The great vehicle, which sets the bodhisattva's vow to liberate all beings above the solitary goal, and reads its own sutras beside the early discourses.
Mahayana Buddhism arose in the first centuries of the common era and became the Buddhism of China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. Its sutras present the Buddha's teaching as unfolding in turnings of the wheel, and its schools argue over emptiness, Buddha-nature, and the pure land.
Produced by Mahayana-Theravada Divergence
1st century BCE and after · The goal of the path: the arahant's release against the bodhisattva's vow, and the authority of the later sutras.
Current status of that division: In dialogue.
Sub-branch / Family
Sub-branch / Family
Zen
The meditation school that points directly at the mind: zazen, the koan, and transmission outside the scriptures, from Chan China to Zen Japan and…
Sub-branch / Family
Pure Land
The school that entrusts itself to Amida Buddha's vow: birth in his Pure Land through the nembutsu, the calling of his name, as the path open to all…
Sub-branch / Family
Nichiren Buddhism
The school of the monk Nichiren, which holds the Lotus Sutra alone as the true teaching for this age and chants its title as the whole practice.
Mahayana across the site
Sources
Primary
- The Prajnaparamita Sutras; the Lotus Sutra.
Secondary
- Paul Williams, Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations (2009).