What is Mahayana Buddhism?
Mahayana Buddhism emerged around the 1st Century BCE as a new movement of Buddhism
that distanced itself from the Hinayana (Theravadin Buddhism) Schools of the time. Since
then, it has developed into one of the major branches of Buddhism, and the largest
Buddhist sect in the world.
Mahayana Buddhism means the ‘Greater vehicle’ and refer to Theravada as the ‘lesser
vehicle’, yet Theravadin is also known as ‘The Way of The Elders’.
Point of Origin
There is no decisive point, yet there are some generally accepted ideas:
Geographical:
After The Buddha’s passing away, Buddhism was spread throughout India, SE Asia, Central
Asia, and China through various channels of intercultural exchange. With this spread came
the influence of other cultures into Buddhist practice, leading to a wide range of different
belief and practice.
Laity Revolt:
Lay People of Traditional Buddhist schools were often denied many of the benefits of
Buddhism: Certain teachings were withheld from them, and salvation was treated as
something beyond their attainment. The laity, considering The Monks’ privileges to be
excessive, tried to win equal religious rights for themselves. They were able to do so by
breaking away from the Traditional Buddhist communities, and forming new communities
that offered an equal playing field for The Buddha’s teachings.
Buddhist Council:
After the death of The Buddha, various councils were held to revise and correct the original
teachings of The Buddha in order to preserve a consistent orthodox ‘Buddhism’. This
ultimately failed, leading to various schisms of Buddhist denominations:
1st Council:
Three months after the death of The Buddha, 500 Monks from various monastic
communities convened to compile, agree on, organise and preserve his teachings.
2nd Council:
, 100 Years after the death of The Buddha (and Buddhism’s spread), 700 monks from
monastic communities convened to challenge The Buddhists of Vaisal for allegedly adopting
practices that violated the precepts. Some communities contested the ‘strict’ orthodoxy of
the challenge presented, insisting on a relaxation of monastic rules. This devolved into a
schism.
3rd Council:
After the pervious schisms, monastic communities attempted to specify official orthodox
positions on certain scriptures and their application. It is believed that only Theravada
schools were included in this decision, and other schisms were laid out – the neglection of
these groups caused further schisms and resentment.
4th Council:
Further attempts to reconcile Buddhist Orthodoxy proved futile. From this council, a schism
formed of Mahayana (Greater Vehicle) and Hinayana (Lesser Vehicle) otherwise known as
Theravada Buddhism.
Key Differences of Theravada and Mahayana:
Theravada: Mahayana:
- Siddhartha Gautama was the one and - Along with Siddhartha, there are other
only Buddha. Buddhas.
- The Pali Canon is the extent of Buddhist - There are also a series of Sutras to study
canonical corpus. for canonical corpus.
- Conservative: original teachings should - Progressive: developed with, and
be adhered to and in their original adapted to, local customs, languages,
language. At no time should Orthodox practices, etc. Upaya: teachings can
teachings be broken. sometimes be negated skilfully.
- Arhat: liberation is an individual goal, - Bodhisattva: liberation is a collective
attainable only by the highest monks in goal, and anyone can achieve it in this
this lifetime. lifetime, as we all have ‘Buddha nature’.
The Five Central Doctrines of Mahayana Buddhism
According to Buddhist Scholar Edward Conze, Mahayana Buddhism developed from the
influence of Non-Indian elements to the religion. He categorised 5 Central Doctrines that
distinguish Mahayana Buddhism from The Traditional Orthodox schools:
The Bodhisattva:
Mahayana Buddhism emerged around the 1st Century BCE as a new movement of Buddhism
that distanced itself from the Hinayana (Theravadin Buddhism) Schools of the time. Since
then, it has developed into one of the major branches of Buddhism, and the largest
Buddhist sect in the world.
Mahayana Buddhism means the ‘Greater vehicle’ and refer to Theravada as the ‘lesser
vehicle’, yet Theravadin is also known as ‘The Way of The Elders’.
Point of Origin
There is no decisive point, yet there are some generally accepted ideas:
Geographical:
After The Buddha’s passing away, Buddhism was spread throughout India, SE Asia, Central
Asia, and China through various channels of intercultural exchange. With this spread came
the influence of other cultures into Buddhist practice, leading to a wide range of different
belief and practice.
Laity Revolt:
Lay People of Traditional Buddhist schools were often denied many of the benefits of
Buddhism: Certain teachings were withheld from them, and salvation was treated as
something beyond their attainment. The laity, considering The Monks’ privileges to be
excessive, tried to win equal religious rights for themselves. They were able to do so by
breaking away from the Traditional Buddhist communities, and forming new communities
that offered an equal playing field for The Buddha’s teachings.
Buddhist Council:
After the death of The Buddha, various councils were held to revise and correct the original
teachings of The Buddha in order to preserve a consistent orthodox ‘Buddhism’. This
ultimately failed, leading to various schisms of Buddhist denominations:
1st Council:
Three months after the death of The Buddha, 500 Monks from various monastic
communities convened to compile, agree on, organise and preserve his teachings.
2nd Council:
, 100 Years after the death of The Buddha (and Buddhism’s spread), 700 monks from
monastic communities convened to challenge The Buddhists of Vaisal for allegedly adopting
practices that violated the precepts. Some communities contested the ‘strict’ orthodoxy of
the challenge presented, insisting on a relaxation of monastic rules. This devolved into a
schism.
3rd Council:
After the pervious schisms, monastic communities attempted to specify official orthodox
positions on certain scriptures and their application. It is believed that only Theravada
schools were included in this decision, and other schisms were laid out – the neglection of
these groups caused further schisms and resentment.
4th Council:
Further attempts to reconcile Buddhist Orthodoxy proved futile. From this council, a schism
formed of Mahayana (Greater Vehicle) and Hinayana (Lesser Vehicle) otherwise known as
Theravada Buddhism.
Key Differences of Theravada and Mahayana:
Theravada: Mahayana:
- Siddhartha Gautama was the one and - Along with Siddhartha, there are other
only Buddha. Buddhas.
- The Pali Canon is the extent of Buddhist - There are also a series of Sutras to study
canonical corpus. for canonical corpus.
- Conservative: original teachings should - Progressive: developed with, and
be adhered to and in their original adapted to, local customs, languages,
language. At no time should Orthodox practices, etc. Upaya: teachings can
teachings be broken. sometimes be negated skilfully.
- Arhat: liberation is an individual goal, - Bodhisattva: liberation is a collective
attainable only by the highest monks in goal, and anyone can achieve it in this
this lifetime. lifetime, as we all have ‘Buddha nature’.
The Five Central Doctrines of Mahayana Buddhism
According to Buddhist Scholar Edward Conze, Mahayana Buddhism developed from the
influence of Non-Indian elements to the religion. He categorised 5 Central Doctrines that
distinguish Mahayana Buddhism from The Traditional Orthodox schools:
The Bodhisattva:
