Mahayana Buddhism

The best way to describe the main ideas behind the Buddhist tradition is to say that it is a
nontheistic philosophy that focuses on an individual's struggle in life and suggests that instead of
looking for answers outside or above us, we should look within to find truth and enlightenment.
Buddhists who went to the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in 1993 explained
that Buddhism is a religion of wisdom that is driven by compassion and the search for
enlightenment. Also, salvation is available to everyone who wants it. Defilements and false
beliefs can be gotten rid of by living a life of self-reflection and meditation. They went on to say
that the founder of the tradition is not God or any other kind of god, but a man who reached
Buddhahood or enlightenment. People who follow this tradition usually get their ideas from
Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. People often call these the Three Jewels or the pillars that
Buddhists use as a place to find safety. Because there are different sects, they can be looked at
and understood in different ways, but their core beliefs are still the same. The Buddha is a name
for the path to salvation and enlightenment that was shown by the Buddha's life. The Four Noble
Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path to Freedom are the most important things that Buddha
taught. Last but not least, the Buddhist community, or Sangha, especially those who work hard to
keep the Dharma alive and teach it, is also seen as a place of refuge.
Traditional sources say that the Buddha's story began when Queen Maya of Sakya, who later
gave birth to Siddhartha, had a dream in which a white elephant with six tusks and a lotus in its
trunk entered her womb. Months later, Siddhartha was born in a miracle that had nothing to do
with people. Sakyamuni Buddha, the founder of "Buddhism," was there at the beginning (about
whom most highly regarded scholars will confess that we in reality have no dependable data).
The first stage of Buddhism per se, then, is said to be that of the Hinayana or what may be
termed as the Theravada school of Buddhism. Before we discuss about the emergence of
Mahayana Buddhism it is important to have an idea about the growth and development of
Buddhist tradition.
At age 29, the prince (future Buddha) left the palace to see what was outside of its fake walls.
When he did, he saw four things that changed his life forever. The first thing he saw was a man
bent over from old age. Then he saw a man with a severe illness. After that, he saw a dead body.
The last thing he saw was a homeless monk who wanted spiritual happiness more than material
things. Siddhartha was shocked by the first three, which made him realise that suffering and
death are real and seem impossible to avoid. Still, seeing the old monk gave him hope and made
him realise that there might be a way to avoid these harsh realities. From then on, he made it his
mission to figure out how. Siddhartha gave up his princely title and his whole old life, including
his wife and newborn son, to become a wandering ascetic who wanted to find out why people
suffer and how to be free from it. During his travels, he met many ascetics who taught him
different ways to become spiritually enlightened, such as yogic meditation. Siddhartha learned
how to use these methods, but he never found true happiness. Later, he tried extreme fasting and
living in very simple conditions, where he was exposed to all of nature's harsh elements. After
following this path for about six years, he decided to stop because he was afraid it would cause
him to die before he reached enlightenment. Then, to improve his health, he decided to take less
food and shelter. After that, he swore he would sit under a tree in a place called Bodh Gaya and
not move until he found what he had been looking for: true freedom from suffering and
enlightenment. After a long battle with the evil Mara, who tried to get him to give up on his goal,
Siddhartha finally reached the state later called Buddhahood on the night of a full moon. So, he
went to the city of Sarnath and gave his first sermon in the deer park there. This was called
"setting the wheel of the Dharma in motion". Five of his fellow ascetics were the first to listen to
what he had to say. They are became his first disciples. The Buddha taught everyone who came
to him about the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, no matter what caste or background
they were from. He spent the rest of his life travelling and preaching in Northern India. He and
the other monks in the Sangha lived off of simple deities. People say that he died at the age of 80
without choosing a successor. Before he died, he told his followers to take refuge in his example,
Buddha, his teachings, Dharma, and the Buddhist community, Sangha.

The Four Noble Truths are at the heart of what Buddha taught and show how he saw life. The
first is that everyone has to go through pain, trouble, and dissatisfaction in their lives. Second,
suffering is caused by ignorance-based desire. Third, there won't be any more suffering once the
craving is gone. And last but not least, there is a way to get to the second state, and that is by
following the Noble Eightfold Path. Let me put it simply; it is a method that is meant to free a
person from the desire to want and lead them to be good in both thought and action. The first
step on this path is to get the "right view" by learning deeply about the Four Noble Truths. This
will help you understand reality correctly. Pain and dissatisfaction come from not being able to
see through the illusions of lust and ignorance. Here, it's important to remember that everything a
person does or says is just what they think. If it is corrupt or misguided then disaster will follow,
but if the mind is enlightened by the noble truths then one shall be capable of the right view. The
second is "right resolve," which means choosing the right motivation or intention to actively let
go of selfish desires and ego and live a calm, clear life without the limits of self-centeredness.
Third, does "right speech" mean being honest and sincere in everything you say in order to keep
peace and harmony in the community? A believer should avoid lying or tricking people,
spreading rumours, and using harsh language. Fourth, there is "right behaviour," which is based
on the five basic ethical rules listed in the tradition. To keep from hurting people or damaging
their property, stealing from them, being sexually rude, lying, or getting drunk. Fifth is "right
livelihood," which means that a person's way of making a living doesn't go against the other five
precepts. The sixth is "right effort," which means to actively work on getting rid of bad thoughts
and to try to act in a good way no matter what. The seventh and eighth points of the Eightfold
Path are very different and take a lot of work to put into practise. The seventh is “right
mindfulness” which requires deep meditation and discipline. It is about how to grow awareness
while being aware of how dangerous the mind can be. The eighth step of the path builds on the
seventh and leads to "right meditation," which is used to train the mind to stop being so restless.
Thus one may argue that, the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path truly summarises the
core philosophy and ideals behind the Buddhist tradition.
Throughout its history in India, Buddhism has worked with the other religions there by
influenced many of them and at the same time got influenced by them in many ways. Such
changes, however, have always made it hard to know how much one religion can take from
another without becoming a part of it. Even if a religion is able to keep its own identity, there is
still the question of how much it changes as it tries to define and defend itself against its
opponent. These issues became particularly sensitive for Buddhism in India throughout the latter
half of the first millennium A. D. as Hinduism grew stronger at all levels of culture, and also
when Buddhism spread to new regions.
About two hundred years after the death of Buddha an Indian emperor named Ashoka adopted
Buddhism as a way of life and worked to make it the official religion of his empire. He also sent
missionaries far of areas like Sri Lanka. During his time, Buddhism reached its highest point in
India. Soon after, however, it started to fall because the Brahmins started a revival of traditional
Hinduism. By the 12th century, Buddhism almost completely disappeared from its hearth in
India. Still, Buddhism spread throughout Southeast and East Asia, including Myanmar,
Cambodia, China, Japan, and other countries where the tradition is still very much alive.
Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana are the three main branches of Buddhism. In the
Mahayana branch, there are smaller sects like Pureland and Zen.
Way of the Elders (Theravada)
Theravada Buddhism is the most common religion in Southeast Asia, especially in Sri Lanka,
Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos. It is thought to be the most traditional religion in the
world today. It respects older scriptures like the Pali Conan, tells its followers to seek refuge in
the Three Jewels, and puts most of its attention on meditation. Theravada was founded in
Ceylon, which is now known as Sri Lanka. It is the only traditional school that is still around
today out of many that once existed. The tradition has devotional practises for both lay and
monastic Buddhists, but it also puts a lot of emphasis on the meditation practises that early
Buddhism emphasised.
Mahayana (The Great Wheel)
The Mahayana branch evolved in the first century B.C, when the Mahayana sutras or scriptures
were developed beyond the Pali Canon. They taught that everything is empty and meaningless,
and they stressed the importance of practising compassion and wisdom to free all living things
from pain. Compared to Theravada Buddhism, this tradition is very devotional, and it says that
there are many Buddhas and bodhisattvas from our world and beyond who have reached a god-
like state of being. Through the many sutras that can be found all over the world where
Mahayana is practised, devotees can learn about their stories and actions. These Sutras stress
how important it is to try to be bodhisattvas, which is an eternal being who not only wants their
own enlightenment but also wants the enlightenment of others. Along with other Buddhist sects,
it is usually found in China, Vietnam, Korea, Taiwan, and Japan, where it has been adapted to fit
each country's culture and spiritual beliefs.
Growth and Development of Mahayana Buddhism:
Apart from internal crises that forced Buddhists to think for a change in their religious outlook
from time to time there were also the external pressures as well. Buddhism and Hinduism fought
on two fronts: what they taught and how they lived. Because these two fronts were almost totally
separate for a while, those who defended Buddhism against attacks on its teachings became so
focused on their immediate task that they lost touch with the original goal of the teaching, which
was to help people. For them, Buddhism was a philosophical position that needed to be defended
in debates against Hindu and Jain philosophers, so they changed many of the teachings to fit the
new criteria of logic and epistemology that set the rules for the debate. When the main points of
the doctrine were taken out of their remedial context, they became little more than abstract ideas.
Even the Prasangika-Madhyamika School, which didn't defend any position, said that the
Buddhist doctrine of emptiness could be seen in a debater's stance: using logic to disprove other
people's theories without offering one's own. People might wonder how well the debaters did at
keeping the most important parts of Buddhist doctrine, but the debaters themselves were always
aware of who they were as Buddhists and how important it was to protect what they thought of
as Buddhism from outside influences. But the debaters' view of Buddhism became less and less
connected to the area of practise, and their description of the goal became more and more out of
reach for people. Thus it was of little help in defending the religion on the popular level. At the
same time, because the doctrine's basic ideas were no longer tied to their original ways of doing
things, they could be rethought in light of other practises, some of which were very different
from the original teachings. This is exactly what happened when Buddhism met what may have
been the most important event in the history of popular religion in India during the first
millennium C.E. The rise of Saivism, which was able to take things from its culture and use
them for its own purposes, has put many challenges to Buddhism. As Saivism came to the fore, it
absorbed Vedic ritual patterns, Samkhya philosophy, and the cults of many local gods and
goddesses. The gods became different expressions of Siva’s personality, whereas the goddesses
became his consorts, although-in keeping with the Indian view that the female principle is active
and the male passive-they maintained their role as sources of spiritual power. Saivism also took
in and developed different types of yoga, which is a form of meditation. These include Hatha
Yoga, which involves complex body positions and breathing control, and Kundalini Yoga, which
involves controlling the flow of energy through channels in the body. As the religion grew, Siva
became known as the Lord of the Dance, a god from whom all the beings in the great dance of
the cosmos came to exist just for his own fun and to whom they would all eventually return.
Under such a situation the question for Buddhism was how to react to this new movement, in as
much as its traditional rituals had nothing nearly so viscerally appealing to offer the public. Most
of the Hinayana schools don't seem to have paid much attention to these changes. However, the
four classes of Buddhist Tantras, or esoteric ritual texts, dating from the sixth century onward,
show three basic ways in which Saivite practises were absorbed by the Mahayana: Kriya
(Action) and Carya (Performance) Tantras use simple ritual forms to make merit in the classic
Mahayana context; Yoga Tantras teach a nonsexual deva-yoga centred on Sakyamuni in a
cosmic form called Mahavairocana; and Anuttarayoga is a form of yoga that has nothing to do
with sexuality (Unexcelled Yoga). Tantras teach sexual deva-yoga, and they often use symbols
from the Kapilika sect. The Kapilika sect is centred on the wrathful Buddha, who is based on the
wrathful forms of Siva and is seen as a family of Buddhas above Sakyamuni and Mahavairocana.
The last two sets of Tantras look like they were mostly written by yoga practitioners who didn't
work for a traditional Buddhist organisation. But starting in the eighth century, monastic scholars
tried to bring together doctrine and practise by including the Yoga Tantras in the main
curriculum of Buddhist universities. In the tenth century, they began admitting even the
unexcelled Yoga Tantras as well, writing elaborate commentaries teaching that the yoga should
be visualised rather than physically practised, and identifying the more scandalous parts of the
ritual as code symbols for standard Madhyamika doctrines. Meditation retreats were built as
adjuncts to the universities so that scholar-monks could practise their visualisations in an
orthodox monastic setting. Lay practitioners, however, continued their physical practise of
unexcelled Yoga, denouncing the monastics for being bound to small-minded rules. The monks,
on the other hand, said that the lay practitioners were stupid for not paying attention to the
doctrine of karma. Despite their differences, the lay and monastic practitioners together created a
radically new development in the Buddhist tradition that took on the status of a separate vehicle,
as different from the Mahayana as the Mahayana was from the Hinayana. Several names were
given to the new sect. Vajrayiina, the Adamantine Vehicle, was the most famous of them. It was
named after Vajradhiitu, the Adamantine Realm, which is the new vehicle's name for the ground
of Buddhahood. In adopting the symbolism of the Vajra (diamond/ thunderbolt), the new vehicle
was laying claim to a tradition with deep roots in Indian religion, as the Vajra was the weapon
wielded by the Vedic storm god Indra. As both a diamond and a thunderbolt, the Vajra represents
two aspects of supreme power: being completely unbeatable and being able to act on your own
without any rules. Another term for the new vehicle was Mantrayiina, the incantation vehicle,
derived from its extensive use of mantras. The new vehicle took an essentially Saivite view of
religious life, in which sexual union is the model for the highest religious state and the goal of
the practitioner is to unite all opposites in a solid union of light, emptiness, and happiness, and
gave it a Buddhist form. Scholars will probably never agree on whether this last chapter in the
history of Indian Buddhism should be seen as a sign of strength, because Buddhists were able to
rewrite their teachings in creative ways to compete with Saivism, or as a sign of weakness,
because they couldn't stand up to their rivals' passion. Because surviving usually means taking
what you need from your environment and changing to fit it, both ideas probably have some
truth to them.
Vajrayana was once a branch of Mahayana Buddhism, but now many scholars think of it as a
branch in its own right. This tradition started in India and has been carried out in Mongolia,
Bhutan, Nepal and Sikkim, but it is mostly based in Tibet. Vajrayana Buddhism emphasis three
stages, the first stage requires the concentration of the mind, and riding it of all worldly
attachment. At this stage, you get special training in compassion and wisdom, which is similar to
what most Mahayana followers do. Vajrayana is an obscure path that only people with long-term
knowledge can follow to speed up the process of becoming enlightened and keep it going in a
single lifetime.