Mahayana - Mahayana Scriptures, Origins, Bibliography

The form of Buddhism commonly practised in China, Tibet, Mongolia, Nepal, Korea, and Japan. It dates from about the 1st-c, when it arose as a development within Buddhism in N India. It emphasizes various forms of popular devotion based on its theory of the bodhisattvas.

(See Yana for the classification of Buddhism into vehicles, and Schools of Buddhism for further information.) Mahayana originated in the Indian subcontinent, spread to China during the first century CE (where it was Sinicized) and later spread throughout East Asia.

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Mahayana, in contrast to the Theravada school of Buddhism, can be characterized by:

Universalism, in that everyone will become a buddha;

“Philosophical”, Mahayana tends to focus on the first three characteristics (universalism, enlightened wisdom, compassion) without showing much interest in supernatural constructions, while “devotional” Mahayana focuses mainly on salvation towards other-worldly realms.

Universalism

Mahayana traditions generally consider that buddhahood is not final. Because the views of early schools and Mahayana differ in this respect, this is exactly why the Mahayana do not talk about a bodhisattva postponing nirvana, and exactly why the early schools do.

So, based on the doctrinal distinctions between the early schools and the Mahayana concerning the meaning of nirvana-without-remainder, we see two distinct views concerning the path of the bodhisattva, with the early schools stating that bodhisattvas postpone their own nirvana, whereas the Mahayana schools state that bodhisattvas attempt to reach nirvana as soon as possible, just as sravakas do, but with the motive to continue to effortlessly benefit all beings for all time due to the distinction of views regarding the ability of a buddha after mahaparinirvana.

Because the Mahayana traditions assert that eventually everyone will achieve samyaksambuddhahood 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.

Enlightened wisdom

According to Mahayana, traditional Buddhism tends to focus on an ascetic, individual approach to the attainment of nirvana: suppression of desire, removal from the world, solitude.

In contrast, the primary focus of Mahayana is bodhicitta: the vow to strive for buddhahood or awakened mind (bodhicitta) both for oneself and for the benefit of all other sentient beings.

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 considered the indispensable complement to enlightened wisdom.

Salvation

“Devotional” Mahayana developed a rich cosmography, with various supernatural buddhas and bodhisattvas residing in paradisiacal realms.

This rich cosmography also allowed Mahayana to be quite syncretic and accommodating of other faiths or deities.

Mahayana Scriptures

The Mahayana scriptures were written probably around the 1st century BCE.

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 Mahayana sometimes divide Shakyamuni Buddha's teachings into three general categories, known as "turnings of the wheel of dharma (truth)": the Hinayana, the Prajna Paramita, and the Tathagatagarbha teachings.

The Mahayana canon further expanded after Buddhism was transmitted to other countries such as China and Tibet, where the existing texts were translated.

Origins

Mahayana as a distinct movement began around the 1st century BCE in the area around the Kushan Empire (now part of Pakistan) before it was transmitted in a highly evolved form to China in the second century CE. According to Akira Hirakawa (A History of Indian Buddhism: From Sakyamuni to Early Mahayana), 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 Hindus.

Epigraphical evidence

One of the first known mentions of the Buddha using the word Bhagavat or Bhagavan ("Supreme Lord") is a dedication on a relic vase inserted in a stupa in Gandhara, written in kharoshthi by an Indo-Greek meridarch (civil governor of a province) named Theodorus in the 1st century BCE:

"Theudorena meridarkhena pratithavida ime sarira sakamunisa bhagavato bahu-jana-stitiye": "The meridarch Theodorus has enshrined relics of Lord Shakyamuni, for the welfare of the mass of the people" (Swāt relic vase inscription of the Meridarkh Theodoros )

The earliest stone inscriptions containing recognizably Mahayana formulations and a mention of the Buddha Amitabha were found in the Indian subcontinent in Mathura and dated to around 180 CE.

Such inscriptions in Indian proper (Mathura) are rather late and few (the next known one is dated to the end of the 3rd century), in comparison to the multiplicity of Mahayana writings transiting from Central Asia to China at that time, and the involvement of Central Asian Buddhist monks, suggesting the focus of Mahayana development was probably in the northwest.

Scriptures

The first known Mahayana texts are translations made into Chinese by the Kushan monk Lokaksema in the Chinese capital of Luoyang, between 178 and 189 CE.

Lokaksema's work includes the translation of the Pratyutpanna Sutra, containing the first known mentions of the Buddha Amitabha and his Pure Land, said to be at the origin of Pure Land practice in China, and the first known translations of the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, a founding text of Mahayana Buddhism.

The 4th Buddhist Council

The formal rise of Mahayana Buddhism has been dated to around the middle of the 2nd century CE, when the Kushan emperor Kanishka convened the 4th Buddhist Council in Gandhara, which confirmed the formal scission of Mahayana Buddhism from the traditional Nikaya schools of Buddhism.

Expansion (1st c.CE–10th c.CE)

From the 1st century CE and within the space of a few centuries, Mahayana was to flourish and spread in from India to South-East Asia, and towards the north to Central Asia, China, Korea, and Japan, finally reaching Japan via Korea and Korean Buddhist monks in 538 CE.

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 remains, however, the most followed of the Buddhist doctrines to this day in Eastern Asia and the world. font-size: 115%">

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Bibliography

Paul Williams, Mahayana Buddhism, Routledge, 1989 Schopen, G.