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{{MahayanaBuddhism}} |
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'''Brodie''' can be a fore or surname, of [[Scottish people|Scottish]] origin (see [[Clan Brodie]]) and may refer to |
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[[Image:Jiuhuashan bodhisattva image.JPG|thumb|upright|right|Relief image of the bodhisattva [[Kuan Yin]] from [[Mt. Jiuhua]] in [[China]]'s [[Anhui]] province. The image's many arms represent the bodhisattva's limitless capacity and commitment to helping other beings.]] |
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* [[Alexander Brodie]] (1830 - 1867), Scottish sculptor |
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'''Mahayana''' ([[Sanskrit]]:''mahāyāna'', [[Devanagari]]: महायान, 'Great Vehicle') is one of the two main existing schools of Buddhism and a classification of Buddhist philosophies. The name Mahayana is used in three main senses: |
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* [[Alexander Oswald Brodie]] (1849–1918), Governor of Arizona |
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#As a living tradition, Mahayana is the larger of the two major traditions of Buddhism existing today, the other being [[Theravada]]. |
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* [[Allan G. Brodie]], 20th Century orthodontics educator |
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#As a branch of [[Buddhist philosophy]], Mahayana refers to a level of spiritual motivation<ref>Harvey, ''Introduction to Buddhism'', Cambridge University Press, 1990, page 94</ref>, namely the [[Bodhisattva]]yana<ref>''The Mahayana, 'Great Vehicle' or 'Great Carriage' (for carrying all beings to nirvana), is also, and perhaps more correctly and accurately, known as the Bodhisattvayana, the bodhisattva's vehicle.'' Indian Buddhism, [[A. K. Warder]], 3rd edition, 1999, p.338</ref>). The alternate philosophical approach is the [[Hinayana]], which is the [[Arhat]]yana. |
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* [[Angela Hartley Brodie]], Ph.D., cancer researcher |
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#As a practice path, Mahayana refers to one of the three [[Yana (Buddhism)|yanas]], or routes to enlightenment, the other two being the [[Hinayana]] and the [[Vajrayana]]. |
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* [[Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, 1st Baronet]] (1783–1862), physiologist and surgeon |
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* [[Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, 2nd Baronet]] (1817–1880), chemist |
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* [[Bernard Brodie]] (1910 – 1978), American military strategist |
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* [[Ewan Brodie]], fictional character in series ''Monarch of the Glen'' |
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* [[Fawn M. Brodie]] (1915 – 1981), biographer and professor of history at UCLA |
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* [[Ian Brodie]], Canadian political scientist |
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* [[Ian Brodie (journalist)]] |
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* Sir [[Israel Brodie]] (1895 - 1979), Chief rabbi |
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* [[James Brodie (botanist)|James Brodie of Brodie]] (1744-1827), Scottish botanist |
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* [[James Brodie]], politician from Northwest Territories, Canada |
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* [[Jean Brodie]], fictional character |
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* [[John Brodie]], American football quarterback |
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* [[John Alexander Brodie]] (1858 – 1934), British civil engineer |
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* [[H. Keith H. Brodie]], American psychiatrist, president emeritus of Duke University |
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* [[Leanna Brodie]], Canadian actor and playwright. |
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* [[Michael Brodie]], British boxer |
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* [[Paul Brodie]], Canadian saxophonist |
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* [[Peter Bellinger Brodie]] (1815-1897), British geologist and churchman |
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* [[Philip Hope Brodie]], Scottish law Lord |
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* [[Richard Brodie]], author of [[Microsoft Word]] |
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* [[Richard Brodie (footballer)]], [[England|English]] [[association football|footballer]] who plays for [[York City F.C.|York City]] as [[striker]] |
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* [[Steve Brodie (bridge jumper)]] |
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* [[Steve Brodie (actor)]] |
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* [[Steve Brodie (footballer)]] |
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* [[Steve Brodie (baseball)]] |
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* [[Walter Brodie]], New Zealand politician |
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* [[Walter Lorrain Brodie]], Scottish recipient of [[Victoria Cross]] |
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* [[William Brodie]] ([[Deacon Brodie]], Deacon William Brodie) (1741 - 1788) |
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* [[William Brodie (sculptor)]] (1815 - 1881), Scottish sculptor |
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Although the Mahayana movement traces its origin to [[Gautama Buddha]], the consensus of historical evidence indicates that it originated in [[South India]] in the first century CE<ref>The Mahayana movement claims to have been founded by the Buddha himself. The consensus of the evidence, however, is that it originated in South India in the 1st century CE’ – Indian Buddhism, AK Warder, 3rd edition, 1999, p. 335.</ref>. It was first propagated into [[China]] by [[Lokaksema]], the first translator of Mahayana [[sutras]] into [[Chinese language|Chinese]]. |
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Also |
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The earliest [[Mahayana Sutra|Mahayana scriptures]] probably originated during the first century CE in the [[Indian subcontinent]], and spread to China during the second century CE.<ref>''The most important evidence — in fact the only evidence — for situating the emergence of the Mahayana around the beginning of the common era was not Indian evidence at all, but came from China. Already by the last quarter of the second century C.E. there was a small, seemingly idiosyncratic collection of substantial Mahayana sutras translated into what Erik Zürcher calls “broken Chinese” by an Indoscythian, whose Indian name has been reconstructed as Lokaksema.'', Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 492</ref> Only in the fifth century CE did Mahayana become an influential school in India.<ref>''Certainly, we have for this period an extensive body of inscriptions from virtually all parts of India. ... But nowhere in this extensive body of material is there any reference, prior to the fifth century, to a named Mahayana. There are, on the other hand, scores of references to what used to be called Hinayana groups — the Sarvastivadins, Mahasamghikas, and so on. From this point of view, at least, this was not “the period of the Mahayana,” but “the period of the Hinayana.”'', Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 493</ref> In the course of its history, Mahayana spread throughout [[East Asia]]. The main countries in which it is practiced today are China, [[Japan]], [[Korea]], and [[Vietnam]] and worldwide amongst [[Tibetan Buddhist]] practitioners as a result of the Himalayan diaspora following the Communist invasion of [[Tibet]]. |
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* [[Brodie Foster Hubbard]] (1978 - ?), singer/songwriter/guitarist |
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== |
==Origin of the name== |
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<Gallery> |
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The historical source of the name Mahayana is [[polemic]]al<ref>‘The later school which arrogated to itself the title Mahayana’. Indian Buddhism, AK Warder, 3rd edition 1999, p.4</ref><ref>'It is certain that the term Mahayana (which means “great or large vehicle”) was in origin a polemical label used by only one side' MacMillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, p. 492</ref>, having its origin in a debate about what the real teachings of the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]]<ref>''It is certain that the term Mahayana (which means “great or large vehicle”) was in origin a polemical label used by only one side — and perhaps the least significant side — of a protracted, if uneven, Indian debate about what the real teachings of the Buddha are,'' Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 492</ref> are. As such, its use in any context except as that pertaining to a living tradition is controversial amongst Theravadin practitioners and some [[Pali Canon]] scholars. |
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Image:Brodie Arms.jpg|Brodie of Brodie with [[supporters]] |
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Image:Brodie of Brodie.jpg|Brodie of Brodie |
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The earliest mention of "Mahayana" occurs in the [[Lotus Sutra]] between the first century BCE and the first century CE.{{dubious}}<ref>Theravada - Mahayana Buddhism Ven. Dr. W. Rahula [http://www.budsas.org/ebud/ebdha125.htm Theravada - Mahayana Buddhism]</ref> |
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Image:Brodie spynie.jpg|Brodie of Spynie |
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Image:Brodie lethen.jpg|Brodie of Lethen |
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==History== |
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Image:BrodieMilton.jpg|Brodie of Mylton |
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Image:brodie Idvies.jpg|Brodie of Idvies |
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Mahayana Buddhism in India can be divided into two periods: early Mahayana Buddhism and late Mahayana Buddhism<ref>A History of Indian Buddhism - Hirakawa Akira (translated and edited by Paul Groner) - Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 1993, p. 7</ref> |
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Image:brodie Mayne.jpg|Brodie of Mayne |
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Image:Brodie rosthorn.jpg|Brodie of Rosthorn |
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====Early Mahayana Buddhism==== |
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Image:Callender Brodie.jpg|Callender-Brodie |
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The period of Early Mahayana Buddhism concerns the origins of Mahayana and the contents of early [[Mahayana Sutras]]<ref>A History of Indian Buddhism - Hirakawa Akira (translated and edited by Paul Groner) - Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 1993, p. 8</ref>. The development of the various [[Early Buddhist Schools]] and the arising of Mahayana were not always consecutive. For example, the early schools continued to exist alongside Mahayana. |
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Image:cap brodie.jpg|Captain David Brodie |
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Image:BrodieBox.jpg|Brodie of Boxford |
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=====Origins of Mahayana===== |
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Image:Brodie wood.jpg|Brodie-Wood |
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The origins of Mahayana are still not completely understood<ref>A History of Indian Buddhism - Hirakawa Akira (translated and edited by Paul Groner) - Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 1993, p. 260</ref>. Three sources appear to have made significant contributions to the rise of Mahayana Buddhism:<ref>A History of Indian Buddhism - Hirakawa Akira (translated and edited by Paul Groner) - Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 1993, p. 260</ref> |
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</Gallery> |
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#The [[Early Buddhist Schools]]. Mahayana texts often refer to [[Sarvastivada]] teachings, which were often mentioned or incorporated into Mahayana texts. In terms of content, however, the [[Mahasanghika]] doctrine is closer to Mahayana thought.<ref>A History of Indian Buddhism - Hirakawa Akira (translated and edited by Paul Groner) - Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 1993, p. 261, 262</ref> |
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#Biographical literature of the Buddha composed by people said to have belonged to 'the vehicle that praised the Buddha'. This literature (comprising the [[Jatakas]] and the [[Avadana]]s) 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.<ref>A History of Indian Buddhism - Hirakawa Akira (translated and edited by Paul Groner) - Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 1993, p. 263, 268</ref> |
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#[[Stupa]] 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 bodhisattva. This has given rise to devotion to the Buddha and the bodhisattvas<ref>Akira Hirakawa, ''A History of Indian Buddhism: From Sakyamuni to Early Mahayana'', 1993, p. 271</ref>, distinct from the purely monastic sangha (see [[Early Buddhist schools]]). However, this theory has been rejected by a number of scholars.<ref>e.g. Williams, ''Mahayana Buddhism''</ref> |
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The commonly expressed misconception that Mahayana started as a lay-inspired movement<ref>''One of the most frequent assertions about the Mahayana ... is that it was a lay-influenced, or even lay-inspired and dominated, movement that arose in response to the increasingly closed, cold, and scholastic character of monastic Buddhism. This, however, now appears to be wrong on all counts.'' MacMillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 494</ref> is based on a selective reading of a very tiny sample of extant Mahayana Sutra literature<ref>MacMillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 494</ref>. 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.<ref>As scholars have moved away from this limited corpus, and have begun to explore a wider range of Mahayana Sutras, they have stumbled on, and have started to open up, a literature that is often stridently ascetic and heavily engaged in reinventing the forest ideal, an individualistic, antisocial, ascetic ideal that is encapsulated in the apparently resurrected image of “wandering alone like a rhinoceros.” MacMillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 494</ref> A scholarly consensus about the origin of the Mahayana has not yet been reached, but it has been suggested that when Mahayana became popular in the fifth century AD, it had become what it originally most strongly objected to: a fully landed, sedentary, lay-oriented monastic institution<ref>At this point we can only postulate that the Maha�ya�na may have had a visible impact in India only when, in the fifth century, it had become what it had originally most strongly objected to: a fully landed, sedentary, lay-oriented monastic institution</ref>. 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 Buddhist schools|early Buddhist]] monasteries<ref>''either a collection of marginalized ascetic groups living in the forest, or groups of cantankerous and malcontent conservatives embedded in mainstream, socially engaged monasteries, all of whom continued pouring out pamphlets espousing their views and values, pamphlets that we now know as Mahayana Sutras. We simply do not know.'' MacMillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 494 and 495</ref>. Most scholars conclude that Mahayana remained a marginal movement until the 5th century AD<ref>''Certainly, we have for this period an extensive body of inscriptions from virtually all parts of India. ... But nowhere in this extensive body of material is there any reference, prior to the fifth century, to a named Mahayana. There are, on the other hand, scores of references to what used to be called Hinayana groups — the Sarvastivadins, Mahasamghikas, and so on. From this point of view, at least, this was not “the period of the Mahayana,” but “the period of the Hinayana.”'', Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 493</ref><ref>At this point we can only postulate that the Maha�ya�na may have had a visible impact in India only when, in the fifth century, it had become what it had originally most strongly objected to: a fully landed, sedentary, lay-oriented monastic institution, MacMillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 494</ref>. |
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=====Earliest Mahayana Sutras===== |
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The earliest [[Mahayana Sutras]] are called the [[Proto-Mahayana Sutras]] such as the [[Ajitasena Sutra]] which contains a mixture of Mahayana and pre-Mahayana ideas. It occurs in a world where monasticism is the norm, which is typical of the Pali Suttas; there is none of the usual antagonism towards the followers of the Early Buddhist Schools or the notion of Arahantship, which is typical of many Mahayana Sutras such as the White Lotus, 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. |
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Some other early Mahayana Sutras are translations made into [[Chinese language|Chinese]] by the [[Kushan]] monk [[Lokaksema]] in the Chinese capital of [[Luoyang]], between 178 and 189 CE<ref>''The most important evidence — in fact the only evidence — for situating the emergence of the Mahayana around the beginning of the common era was not Indian evidence at all, but came from China. Already by the last quarter of the second century C.E. there was a small, seemingly idiosyncratic collection of substantial Mahayana sutras translated into what Erik Zürcher calls “broken Chinese” by an Indoscythian, whose Indian name has been reconstructed as Lokaksema.'', Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 492</ref>. But, to equate evidence for the presence of a body of Mahayana scripture with the existence at the time of Mahayana as a religious movement, has been described as being an assumption leading to a serious misstep<ref>''But even apart from the obvious weaknesses inherent in arguments of this kind there is here the tacit equation of a body of literature with a religious movement, an assumption that evidence for the presence of one proves the existence of the other, and this may be a serious misstep.'', Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 493</ref>. |
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Some scholars contend that the Mahayana sutras were mainly composed in the south<ref>‘The south (of India) was then vigorously creative in producing Mahayana Sutras’ – AK Warder, Indian Buddhism, 3rd edition, 1999, p. 335.</ref> of India, and that later the activity of writing additional scriptures was continued in the east<ref>Mahayanism in all probability germinated in the south, where the offshoots of the Mahasanghikas had their centres of activities, but where it appeared more developed was a place somewhere in the eastern part of India, a place where the Sarvastivadins were predominant.' Buddhist Sects in India, Nalinaksha Dutt, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers (Delhi), 2nd Edition, 1978, p. 243)</ref> and north<ref>‘The sudden appearance of large numbers of (Mahayana) teachers and texts (in North India in the second century AD) would seem to require some previous preparation and development, and this we can look for in the South.’ AK Warder, Indian Buddhism, 3rd edition, 1999 p. 335.</ref> of India. |
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====Late Mahayana Buddhism==== |
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During the period of Late Mahayana Buddhism, four major types of thought developed: [[Madhyamaka]], [[Yogacara]], [[Tathagatagarbha]], and [[Buddhist Logic]] as the last and most recent<ref>A History of Indian Buddhism - Hirakawa Akira (translated and edited by Paul Groner) - Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 1993, p. 8,9</ref>. |
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From the 5th century CE Mahayana was a strong movement in India, possibly owing to support by the [[Gupta Empire|Gupta]] dynasty. It spread from India to [[South-East Asia]], and towards the north to [[Central Asia]], [[China]], [[Korea]] and [[Japan]]. 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. |
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Buddhism (and Mahayana) disappeared from India during the 11th century, and consequently lost its influence in [[South-East Asia]] where it was replaced by Theravada Buddhism from [[Sri Lanka]]. Mahayana currently has more followers than Theravada, the other remaining Buddhist school. |
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===Early evidence for Mahayana=== |
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====Epigraphical evidence==== |
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[[Image:BuddhistTriad.JPG|thumb|An early Mahayana Buddhist triad. From left to right, a [[Kushan]] devotee, the [[Bodhisattva]] [[Maitreya]], the Buddha, the Bodhisattva [[Avalokitesvara]], and a Buddhist monk. 2nd-3rd century CE, [[Gandhara]].]] |
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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 [[Brāhmī script|Brahmi]] inscription: |
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:''"Made in the year 28 of the reign of king [[Huvishka]], ... for the Buddha [[Amitabha]]"'' (Mathura Museum). |
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However, this image was in itself marginal and extremely isolated in the overall context of Buddhism in India at the time, and had no lasting or long-term consequences<ref>''In other words, once nontextual evidence is taken into account the picture changes dramatically. Rather than being datable to the beginning of the common era, this strand of Mahayana Buddhism, at least, appeared to have no visible impact on Indian Buddhist cult practice until the second century, and even then what impact it had was extremely isolated and marginal, and had no lasting or long-term consequences — there were no further references to Amitabha in Indian image inscriptions. Almost exactly the same pattern occurs (concerning Mahayana) on an even broader scale when nontextual evidence is considered.'', Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 493</ref> |
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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 Asia]] to [[China]] at that time<ref>''Certainly, we have for this period an extensive body of inscriptions from virtually all parts of India. ... But nowhere in this extensive body of material is there any reference, prior to the fifth century, to a named Mahayana.'', Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 493</ref> <ref>''What is particularly disconcerting here is the disconnect between expectation and reality: We know from Chinese translations that large numbers of Mahayana sutras were being composed in the period between the beginning of the common era and the fifth century. But outside of texts, at least in India, at exactly the same period, very different — in fact seemingly older — ideas and aspirations appear to be motivating actual behavior, and old and established Hinayana groups appear to be the only ones that are patronized and supported.'', Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 494</ref>. |
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== Doctrine == |
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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.<ref>''There are, it seems, very few things that can be said with certainty about Mahayana Buddhism'', Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 492</ref><ref>''But apart from the fact that it can be said with some certainty that the Buddhism embedded in China, Korea, Tibet, and Japan is Mahayana Buddhism, it is no longer clear what else can be said with certainty about Mahayana Buddhism itself, and especially about its earlier, and presumably formative, period in India.'', Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 492</ref> 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.<ref>''It has become increasingly clear that Mahayana Buddhism was never one thing, but rather, it seems, a loosely bound bundle of many, and — like Walt Whitman — was large and could contain, in both senses of the term, contradictions, or at least antipodal elements.'', Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 492</ref> |
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Mahayana is a vast religious and philosophical structure. It constitutes an inclusive [[faith]] characterized by the adoption of new, [[Mahayana sutra]]s, in addition to the traditional [[Pali canon]] or Agama 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 [[Dharma]]. In the [[Mahaparinirvana Sutra]], for instance, the Buddha tells of how his initial teachings on suffering, impermanence and non-Self were given to those who were still like "small children", unable to digest the full "meal" of Truth, whereas when those spiritual students "grow up" and are no longer satisfied by the preliminary ingredients of the Dharmic meal fed to them and require fuller sustenance, they are then ready to assimilate the full and balanced fare of the Mahayana teachings ([[Mahaparinirvana Sutra]]). |
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Mahayana Buddhist schools de-emphasize the ideal, emphasized in [[Theravada]], of the release from individual [[dukkha|Suffering]] ([[Dukkha]]) and attainment of [[nirvana|Cessation]] ([[Nirvana]]). The Lotus Sutra says, successively, that the Buddha's lifetime is extremely long, and that it is infinite. Mahayana authorities differ on which of these statements to take literally. On the whole, Chinese and Japanese prefer the former, Tibetans the latter. In addition, 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.). [[Zen]] 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. |
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The fundamental principles of Mahayana doctrine were based around the possibility of universal [[liberation]] from suffering for all beings (hence "great vehicle") and the existence of Buddhas and Bodhisattva embodying transcendent [[Buddha-nature]] (佛性) (the eternal Buddha essence present, but hidden and unrecognised, in all beings). Some Mahayana schools simplify the expression of faith by allowing salvation to be alternatively obtained through the grace of the Buddha [[Amitabha]] (अमिताभ) by having faith and devoting oneself to [[nianfo|chanting to Amitabha]]. This devotional lifestyle of Buddhism is most strongly emphasized by the [[Pure Land]] 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 [[mantra]]s or [[dharani]]s; reading of Mahayana sutras and [[mysticism]]. In Chinese Buddhism, most monks, let alone lay people, practise Pure Land, some combining it with Chan (Zen).<ref>Welch, ''Practice of Chinese Buddhism'', Harvard, 1967, page 396</ref> |
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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 in the [[Srimala Sutra]] it is asserted by the Buddha that devotion to Mahayana is inherently superior in its virtues to the following of the [[Sravaka]] or [[Pratyekabuddha]] path: |
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" ...just as the magnificence of the finest thorough-bred among cattle outshines the rest of the herd in height and weight and so on, so even to uphold the Saddharma [True Dharma] of the Mahayana, even a little, is greater and vaster than all the wholesome dharmas of the Shravaka and Pratyekabuddha yanas [vehicles]." (''The Shrimaladevi Sutra'', tr. by Dr. Shenpen Hookham, Longchen Foundation, Oxford 1998, p.27). |
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Mahayana Buddhism can in general be characterized by: |
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*'''Universalism''', in that, in those schools of Mahayana that still have large followings, everyone will become a Buddha (see, for example, the [[Lotus Sutra]]); |
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*'''Bodhicitta''' as the main focus of realization (see, for example, the [[Nirvana Sutra]] and various [[Prajnaparamita Sutra]]s); |
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*'''Compassion''' through the transferral of merit; |
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*'''Transcendental immanence''', in that the immortal Buddha Principle (see, for example, [[Buddha-nature]], [[Mahaparinirvana Sutra]], [[Angulimaliya Sutra]], [[Srimala Sutra]], [[Tathagatagarbha Sutra]]) is present within all beings. |
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“Philosophical” Mahayana tends to focus on the first three characteristics (universalism, enlightened wisdom, compassion) and, in some schools, the [[Buddha-nature]], without showing much interest in supernatural constructions, while “devotional” Mahayana focuses mainly on salvation towards other-worldly realms (see, for example, the [[Sukhavati]] sutras). |
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===Universalism=== |
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Mahayana traditions generally consider that attainment of the level of an [[arhat]] is not final. This is based on a subtle doctrinal distinction between the Mahayana and the [[early Buddhist schools]] concerning the issues of ''nirvana-with-remainder'' and ''nirvana-without-remainder''. |
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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 [[Hinayana]] arhat is not final, and is eventually succeeded by the state of [[Samyaksam-Buddha|buddhahood]], or total Awakening. |
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This distinction is most evident regarding doctrinal concerns about the capability of a buddha after [[nirvana]] (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 [[samsara]] (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.<ref>Cook, ''Hua-Yen Buddhism'', Pennsylvania State University Press, 1977</ref> |
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For example, the early schools held that [[Maitreya]] (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 [[dharma]] 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. |
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Because the Mahayana traditions assert that eventually everyone will achieve [[Buddhahood|samyaksam (buddhahood)]] or total enlightenment, the Mahayana is labelled universalist, whereas because the Nikaya traditions assert that there are three routes to nirvana, which are distinct, they are considered not to be universalist. |
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===Bodhisattva=== |
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The Mahayana school holds that pursuing only the basic path of [[Hinayana]] Buddhism is too narrow an aspiration, as it lacks the ultimate moral motivation (from the Mahayana perspective) of actively resolving to liberate all other beings from [[samsara]], as well as oneself. Such a "Hinayana" approach to Dharma tends to focus on an ascetic, individual orientation towards the attainment of nirvana (rather than the ulta-altruistic quest of the [[Bodhisattva]]): suppression of desire, removal from the world, solitude. Its followers are referred to as [[sravaka|śrāvakas]] and [[pratyekabuddha]]s in the Mahayana sutras. |
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The primary focus of some Mahayana schools is [[bodhicitta]], 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."<ref>{{cite book |last=Coomaraswamy|first=Ananda |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Buddha and the Gospel of Buddhism |year=1975 |publisher=University Books, Inc. |location=Boston|pages=229 |lccn=64056434}}</ref> Being a high-level bodhisattva involves (according to Mahayana teachings) possessing a mind of great compassion conjoined with insight into reality ([[prajna]]), realizing emptiness ([[shunyata]]), and/or the [[tathagatagarbha]] (buddhic essence of all things). With this mind the practitioner will realize the final goal of full Awakening, or [[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: [[dana (Buddhism)|generosity]], [[sila|morality]], [[ksanti|patience]], [[virya|energy]], [[dhyana|meditation]], and [[prajna|wisdom]]. |
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Many “philosophical” schools and sutras of Mahayana Buddhism have focused on the nature of enlightenment and nirvana itself, from the [[Madhyamika]] and its rival, [[Yogacara]] , to the [[Tathagatagarbha]] teachings and [[Zen]]. |
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===Compassion=== |
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Compassion, or [[Karuna]], is the other key concept of Mahayana, and is a necessity to [[Bodhicitta]]. 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.{{Fact|date=August 2008}} |
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The bodhisattvas are the main actors of compassion, [[Avalokitesvara]] (known in East Asia as [[Guan Yin]]) being foremost among them. Although having reached enlightenment, bodhisattvas usually make a vow to postpone entering into [[nirvana]] 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. |
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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.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} |
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A comparison between the [[Hinayana]] and Mahayana [[Buddhist philosophy]] approaches, made by the 10th century Tibetan author [[Gampopa|Jé Gampopa]] in ''The Jewel Ornament of Liberation'' follows: |
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<blockquote>‘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'.</blockquote> |
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===Skillful Means=== |
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{{main|upaya}} |
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The term '''Skillful Means''' (Sanskrit:''[[upāya]]'') is used in the [[Lotus Sutra]], 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 [[Nirvana]]. 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:<ref>Williams, ''Mahayana Buddhism'', Routledge, 1990, page 2</ref> doctrines are "true" in the sense of being spiritually benficial. |
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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<ref>‘’It is true that the term translated 'skill in means', upaya-kausalya , is post-canonical, but 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.’’ How Buddhism Began, Richard F. Gombrich, Munshiram Manoharlal, 1997, p. 17</ref>. In fact the Pali term upāya-kosalla does occur in the Pali Canon, in the Sangiti Sutta of the Digha Nikaya.<ref>''Thus Have I Heard: the Long Discourses of the Buddha'', tr M. Walshe, Wisdom Pubns, 1987, page 486</ref> |
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===Salvation=== |
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“Devotional” Mahayana developed a rich cosmography, with various supernatural Buddhas and Bodhisattvas residing in paradisiacal realms. The concept of trinity, or [[trikaya]], supports these constructions, making the Buddha himself into a transcendental god-like figure. |
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Under various conditions, these realms 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 Land]] (浄土宗). |
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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 [[Hindu]] devotional cults (''[[bhakti]]''), and [[Persian culture|Persian]] and [[Greco-Roman]] theologies, which filtered into India from the northwest” (Tom Lowenstein, “The vision of the Buddha”). |
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=== Buddha-nature === |
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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 [[Dharma]] (see [[Nirvana Sutra]]). It may be based on the "[[luminous mind]]" 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 ([[bodhi]]), 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''). In the [[Mahaparinirvana Sutra]] states that: "The essence of the Self (''atman'') is the subtle [[Tathagatagarbha]] ..." while the later [[Lankavatara Sutra]] states that the tathagatagarbha might be taken to be atman, but it is not (at least not as understood by the 'philosophers' or others who are not a Buddha). In the tathagatagarbha class of sutras, the word "atman" is used in a way defined by and specific to these sutras, see [[Atman (Buddhism)]]. |
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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.<ref>Heng-Ching Shih, "The Significance Of 'Tathagatagarbha' -- |
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A Positive Expression Of 'Sunyata.'" http://zencomp.com/greatwisdom/ebud/ebdha191.htm.</ref> It is the "true self" in representing the innate aspect of the individual which makes actualizing the ultimate personality possible. |
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The actual "seeing and knowing" of this ''Buddha-dhatu'' (co-terminous with the [[Dharmakaya]] 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, etc, and uncreated, deathless and ultimately beyond rational grasping or conceptualisation. Yet it is this already real and present, hidden internal element of [[bodhi]] (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 [[klesha]]s) 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. |
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Prior to the period of these sutras, Mahayana [[metaphysics]] had been dominated by teachings on [[emptiness]] in the form of [[Madhyamaka]] 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.<ref>Sallie B. King, ''The Doctrine of Buddha-Nature is impeccably Buddhist.'' [http://www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/SHUBUNKEN/publications/nlarc/pdf/Pruning%20the%20bodhi%20tree/Pruning%209.pdf], pages 1-6.</ref> |
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== Mahayana Scriptures == |
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{{main|Mahayana Sutras}} |
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Like [[Theravāda]] 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 Truths]], the [[Middle Way]] and the [[Eightfold Path]]. Whereas these basic teachings are preserved in the [[Pali Canon]], transmitted by the Theravādin tradition, Mahāyāna Buddhists use different recensions of these discourses in compilations known as the [[Agama (text)|Agama]]s, 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 schools]] as valid, Mahāyāna Buddhism also maintains large additional collections of sutras not found or recognized in Theravāda Buddhism. In Mahayana Buddhism, these [[Mahayana sutras]] 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 Buddhism]]<ref>‘Sometime after the founding of the Purva Saila school in the 1st century B.C. certain monks felt the need not simply for new interpretations of the original sutras (such as, for example, the new Abhidharma texts of the schools …), but for wholesale restatements of the doctrine. For this purpose they rewrote the sutras, or wrote new sutras.’ AK Warder, Indian Buddhism, 3rd edition, p. 335.</ref>. |
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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 [[sermon]]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 [[Buddhist texts#Mahayana scriptures|Mahayana texts]] are essentially commentaries. |
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Among the earliest major Mahayana scriptures attested to historically are the Perfection of Wisdom (Prajna-Paramita) sutras, the [[Avatamsaka Sutra]], the [[Lotus Sutra]], the [[Vimalakirti Sutra|Vimalakīrti Sutra]], and the [[Nirvana Sutra]]. |
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The Tibetan tradition classifies [[Shakyamuni Buddha]]'s teachings into three categories, based on types of understanding the nature of reality, known as "turnings of the wheel of dharma (truth)": those sutra discourses containing the basic doctrines supposedly aimed at the initial disciples or [[Śrāvakas]], the [[emptiness]] teachings associated with [[Madhyamika]] and the [[Prajna Paramita]] sutras, and the doctrines associated with [[Yogācāra]] which present the most accurate view of reality according to this scheme as originally devised. However, 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 if the need arises to classify them. The Chinese tradition has a different scheme. |
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The Mahayana canon was further expanded somewhat after Buddhism was transmitted to other countries such as [[China]] and [[Tibet]], where the existing texts were translated. New texts, such as the [[Platform Sutra]] and the [[Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment]] (圓覺經) were explicitly not of Indian origin, but were widely accepted as valid scriptures on their own merits. Other later writings included the [[Linji Lu]] (臨済錄), a commentary by [[Chán]] (禪宗) master [[Linji Yixuan]] (臨済義玄). In the course of the development of [[Korean Buddhism]] and [[Japanese Buddhism]], further important commentaries were composed. These included, for example, in [[Korea]], some of the writings of [[Jinul]], and in [[Japan]], works such as [[Dōgen]]'s [[Shōbōgenzō]]. |
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Some of the main Mahayana Sutras, codified in Sanskrit, have not survived over time and have been lost.<ref name=EB1>Mahayana (Encyclopedia Britannica 2002)</ref> Versions later translated into [[Tibetan language]] and [[Chinese language]] have survived.<ref name=EB1/> The main schools of Mahayana Buddhism today are [[Pure Land]], [[Zen]], [[Nichiren Buddhism]], [[Shingon]], [[Tibetan Buddhism]] and [[Tendai]]. The latter three schools have both Mahayana and [[Vajrayana]] practice traditions. |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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* [[Clan Brodie]] |
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{{Col-begin}} |
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* [[Brodie Baronets]] |
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* [[Brodie knob]] (automobile) |
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{{Col-1-of-3}} |
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* ''[[The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie]]'', novel and film |
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* [[Brodie helmet]] |
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*[[History of Buddhism]] |
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* [[Brodie Castle]] (Scotland) |
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*[[Mahayana sutras]] |
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* [[Brodie Bruce]] played by [[Jason Lee]] in [[Mallrats]] |
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*[[Silk Road transmission of Buddhism]] |
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* The [[Brodie landing system]] |
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*[[Early Buddhist Schools]] |
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* Brodie or [[Brodie punk]] a now defunct pop-punk band. |
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*[[Schools of Buddhism]] |
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* [[Brodie Mountain]] - a mountain in Massachusetts. |
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*[[Rebirth (Buddhist)|Rebirth]] |
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** [[Brodie Mountain (ski area)]] - a defunct alpine ski area in Massachusetts |
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* [[Brody]] |
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{{Col-2-of-3}} |
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* [[Brodey]] |
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* [[Bodie]] |
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*[[Shunyata]] |
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*[[Buddha nature]] |
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*[[Tathagatagarbha]] |
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*[[Nirvana Sutra]] |
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*[[God in Buddhism]] |
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*[[Faith in Buddhism]] |
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{{Col-3-of-3}} |
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*[[Lotus Sutra]] |
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*[[Pure Land]] |
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*[[Zen]] |
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*[[Dzogchen]] |
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*[[Tendai]] |
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*[[Buddhist Ceremonies]] |
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{{Col-end}} |
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==Notes== |
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{{reflist}} |
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==References== |
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* {{cite encyclopedia | encyclopedia = Encyclopedia Britannica | year = 2002 | title = Mahayana | publisher = Encyclopædia Britannica }} |
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==Further reading== |
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* Paul Williams, ''Mahayana Buddhism'', Routledge, 1989 |
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*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 |
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*”The Vision of the Buddha”, Tom Lowenstein, ISBN 1-903296-91-9 |
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* Kevin Lynch, ''The Way Of The Tiger: A Buddhist's Guide To Achieving Nirvana'', Yojimbo Temple, 2005 |
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* Beal, ''Catena of Buddhist Scriptures from the Chinese'', (London, 1871) |
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* S. Kuroda, ''Outline of Mahayana'', (Tokyo, 1893) |
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* D. T. Suzuki, ''Outline of Mahayana Buddhism'', (London, 1907) |
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* Murdoch, ''History of Japan'', volume i., (Yokohama, 1910) |
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* D. T. Suzuki, in ''[[The Monist]]'', volume xxiv, (Chicago, 1914). ''The Monist'' was edited by [[Paul Carus]]. |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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*[http://www. |
* [http://www.buddhism-dict.net/ddb/ Digital Dictionary of Buddhism] |
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* [http://sacredlibrary.googlepages.com/religioustexts.htm Sacred Library] Contains many Mahayana Sutras |
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* [http://www.berzinarchives.com/comparison_buddhist_traditions/index.html Comparison of Buddhist Traditions (Mahayana - Therevada - Tibetan)] |
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*[http://www4.bayarea.net/~mtlee/ Mahayana Buddhist Sutras in English] |
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*[http://www.nirvanasutra.org.uk The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra: complete text and analysis.] |
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*[http://www.webspawner.com/users/bodhisattva/index.html Major Mahayana Tathagatagarbha sutras in English translation] |
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*[http://www.cttbusa.org/buddhas_bodhisattvas.asp Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in Mahayana Buddhism] |
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Revision as of 11:18, 10 October 2008
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Mahayana (Sanskrit:mahāyāna, Devanagari: महायान, 'Great Vehicle') is one of the two main existing schools of Buddhism and a classification of Buddhist philosophies. 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.
- As a branch of Buddhist philosophy, Mahayana refers to a level of spiritual motivation[1], namely the Bodhisattvayana[2]). The alternate philosophical approach is the Hinayana, which is the Arhatyana.
- As a practice path, Mahayana refers to one of the three yanas, or routes to enlightenment, the other two being the Hinayana and the Vajrayana.
Although the Mahayana movement traces its origin to Gautama Buddha, the consensus of historical evidence indicates that it originated in South India in the first century CE[3]. It was first propagated into China by Lokaksema, the first translator of Mahayana sutras into Chinese.
The earliest Mahayana scriptures probably originated during the first century CE in the Indian subcontinent, and spread to China during the second century CE.[4] Only in the fifth century CE did Mahayana become an influential school in India.[5] In the course of its history, Mahayana spread throughout East Asia. The main countries in which it is practiced today are China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam and worldwide amongst Tibetan Buddhist practitioners as a result of the Himalayan diaspora following the Communist invasion of Tibet.
Origin of the name
The historical source of the name Mahayana is polemical[6][7], having its origin in a debate about what the real teachings of the Buddha[8] are. As such, its use in any context except as that pertaining to a living tradition is controversial amongst Theravadin practitioners and some Pali Canon scholars.
The earliest mention of "Mahayana" occurs in the Lotus Sutra between the first century BCE and the first century CE.[dubious ][9]
History
Mahayana Buddhism in India can be divided into two periods: early Mahayana Buddhism and late Mahayana Buddhism[10]
Early Mahayana Buddhism
The period of Early Mahayana Buddhism concerns the origins of Mahayana and the contents of early Mahayana Sutras[11]. The development of the various Early Buddhist Schools and the arising of Mahayana were not always consecutive. For example, the early schools continued to exist alongside Mahayana.
Origins of Mahayana
The origins of Mahayana are still not completely understood[12]. Three sources appear to have made significant contributions to the rise of Mahayana Buddhism:[13]
- The Early Buddhist Schools. Mahayana texts often refer to Sarvastivada teachings, which were often mentioned or incorporated into Mahayana texts. In terms of content, however, the Mahasanghika doctrine is closer to Mahayana thought.[14]
- Biographical literature of the Buddha composed by people said to have belonged to 'the vehicle that praised the Buddha'. This literature (comprising the Jatakas and the Avadanas) 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.[15]
- Stupa 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 bodhisattva. This has given rise to devotion to the Buddha and the bodhisattvas[16], distinct from the purely monastic sangha (see Early Buddhist schools). However, this theory has been rejected by a number of scholars.[17]
The commonly expressed misconception that Mahayana started as a lay-inspired movement[18] is based on a selective reading of a very tiny sample of extant Mahayana Sutra literature[19]. 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.[20] A scholarly consensus about the origin of the Mahayana has not yet been reached, but it has been suggested that when Mahayana became popular in the fifth century AD, it had become what it originally most strongly objected to: a fully landed, sedentary, lay-oriented monastic institution[21]. 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 Buddhist monasteries[22]. Most scholars conclude that Mahayana remained a marginal movement until the 5th century AD[23][24].
Earliest Mahayana Sutras
The earliest Mahayana Sutras are called the Proto-Mahayana Sutras such as the Ajitasena Sutra which contains a mixture of Mahayana and pre-Mahayana ideas. It occurs in a world where monasticism is the norm, which is typical of the Pali Suttas; there is none of the usual antagonism towards the followers of the Early Buddhist Schools or the notion of Arahantship, which is typical of many Mahayana Sutras such as the White Lotus, 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.
Some other early Mahayana Sutras are translations made into Chinese by the Kushan monk Lokaksema in the Chinese capital of Luoyang, between 178 and 189 CE[25]. But, to equate evidence for the presence of a body of Mahayana scripture with the existence at the time of Mahayana as a religious movement, has been described as being an assumption leading to a serious misstep[26].
Some scholars contend that the Mahayana sutras were mainly composed in the south[27] of India, and that later the activity of writing additional scriptures was continued in the east[28] and north[29] of India.
Late Mahayana Buddhism
During the period of Late Mahayana Buddhism, four major types of thought developed: Madhyamaka, Yogacara, Tathagatagarbha, and Buddhist Logic as the last and most recent[30].
From the 5th century CE Mahayana was a strong movement in India, possibly owing to support by the Gupta dynasty. It spread from India to South-East Asia, and towards the north to Central Asia, China, Korea and Japan. 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.
Buddhism (and Mahayana) disappeared from India during the 11th century, and consequently lost its influence in South-East Asia where it was replaced by Theravada Buddhism from Sri Lanka. Mahayana currently has more followers than Theravada, the other remaining Buddhist school.
Early evidence for Mahayana
Epigraphical evidence
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:
However, this image was in itself marginal and extremely isolated in the overall context of Buddhism in India at the time, and had no lasting or long-term consequences[31]
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 Asia to China at that time[32] [33].
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.[34][35] 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.[36]
Mahayana is a vast religious and philosophical structure. It constitutes an inclusive faith characterized by the adoption of new, Mahayana sutras, in addition to the traditional Pali canon or Agama 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 Dharma. In the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, for instance, the Buddha tells of how his initial teachings on suffering, impermanence and non-Self were given to those who were still like "small children", unable to digest the full "meal" of Truth, whereas when those spiritual students "grow up" and are no longer satisfied by the preliminary ingredients of the Dharmic meal fed to them and require fuller sustenance, they are then ready to assimilate the full and balanced fare of the Mahayana teachings (Mahaparinirvana Sutra).
Mahayana Buddhist schools de-emphasize the ideal, emphasized in Theravada, of the release from individual Suffering (Dukkha) and attainment of Cessation (Nirvana). The Lotus Sutra says, successively, that the Buddha's lifetime is extremely long, and that it is infinite. Mahayana authorities differ on which of these statements to take literally. On the whole, Chinese and Japanese prefer the former, Tibetans the latter. In addition, 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.). Zen 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.
The fundamental principles of Mahayana doctrine were based around the possibility of universal liberation from suffering for all beings (hence "great vehicle") and the existence of Buddhas and Bodhisattva embodying transcendent Buddha-nature (佛性) (the eternal Buddha essence present, but hidden and unrecognised, in all beings). Some Mahayana schools simplify the expression of faith by allowing salvation to be alternatively obtained through the grace of the Buddha Amitabha (अमिताभ) by having faith and devoting oneself to chanting to Amitabha. This devotional lifestyle of Buddhism is most strongly emphasized by the Pure Land 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 mantras or dharanis; reading of Mahayana sutras and mysticism. In Chinese Buddhism, most monks, let alone lay people, practise Pure Land, some combining it with Chan (Zen).[37]
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 in the Srimala Sutra it is asserted by the Buddha that devotion to Mahayana is inherently superior in its virtues to the following of the Sravaka or Pratyekabuddha path:
" ...just as the magnificence of the finest thorough-bred among cattle outshines the rest of the herd in height and weight and so on, so even to uphold the Saddharma [True Dharma] of the Mahayana, even a little, is greater and vaster than all the wholesome dharmas of the Shravaka and Pratyekabuddha yanas [vehicles]." (The Shrimaladevi Sutra, tr. by Dr. Shenpen Hookham, Longchen Foundation, Oxford 1998, p.27).
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);
- Bodhicitta as the main focus of realization (see, for example, the Nirvana Sutra and various Prajnaparamita Sutras);
- Compassion through the transferral of merit;
- Transcendental immanence, in that the immortal Buddha Principle (see, for example, Buddha-nature, Mahaparinirvana Sutra, Angulimaliya Sutra, Srimala Sutra, Tathagatagarbha Sutra) 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-nature, without showing much interest in supernatural constructions, while “devotional” Mahayana focuses mainly on salvation towards other-worldly realms (see, for example, the Sukhavati sutras).
Universalism
Mahayana traditions generally consider that attainment of the level of an arhat is not final. This is based on a subtle doctrinal distinction between the Mahayana and the early Buddhist schools concerning the issues of nirvana-with-remainder and nirvana-without-remainder.
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 Hinayana 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 nirvana (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 samsara (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.[38]
For example, the early schools held that Maitreya (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 dharma 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 labelled universalist, whereas because the Nikaya traditions assert that there are three routes to nirvana, which are distinct, they are considered not to be universalist.
Bodhisattva
The Mahayana school holds that pursuing only the basic path of Hinayana Buddhism is too narrow an aspiration, as it lacks the ultimate moral motivation (from the Mahayana perspective) of actively resolving to liberate all other beings from samsara, as well as oneself. Such a "Hinayana" approach to Dharma tends to focus on an ascetic, individual orientation towards the attainment of nirvana (rather than the ulta-altruistic quest of the Bodhisattva): suppression of desire, removal from the world, solitude. Its followers are referred to as śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas in the Mahayana sutras.
The primary focus of some Mahayana schools is bodhicitta, 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."[39] Being a high-level bodhisattva involves (according to Mahayana teachings) possessing a mind of great compassion conjoined with insight into reality (prajna), realizing emptiness (shunyata), and/or the tathagatagarbha (buddhic essence of all things). With this mind the practitioner will realize the final goal of full Awakening, or 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: generosity, morality, patience, energy, meditation, and wisdom.
Many “philosophical” schools and sutras of Mahayana Buddhism have focused on the nature of enlightenment and nirvana itself, from the Madhyamika and its rival, Yogacara , to the Tathagatagarbha teachings and Zen.
Compassion
Compassion, or Karuna, is the other key concept of Mahayana, and is a necessity to Bodhicitta. 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.[citation needed]
The bodhisattvas are the main actors of compassion, Avalokitesvara (known in East Asia as Guan Yin) being foremost among them. Although having reached enlightenment, bodhisattvas usually make a vow to postpone entering into nirvana 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.[citation needed]
A comparison between the Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhist philosophy approaches, made by the 10th century Tibetan author Jé Gampopa 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:upāya) is used in the Lotus Sutra, 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 Nirvana. 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:[40] doctrines are "true" in the sense of being spiritually benficial.
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[41]. In fact the Pali term upāya-kosalla does occur in the Pali Canon, in the Sangiti Sutta of the Digha Nikaya.[42]
Salvation
“Devotional” Mahayana developed a rich cosmography, with various supernatural Buddhas and Bodhisattvas residing in paradisiacal realms. The concept of trinity, or trikaya, supports these constructions, making the Buddha himself into a transcendental god-like figure.
Under various conditions, these realms 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 Land (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 Hindu devotional cults (bhakti), 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 Dharma (see Nirvana Sutra). It may be based on the "luminous mind" 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 (bodhi), 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). In the Mahaparinirvana Sutra states that: "The essence of the Self (atman) is the subtle Tathagatagarbha ..." while the later Lankavatara Sutra states that the tathagatagarbha might be taken to be atman, but it is not (at least not as understood by the 'philosophers' or others who are not a Buddha). In the tathagatagarbha class of sutras, the word "atman" is used in a way defined by and specific to these sutras, see Atman (Buddhism).
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.[43] 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 Dharmakaya 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, etc, and uncreated, deathless and ultimately beyond rational grasping or conceptualisation. Yet it is this already real and present, hidden internal element of bodhi (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 metaphysics had been dominated by teachings on emptiness in the form of Madhyamaka 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.[44]
Mahayana Scriptures
Like Theravāda 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 Truths, the Middle Way and the Eightfold Path. Whereas these basic teachings are preserved in the Pali Canon, 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 schools as valid, Mahāyāna Buddhism also maintains large additional collections of sutras not found or recognized in Theravāda Buddhism. In Mahayana Buddhism, these Mahayana sutras 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 Buddhism[45].
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 sermons 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 Sutra, the Lotus Sutra, the Vimalakīrti Sutra, and the Nirvana Sutra.
The Tibetan tradition classifies Shakyamuni Buddha's teachings into three categories, based on types of understanding the nature of reality, known as "turnings of the wheel of dharma (truth)": those sutra discourses containing the basic doctrines supposedly aimed at the initial disciples or Śrāvakas, the emptiness teachings associated with Madhyamika and the Prajna Paramita sutras, and the doctrines associated with Yogācāra which present the most accurate view of reality according to this scheme as originally devised. However, 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 if the need arises to classify them. The Chinese tradition has a different scheme.
The Mahayana canon was further expanded somewhat after Buddhism was transmitted to other countries such as China and Tibet, where the existing texts were translated. New texts, such as the Platform Sutra and the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment (圓覺經) were explicitly not of Indian origin, but were widely accepted as valid scriptures on their own merits. Other later writings included the Linji Lu (臨済錄), a commentary by Chán (禪宗) master Linji Yixuan (臨済義玄). In the course of the development of Korean Buddhism and Japanese Buddhism, further important commentaries were composed. These included, for example, in Korea, some of the writings of Jinul, and in Japan, works such as Dōgen's Shōbōgenzō.
Some of the main Mahayana Sutras, codified in Sanskrit, have not survived over time and have been lost.[46] Versions later translated into Tibetan language and Chinese language have survived.[46] The main schools of Mahayana Buddhism today are Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Shingon, Tibetan Buddhism and Tendai. The latter three schools have both Mahayana and Vajrayana practice traditions.
See also
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Notes
- ^ Harvey, Introduction to Buddhism, Cambridge University Press, 1990, page 94
- ^ The Mahayana, 'Great Vehicle' or 'Great Carriage' (for carrying all beings to nirvana), is also, and perhaps more correctly and accurately, known as the Bodhisattvayana, the bodhisattva's vehicle. Indian Buddhism, A. K. Warder, 3rd edition, 1999, p.338
- ^ The Mahayana movement claims to have been founded by the Buddha himself. The consensus of the evidence, however, is that it originated in South India in the 1st century CE’ – Indian Buddhism, AK Warder, 3rd edition, 1999, p. 335.
- ^ The most important evidence — in fact the only evidence — for situating the emergence of the Mahayana around the beginning of the common era was not Indian evidence at all, but came from China. Already by the last quarter of the second century C.E. there was a small, seemingly idiosyncratic collection of substantial Mahayana sutras translated into what Erik Zürcher calls “broken Chinese” by an Indoscythian, whose Indian name has been reconstructed as Lokaksema., Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 492
- ^ Certainly, we have for this period an extensive body of inscriptions from virtually all parts of India. ... But nowhere in this extensive body of material is there any reference, prior to the fifth century, to a named Mahayana. There are, on the other hand, scores of references to what used to be called Hinayana groups — the Sarvastivadins, Mahasamghikas, and so on. From this point of view, at least, this was not “the period of the Mahayana,” but “the period of the Hinayana.”, Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 493
- ^ ‘The later school which arrogated to itself the title Mahayana’. Indian Buddhism, AK Warder, 3rd edition 1999, p.4
- ^ 'It is certain that the term Mahayana (which means “great or large vehicle”) was in origin a polemical label used by only one side' MacMillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, p. 492
- ^ It is certain that the term Mahayana (which means “great or large vehicle”) was in origin a polemical label used by only one side — and perhaps the least significant side — of a protracted, if uneven, Indian debate about what the real teachings of the Buddha are, Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 492
- ^ Theravada - Mahayana Buddhism Ven. Dr. W. Rahula Theravada - Mahayana Buddhism
- ^ A History of Indian Buddhism - Hirakawa Akira (translated and edited by Paul Groner) - Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 1993, p. 7
- ^ A History of Indian Buddhism - Hirakawa Akira (translated and edited by Paul Groner) - Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 1993, p. 8
- ^ A History of Indian Buddhism - Hirakawa Akira (translated and edited by Paul Groner) - Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 1993, p. 260
- ^ A History of Indian Buddhism - Hirakawa Akira (translated and edited by Paul Groner) - Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 1993, p. 260
- ^ A History of Indian Buddhism - Hirakawa Akira (translated and edited by Paul Groner) - Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 1993, p. 261, 262
- ^ A History of Indian Buddhism - Hirakawa Akira (translated and edited by Paul Groner) - Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 1993, p. 263, 268
- ^ Akira Hirakawa, A History of Indian Buddhism: From Sakyamuni to Early Mahayana, 1993, p. 271
- ^ e.g. Williams, Mahayana Buddhism
- ^ One of the most frequent assertions about the Mahayana ... is that it was a lay-influenced, or even lay-inspired and dominated, movement that arose in response to the increasingly closed, cold, and scholastic character of monastic Buddhism. This, however, now appears to be wrong on all counts. MacMillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 494
- ^ MacMillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 494
- ^ As scholars have moved away from this limited corpus, and have begun to explore a wider range of Mahayana Sutras, they have stumbled on, and have started to open up, a literature that is often stridently ascetic and heavily engaged in reinventing the forest ideal, an individualistic, antisocial, ascetic ideal that is encapsulated in the apparently resurrected image of “wandering alone like a rhinoceros.” MacMillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 494
- ^ At this point we can only postulate that the Maha�ya�na may have had a visible impact in India only when, in the fifth century, it had become what it had originally most strongly objected to: a fully landed, sedentary, lay-oriented monastic institution
- ^ either a collection of marginalized ascetic groups living in the forest, or groups of cantankerous and malcontent conservatives embedded in mainstream, socially engaged monasteries, all of whom continued pouring out pamphlets espousing their views and values, pamphlets that we now know as Mahayana Sutras. We simply do not know. MacMillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 494 and 495
- ^ Certainly, we have for this period an extensive body of inscriptions from virtually all parts of India. ... But nowhere in this extensive body of material is there any reference, prior to the fifth century, to a named Mahayana. There are, on the other hand, scores of references to what used to be called Hinayana groups — the Sarvastivadins, Mahasamghikas, and so on. From this point of view, at least, this was not “the period of the Mahayana,” but “the period of the Hinayana.”, Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 493
- ^ At this point we can only postulate that the Maha�ya�na may have had a visible impact in India only when, in the fifth century, it had become what it had originally most strongly objected to: a fully landed, sedentary, lay-oriented monastic institution, MacMillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 494
- ^ The most important evidence — in fact the only evidence — for situating the emergence of the Mahayana around the beginning of the common era was not Indian evidence at all, but came from China. Already by the last quarter of the second century C.E. there was a small, seemingly idiosyncratic collection of substantial Mahayana sutras translated into what Erik Zürcher calls “broken Chinese” by an Indoscythian, whose Indian name has been reconstructed as Lokaksema., Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 492
- ^ But even apart from the obvious weaknesses inherent in arguments of this kind there is here the tacit equation of a body of literature with a religious movement, an assumption that evidence for the presence of one proves the existence of the other, and this may be a serious misstep., Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 493
- ^ ‘The south (of India) was then vigorously creative in producing Mahayana Sutras’ – AK Warder, Indian Buddhism, 3rd edition, 1999, p. 335.
- ^ Mahayanism in all probability germinated in the south, where the offshoots of the Mahasanghikas had their centres of activities, but where it appeared more developed was a place somewhere in the eastern part of India, a place where the Sarvastivadins were predominant.' Buddhist Sects in India, Nalinaksha Dutt, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers (Delhi), 2nd Edition, 1978, p. 243)
- ^ ‘The sudden appearance of large numbers of (Mahayana) teachers and texts (in North India in the second century AD) would seem to require some previous preparation and development, and this we can look for in the South.’ AK Warder, Indian Buddhism, 3rd edition, 1999 p. 335.
- ^ A History of Indian Buddhism - Hirakawa Akira (translated and edited by Paul Groner) - Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 1993, p. 8,9
- ^ In other words, once nontextual evidence is taken into account the picture changes dramatically. Rather than being datable to the beginning of the common era, this strand of Mahayana Buddhism, at least, appeared to have no visible impact on Indian Buddhist cult practice until the second century, and even then what impact it had was extremely isolated and marginal, and had no lasting or long-term consequences — there were no further references to Amitabha in Indian image inscriptions. Almost exactly the same pattern occurs (concerning Mahayana) on an even broader scale when nontextual evidence is considered., Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 493
- ^ Certainly, we have for this period an extensive body of inscriptions from virtually all parts of India. ... But nowhere in this extensive body of material is there any reference, prior to the fifth century, to a named Mahayana., Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 493
- ^ What is particularly disconcerting here is the disconnect between expectation and reality: We know from Chinese translations that large numbers of Mahayana sutras were being composed in the period between the beginning of the common era and the fifth century. But outside of texts, at least in India, at exactly the same period, very different — in fact seemingly older — ideas and aspirations appear to be motivating actual behavior, and old and established Hinayana groups appear to be the only ones that are patronized and supported., Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 494
- ^ There are, it seems, very few things that can be said with certainty about Mahayana Buddhism, Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 492
- ^ But apart from the fact that it can be said with some certainty that the Buddhism embedded in China, Korea, Tibet, and Japan is Mahayana Buddhism, it is no longer clear what else can be said with certainty about Mahayana Buddhism itself, and especially about its earlier, and presumably formative, period in India., Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 492
- ^ It has become increasingly clear that Mahayana Buddhism was never one thing, but rather, it seems, a loosely bound bundle of many, and — like Walt Whitman — was large and could contain, in both senses of the term, contradictions, or at least antipodal elements., Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 492
- ^ Welch, Practice of Chinese Buddhism, Harvard, 1967, page 396
- ^ Cook, Hua-Yen Buddhism, Pennsylvania State University Press, 1977
- ^ Coomaraswamy, Ananda (1975). Buddha and the Gospel of Buddhism. Boston: University Books, Inc. p. 229. LCCN 64056434.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Williams, Mahayana Buddhism, Routledge, 1990, page 2
- ^ ‘’It is true that the term translated 'skill in means', upaya-kausalya , is post-canonical, but 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.’’ How Buddhism Began, Richard F. Gombrich, Munshiram Manoharlal, 1997, p. 17
- ^ Thus Have I Heard: the Long Discourses of the Buddha, tr M. Walshe, Wisdom Pubns, 1987, page 486
- ^ Heng-Ching Shih, "The Significance Of 'Tathagatagarbha' -- A Positive Expression Of 'Sunyata.'" http://zencomp.com/greatwisdom/ebud/ebdha191.htm.
- ^ Sallie B. King, The Doctrine of Buddha-Nature is impeccably Buddhist. [1], pages 1-6.
- ^ ‘Sometime after the founding of the Purva Saila school in the 1st century B.C. certain monks felt the need not simply for new interpretations of the original sutras (such as, for example, the new Abhidharma texts of the schools …), but for wholesale restatements of the doctrine. For this purpose they rewrote the sutras, or wrote new sutras.’ AK Warder, Indian Buddhism, 3rd edition, p. 335.
- ^ a b Mahayana (Encyclopedia Britannica 2002)
References
- "Mahayana". Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2002.
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, volume xxiv, (Chicago, 1914). The Monist was edited by Paul Carus.
External links
- Digital Dictionary of Buddhism
- Sacred Library Contains many Mahayana Sutras
- Comparison of Buddhist Traditions (Mahayana - Therevada - Tibetan)
- Mahayana Buddhist Sutras in English
- The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra: complete text and analysis.
- Major Mahayana Tathagatagarbha sutras in English translation
- Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in Mahayana Buddhism
