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Mahayana Buddhism
Mahayana probably emerged in between the first
century B.C.E. and the first century C.E., but we may
find that it’s roots go back to approximately 300
B.C.E. The two main schools of thought in Mahayana
are the Madhyamaka and the Yogacara schools
What are the causes of Mahayana?
 1. Rigidity of Theravada
 2. Hindu gods influence
 3. The influence of Hindu bhakti –
devotion
 4. The seeds of Mahayana were in
Theravada anyway
 5. Others?
What are the causes of Mahayana?
 1. The Indian mind was developing and a ‘cultural
spread’ was needed.
 2. There was pressure from Christianity and the Greek
Orthodox Church.
 3. No religion can be neatly bound up and Buddhism
is no exception. (Buddhism is more of a Western word
anyway – Sasana means ‘The Buddha’s way)
 4. The arrival of Mahayana is not a bad thing but we
have to ask how it arose. Many Lay Buddhists were
setting a better example than the Monks, therefore,
they needed a suitable Buddhism for them. Mahayana
claims to be a Buddhism for the Lay people
What are the causes of Mahayana?
 5. Externally, the Greek influence into North West
India was important enough for Buddhists to write
about the Buddhist Monk, Nagasena meeting with
the Greek King Milinda.
 6. There was a great deal of cultural interchange.
Some Mahayanins said to worship the Buddha as
Christians worship Christ.
 7. Mahayana believes in lots of parallel universes all
with a Buddha and Bodhisattvas within numerous
numbers of heavens.
 8. As Buddhism began to flower about 0 B.C.E.
scriptures were written down………so……
 Was Mahayana an esoteric doctrine of the Buddha or
a collection of deplorable heresies by which the pure
teaching of the Buddha was all too soon defiled?
What are the causes of Mahayana?
 Mahasanghikas (383 B.C.E. ) took a liberal
break away from traditional Buddhism and
taught of the Buddha as a supramundane,
transcendental body.
 Was it the ‘Buddhist religion for all’?
 Many tend to see Theravada as pure and
Mahayana as syncretistic – is this correct?
 Should we see Theravada as ‘the head’ and
Mahayana as ‘the heart’?
What makes Mahayana distinctive
from Hinayana (Theravada)?
 1. The writings or ‘sutras’ that were written about
500 years after the Buddha are not part of
Theravada scriptures
 2. The ideal for a Buddhist now becomes the
Bodhisattva and not the Arhat
 3. There is an equal emphasis on compassion
(karuna) and wisdom (prajna)
 4. Faith in the Bodhisattvas or Buddha is now
possible to help a person towards Nirvana
 5. In Mahayana Buddhism there is an emphasis on
‘skill in means’ or upaya
 6. The fully worked out views of Madhyamaka and
Yogacara go further than Theravada in their
philosophical treatment of reality and the Buddha
nature