buddha to whom devotion is directed is not Shakyamuni Buddha, but another Buddha, such as Amitabha Buddha in Pure Land Buddhism.”

(v) Awakening versus Nirvana as an ideal

As in many religions, in early Buddhism, the main goal of the practice was to escape the painful world into which one was repeatedly born by attaining nirvana, liberation from samsara. In contrast, the main goal of practice in Mahayana Buddhism was not so much the attainment of nirvana as the awakening of the true nature of reality. Yet if one accepts the doctrine of emptiness, then even concepts like awakening and nirvana represent a false duality, because all dualities like good and evil are necessarily false. However, because we have to live in an illusory world that we create, later Mahayana thinkers developed a distinction between absolute and conventional reality, the latter referring to the world of differences that we create and the former to the empty reality in which differences do not exist. In Mahayana Buddhism, this distinction is to be realized through contemplation and meditation. The implication of this difference is that one should learn to be fully awake in the present moment “as it is.” In some branches of Mahayana, such as Zen, there is no progress on the spiritual path apart from this realization and its manifestation.

(vi) Use of skilled means

The basic practice of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in Mahayana Buddhism is the concept of skillful means (Upaya). The dilemma in Mahayana is how to lead all beings in their cosmic diversity to awakening. Buddhas and bodhisattvas in the past developed a wide variety of skillful means to achieve this. Popular examples of the use of skillful devices in the Mahayana Sutras are best known in the Lotus Sutra (for example, the parable of the burning house and the city in the distance). At the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center, teaching community meditation and dharma foundation courses in this sense is a skillful means of guiding people on and along the Buddhist path.

(vii) Transfer of Merits

In our everyday understanding of karma, we believe that our own past and present intentional activities and thoughts determine the nature of our future rebirth and current state. An important addition in Mahayana Buddhism is that one can transfer the merit one has acquired to another, especially one’s deceased parents (often by paying money to a local temple priest to perform rituals and other ceremonies to make the transfer happen). 10 Another Mahayana innovation is the application of merit to one’s own attainment of awakening.


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Sutras

The earliest evidence for the Mahayana idea is in the sutras. Most likely authored by monks, the earliest date dates from 100 BC to 100 AD. Although they are written as if they were the sermons of Shakyamuni Buddha, scholars generally agree that they are not the actual words of the Buddha. Because of their conflicting teachings, it seems likely that they were composed of different groups of people in India and, in some cases, China. However, over time, they show a gradual growth towards a more coherent and systematic doctrine. Unlike the sutras of the Pali Canon in general, the central figure of a Mahayana sutra is often a cosmic Buddha, a mystical discourse, and a place of preaching in one or another otherworldly Buddha realm. A very large number of bodhisattvas, demons, serpent-like supernatural beings (nagas), and other non-human living beings may be among the participants in the assembly. The sutras generally emphasize the emptiness of all things and the use of skillful means to bring others to enlightenment. Popular Mahayana sutras include the Heart and Diamond Sutra, the Vimalakirti Sutra, the Huineng Platform Sutra, the Lankavatara Sutra, and the Lotus Sutra. They are largely preserved in the Chinese Buddhist Canon, the Tibetan Buddhist Canon, and in Sanskrit manuscripts and manuscript fragments. Today, there are about a hundred Mahayana sutras in Sanskrit or in Chinese and Tibetan translations.


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Philosophical schools

In India, prominent Mahayana schools of philosophy include the Madhyamaka, founded by the monk and scholar Nagarjuna (150 c. 250 CE), the Yogacara, founded by the half-brothers Asanga and Vasubandhu (c. fifth century), the Yogacara-Madhyamaka blend, the Buddha-nature-centered Tathagatagarbha school, and logic and epistemology associated most prominently with Dignaga (c. 480–540 CE).

While Yogacara and Madhyamaka were represented in China as the Faxiang and Sanlun schools, indigenous schools developed that were often based on specific Buddhist scriptures such as the Lotus Sutra, the Lankavatara Sutra, the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, the Avatamsaka Sutra, and the Pure Land Sutra. In East Asia, these schools include Tianti (J. Tendai), Huayan (J. Kegon), Chan (J. Zen), and the Pure Land.


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Conclusion

Mahayana is one of the three alternatives through which the state of nirvana can be attained. Mahayana emphasizes the postponement of one’s liberation so that one can help, assist, and guide all sentient beings to the state of nirvana. According to Mahayana teachings, a high-level Bodhisattva has a mind of great compassion and wisdom. “The most essential part of the Mahayana is its emphasis on the bodhisattva ideal, which replaces or precedes the arhat ideal.”

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(FAQ) Questions and Answers about Mahayana Buddhism

Q-1. What is Mahayana Buddhism?

Ans. Mahayana Buddhism is one of the major branches of Buddhism, known for its emphasis on compassion and belief in the potential for all beings to attain Buddhahood. It originated in India around the 1st century CE and has since spread to various parts of Asia.

Q-2. What are the key teachings of Mahayana Buddhism?

Ans. Mahayana Buddhism teaches the importance of bodhisattvas, beings who postpone their enlightenment to help others achieve it. It also emphasizes the concepts of emptiness (shunyata), interdependence, and the pursuit of enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings.

Q-3. Who is the primary figure in Mahayana Buddhism?

Ans. The primary figure in Mahayana Buddhism is the Buddha, but it also venerates various bodhisattvas, with Avalokiteshvara and Manjushri being two of the most well-known.

Q-4. What are some important Mahayana scriptures?

Ans. Key Mahayana texts include the Lotus Sutra (Saddharma Pundarika Sutra), the Heart Sutra (Prajnaparamita Hridaya Sutra), and the Diamond Sutra (Vajracchedika Prajnaparamita Sutra).

Q-5. Is Mahayana Buddhism more prevalent in certain countries?

Ans. Mahayana Buddhism is more prevalent in East Asian countries like China, Japan, Vietnam, and Korea. However, it also has a significant presence in Tibet, Mongolia, and some parts of Southeast Asia.

Q-6. What are some common practices in Mahayana Buddhism?

Ans. Common practices include meditation, chanting of sutras, devotion to bodhisattvas, and acts of compassion and generosity to benefit all beings.

Q-7. Are there different schools or traditions within Mahayana Buddhism?

Ans. Yes, there are several Mahayana schools and traditions, such as Zen (Chan in China), Pure Land, Tendai, and Nichiren Buddhism, each with its unique practices and interpretations.

Q-8. What is the goal of Mahayana practitioners?

Ans. The ultimate goal for Mahayana practitioners is to attain Buddha-hood but with the vow to help all sentient beings achieve enlightenment as well. This altruistic motivation sets Mahayana apart from other Buddhist traditions.

Q-9. How does Mahayana Buddhism view the concept of Nirvana?

Ans. Mahayana teaches that Nirvana is not just individual liberation but also the cessation of suffering for all beings. It’s seen as a state of perfect wisdom and compassion.

Q-10. Are there any specific rituals or ceremonies in Mahayana Buddhism?

Ans. Mahayana Buddhism has various rituals and ceremonies, such as meditation retreats, offerings to bodhisattvas, and rituals related to Pure Land practices. These can vary depending on the specific tradition.

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