Mahayana Buddhism Mahayana the Name

Mahayana Buddhism

Mahayana

The name Mahayana fuelled a lot of debate when it originated especially as concerns the teachings of Buddha religion thus the use of this name has been very controversial amongst Theravadin practitioners and a number of scholars (Rahula, 4). The very first recoded and famous talk concerning Mahayana took place as early as the first century BC and it was in the Lotus Sutra. A number of scholars have however argued that the initial term that was used was Mahajana which was a derivative of the word Mahajnana which had the connotation of 'great knowing', such scholars include Seishi Karashima among others. This term was later converted into Mahayana at the time when the term Prakrit was changed to Sanskrit which was more of through contamination rather than reasoning (Schopen, 2).

Origin of Mahayana

The origin of this term has not yet been put clearly by any historian or scholar even though a number give suggestions on where they believe the term originated from, one of such areas that has been mentioned is India where it is believed it may have originated from the first century CE. Even though many scholars agree that it originated from India there is a disagreement on which side of India with some arguing it came from the North-West while others say it originated from South-East. Those who argue that it originated from the South-East believe that it only spread to the North-West after change of loyalty by the people. Mahayana was later translated into Chinese after its spread into China in the second century CE; this spread into China was especially enhanced by Lokak Sema (Schopen, 2).

The rise in popularity of Mahayana has been associated to many sources but among them three have been commonly pointed out as the major contributors towards the rapid increase in popularity of the Mahayana Buddhism. At the top of this list are the early schools of the Buddhist and a lot of terms used in these schools and those used in Mahayana have been related more often than not which indicate that there was a lot of incorporation of words from the Buddhist schools into the Mahayana Buddhism thus qualifying the schools as one of the origins. In addition to the texts, there are also a number of doctrinal ideas that are common between the sub-schools and the Mahayana thus bringing a similarity between the two in terms of content an indication that the schools contributed in the origin. Next source recorded in this list is the Biographical literature of the Buddha; this literature had its composition done by individuals who are claimed to have been the strong proponents of Buddha and thus was in the medium that eulogized Buddha (Williams, 15). Due to the content of such literature that mainly praised Buddha it was evident that they borrowed a piece from the early schools, however these borrowed ideas were more or less urbanized thus had a strong contribution towards the augmentation of Mahayana Buddhism, this is because the manner in which the poets expressed their work differed from that of scholars since scholars focused mostly on doctrines which was not the case with poets (Williams, 15).

Coming last in the list of the popular sources does the Stupa worship which played a great role in spreading Buddhism to the population especially that comprise uneducated laymen. The basic background of Stupas consisted simple monuments to Gautama Buddha, these had no great significance until they were turned into devotion places and at the same time being used as points to reach the populace with a greater success recorded among the illiterate individuals. Since Buddhism was spread at the places of worship, there was an increase of devotion to Buddha leading to the widespread of Buddhism. It has to be noted however that this theoretical argument has met opposition from some scholars with others arguing that it is superfluous and did not give an obvious explanation to the origin of Mahayana Buddhism.

Even though these three arguments have been supported by a number of scholars there is still a lot of debate with reference to the origin of Mahayana with a number believing that its origin was a movement inspired by the lay, however, it has been observed that individuals with such beliefs have closed their thinking around a literature written about the origin of Mahayana sutra. It became important that a wider view is brought forward thus encouraging the schools to drift from this restricted literature and have widened their scope to capture the earlier literature on Mahayana which perfectly present the early life related to Mahayana.

The Mahayana had a strong doctrine which helped in making it strong and enhanced its development not only in the early stages but also over the years since the basis for such doctrines were easily embrace by the masses, the main one was that of widespread deliverance of the masses from afflictions which was obvious a likable idea to any being. It additionally held high Buddha's existence and bodhisattvas that exemplified the character and nature of Buddha and it represented Buddha as the most high and all perfect.

Differences between Mahayana Buddhism and Theravada Buddhism

There are a number of issues that distinct Mahayana and Theravada most of which are ideological in nature one of such being in the belief on enlightenment, the Mahayana have a belief in working towards enlightenment while Theravada on the other hand believes that there are individual efforts that bring about enlightenment. The other difference comes on reasoning about wisdom whereas Theravada believes in trying very hard for wisdom first, the Mahayana have the belief that the highest virtue is compassion. There is a focus on meditation among the Theravada which necessitates an individual to have special ardor but on the other hand the Mahayana support world related practice and that in the general community (Schopen, 2).