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Mahayana Buddhism - Buddhahood For Everyone
By Pablo Antuna
The Mahayana, or "Great Vehicle", is a school of Buddhism that changes the style, the tone and the content of Buddhist practice in profound ways. It opens up the practice of Buddhahood to lay people as well as to monks and nuns. It also involves a far more extended vision of the cosmos than anything that came before.
The Mahayana movement emerged in the Indian Buddhist community around the beginning of the Common Era. Eventually, the Mahayana spread to China, Tibet, Japan, Korea and Vietnam.
The Buddha Nature and Mahayana Buddhism
The name Mahayana comes from the literature of the movement itself. Mahayana texts refer to themselves as a great vehicle, in contrast to what they call the Hinayana, or lesser vehicle, that preceded it.
The texts say that the Mahayana is the one great vehicle, the real teaching of the Buddha. All those other teachings that came before are preliminary exercises that are meant to get a person started on the path to salvation, but are not meant to constitute the Buddha's final teaching.
Where does this tradition come from? The texts trace the origin of the Mahayana to what is called the Second Turning of the Wheel of the Dharma during the life of the Buddha himself. In other words, the Mahayana texts claim to be the teaching of the Buddha himself delivered to a special assembly of boddhisattvas. The Mahayana texts then go on to say that the Mahayana was concealed during several centuries until the world was ready to receive it. Then the Sutras, the texts of the Mahayana, were brought forth and spread across India.
What is the teaching of the Mahayana? The fundamental teaching of Mahayana Buddhism is what is called the Boddhisattva Ideal. A Boddhisattva is a Buddha-to-be, somebody who isn't a Buddha yet but plans to be one in a future life. A Boddhisattva in the Mahayana tradition doesn't attempt to go straight to Nirvana but he turns to this world and attempts to help others along the path to salvation. This means that Boddhisattvas can include lay men as well as monks and nuns, because all of us can be understood as being part of the path to Buddhahood.
Boddhisattvas cultivate two virtues: Wisdom, a contemplative and quiet virtue, that has to do with understanding the nature of the self and the nature of the world; and compassion, a virtue that has to do with actively seeking the welfare of others. The Mahayana always has this double aspect: contemplation and action.
If you are interested in knowing more about his Buddhist movements, its beliefs and practices, you might be interested in visiting the following Web Site. Here you will learn about this religious tradition through an interesting perspective. The Author is Pablo Antuna, an experienced professor of Eastern Religions.
Mahayana Buddhism: Learn more about this reform movement.
Buddhism: Learn more and get involved in this remarkable religious tradition.
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