Mahayana

Mahāyāna, meaning "Great Vehicle" in Sanskrit, is the largest of the two main branches of Buddhism, the other being the older Theravada. It encompasses a wide range of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices that emerged across various regions and communities in ancient India, beginning around the 1st century BCE. While Mahāyāna accepts the core scriptures and teachings of early Buddhism, it also includes additional scriptures that Theravada does not consider canonical.

The term "Mahāyāna" was originally an honorary synonym for "Bodhisattvayāna," or the "Bodhisattva Vehicle." This refers to the path of a bodhisattva—a spiritual hero who makes a vow to achieve buddhahood in order to save all living beings, an attitude of compassion known as bodhicitta. Mahāyāna is thus also called the Bodhisattva Vehicle. It generally teaches that the goal of becoming a buddha through this path is available to anyone who takes the bodhisattva vow. In this view, the state of an arhat is considered incomplete and a lesser aspiration. Key Mahāyāna scriptures, such as the Lotus Sutra and the Vajra-cutter Sutra, emphasize the bodhisattva ideal and introduce unique teachings like the Perfection of Wisdom and the concept of Buddha-nature.

Mahāyāna buddhology includes many buddhas and bodhisattvas not found in Theravada, such as Amitābha and Vairocana, along with distinctive ideas about buddhahood, including the Trikaya (three bodies of a buddha) and Upaya (skillful means). Its philosophical traditions also promote unique theories, like the Madhyamaka doctrine of emptiness (śūnyatā) and the Vijñānavāda, or "doctrine of consciousness," which is idealistic in nature.

The earliest Mahāyāna texts, including the Lotus Sutra, use the term Mahāyāna as a synonym for Bodhisattvayāna, while the term Hīnayāna is rare in early sources. The apparent dichotomy between Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna can be misleading, as the two terms did not arise in relation to each other at the same time. Some scholars suggest that the term may have originated from a Prakrit word, mahājāna, meaning "great knowing," which was later Sanskritized as mahāyāna, possibly influenced by a double meaning in the Parable of the Burning House, which speaks of three vehicles (yāna). In Chinese, Mahāyāna is translated as 大乘 (dàshèng or dàchéng), a calque of "great vehicle," and also appears in early Chinese translations of the Lotus Sutra.

The origins of Mahāyāna are not fully understood, and several competing theories exist. Early Western views assumed it was a separate school in competition with so-called "Hīnayāna" schools. One theory, proposed by Jean Przyluski and later defended by Étienne Lamotte and Akira Hirakawa, suggested that laypeople were especially important in Mahāyāna's development, based partly on texts like the Vimalakirti Sūtra that praise lay figures over monastics. However, this theory is no longer widely accepted, as many early Mahāyāna works promote monasticism and asceticism. Another theory argues that Mahāyāna developed from the Mahāsāṃghika school.

Initially a small movement in India, Mahāyāna eventually became influential. Large scholastic centers associated with it, such as Nalanda and Vikramashila, flourished between the 7th and 12th centuries. From South Asia, Mahāyāna spread to Central Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayan regions. Traditions like Zen, Pure Land, and Tiantai are now the predominant forms of Buddhism in China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Vajrayana, or Mantra traditions, are a subset of Mahāyāna that use tantric methods believed to lead swiftly to buddhahood. These tantric forms are dominant in Tibet, Mongolia, Bhutan, and other Himalayan areas, and have also been present as a minority in Nepal, Malaysia, Indonesia, and among Asian diaspora communities.

As of 2010, Mahāyāna was the largest major tradition of Buddhism, with 53% of Buddhists belonging to East Asian Mahāyāna and 6% to Vajrayana, compared to 36% for Theravada.