Mahayana Buddhism is one of the two major schools of Buddhism (the other is Hinayana Buddhism), and Mahayana is the translation of Sanskrit Mahayana. Maha means "big" and yana means "ride", that is, transportation. It is the customary name of Indian Buddhism for teaching method, which is literally translated as "Dafa". Mainly spread in China, Japan, North Korea, Nepal, Tibet, Mongolia and other places, there are also a considerable number of believers in Viet Nam and Taiwan Province Province.

The development of history

The initial split of Buddhism appeared about 100 years after Sakyamuni's nirvana. At that time, Buddhism was divided into the Upper Seats Department and the Mass Department, and most scholars regarded the Mass Department as the original origin of Mahayana Buddhism. About 500 years after the death of the Buddha, the "middle view theory" founded by the Indian monk Longshu was regarded as a symbol of the complete establishment of Mahayana Buddhism. Later, some Indian monks created "epistemology", and the middle view and epistemology are considered as the two main theoretical foundations of Mahayana Buddhism.

Around the 7th century AD, Mahayana Buddhism created a set of mysterious religious practices based on the absorption of Brahman incantations, religious rituals and yoga physical training methods, which were called "Vajrayana" or "mysterious Mahayana". Compared with Mahayana Buddhism, people call the theoretical part of Mahayana Buddhism "significant Mahayana".

Mahayana Buddhism soon spread abroad after its rise and once became the main religion in Central Asia. The famous Bamiyan Buddha in Afghanistan was carved in this period. On the other hand, Mahayana Buddhism was introduced into Nepal and Tibet, and combined with the local primitive religious beliefs, forming Tibetan Buddhism with equal emphasis on openness and confidentiality.

Mahayana Buddhism, which was introduced into China, developed creatively and became a Chinese Buddhism with many sects and remarkable achievements. Especially Tiantai Sect, Huayan Sect, Tantric Sect, Zen Sect and Pure Land Sect, which developed after Sui and Tang Dynasties, combined China's inherent cultural characteristics and Confucianism and Taoism, and became China's pure Mahayana Buddhism that Indian Buddhism did not have.

Belief characteristics

In terms of basic beliefs, Mahayana Buddhism does not think that there can only be one Buddha in the world like Hinayana Buddhism, and ordinary people can only achieve reincarnation through practice. As for the nirvana of Arahant grosvenor; Instead, I think that there are countless ten buddhas in the third world, and Sakyamuni is not a real Buddha, but the body of the present Buddha in our world, which is a "template" to reveal the way of enlightenment to the world. As long as the world practices according to Sakyamuni's teachings, it can achieve Buddha's fruit.

Mahayana Buddhism regards Hinayana believers who only seek their own life and death and escape reincarnation and troubles as "self-descending into the Han Dynasty" and thinks that this is only the lowest level of understanding; Mahayana believes that if we want to achieve Buddha's fruit, we should not only have the determination to be self-sufficient, but also have the determination to be self-sufficient. Mahayana Buddhism believes that on the one hand, the process of practice must be to gain supreme wisdom through thinking and meditation; On the one hand, it is the so-called "double luck of sorrow and wisdom", which does all kinds of good deeds of helping others and measuring people with the compassion of all beings. Only in this way can we get the final fruit and become a Buddha.

Theoretically speaking, Mahayana Buddhism also denies the view that "I can't have it" and thinks that "I can't have it". In other words, Buddhism itself is a coincidence without self, and the nature of law is empty. However, there are great differences between the middle school and the independent school of Mahayana Buddhism in the interpretation of the emptiness of law.

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Academic circles generally believe that Mahayana Buddhism is the product of the gradual development of Buddhism, and it is a reform carried out by some Buddhists in order to adapt to the environment and further promote the spread of Buddhism. However, the Buddhist community itself has different views. Some followers of Mahayana Buddhism often regard Mahayana Buddhism as impure and unreliable, which is the product of "heresy" (other religious beliefs), and Mahayana Buddhist classics are attached by future generations; However, Mahayana Buddhism considers itself pure Buddhism, and thinks that all Mahayana classics are said by the Buddha, but the time was not ripe when the Buddha was alive, so it was hidden. It was under the guidance of Buddha and Bodhisattva that the monks who expounded the Mahayana theory in later generations obtained these Tibetan scriptures.