What is "Mahayana" Buddhism?

I thought I might explain as briefly as I can why this project is titled “Why Mahayana?” As opposed to, say, “Why Buddhism?”

First off, I tried to register as “Becoming a Buddhist” but that was already taken. Second, the title is a slight homage to Bertrand Russel’s book, Why I am not a Christian, which was helpful to me, many years ago as a child, when I was leaving the Christian faith. However, it’s called “Why Mahayana” because it really is the path as taught by Mahayana Buddhism that calls to me, that feels like home to me, and that makes sense of the world for me.

Historically speaking Buddha lived and taught from around 500 BCE to 400 BCE. He lived for around 80 years. Buddha’s main teaching is dependent arising. This is what makes Buddhism “Buddhism,” to a large degree. Dependent arising, put simply, is the assertion that all knowable things arise from other things. Nothing is an isolated “thing.” Nothing exists in and of itself. This gets interesting when applied to our own sense of “self.” When we search inside, we find that there is no essence or findable self, the Buddha taught. There is no atman or soul.

In saying this, the Buddha is not saying that there is no self, or that we do not exist. Buddhism is not nihilism. We exist. Sentient beings exist. The world exists. It just exists very differently than we perceive it to exist.

The problem with this misunderstanding is not one of religious doctrine. It’s not about being “right,” but about human suffering. The Buddha taught that our perception of a findable, essential self leads us to suffer from the afflictions that are the cause of all the misery in human life: craving, anger, attachment, hatred, miserliness, etc. We suffer because we misunderstand reality in a very profound way.

Unfortunately, nobody wrote down anything the Buddha said until around 300 years after his death. Like many religious traditions, Buddhism was an oral tradition. Monastics memorized sutras and chanted them. This chanting continued daily, preserving the teachings until they were finally written down.

To grossly simplify a lot of complicated history, today there are two main traditions of Buddhism. There is a tradition that comes from sutras that were written down in Pali, and there is a tradition that comes from sutras originally written down in Sanskrit.

To quote an article in Tricycle:

All current forms of Buddhism derive from two different sets of South Asian literature written in either Pali or Sanskrit, but there is little overlap between those two sets of texts. Sanskrit versions of some Pali texts once circulated, but they have been lost. The Chinese canon includes translations of many Pali and Sanskrit texts, but Chinese translations of the Pali texts often contain material not found in the Pali version. Theravada Buddhists accept only the Pali literature as the “word of the Buddha” and regard most surviving Sanskrit literature as untrustworthy later innovations. By contrast, the Tibetan canon consists mainly of Mahayana texts translated from Sanskrit, the same texts that Theravada Buddhists regard as inauthentic. When they talk about “what the Buddha taught,” Tibetan and Theravada Buddhists refer to completely different sets of texts.

Mahayana Buddhism comes from the Sanksrit tradition. This tradition is strongest in Tibet, China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and Mongolia. Mahayana Buddhism teaches the centrality of bodhicitta and the path of the bodhisattva as a means to achieving enlightenment. Bodhichitta can be understood as a deep realization of the inevitable suffering of humanity and the need to perfect one’s good qualities and eliminate one’s afflictions in order to help one’s self and others. It relies on a belief in the incredible potential of the mind, or Buddha nature, and on a sense of profound compassion for all sentient beings. Directly stated, Bodhichitta is the conviction that one will achieve enlightenment as a means of being of ultimate benefit for all sentient beings, all of whom are viewed as equally deserving of happiness and fulfillment.

The Pali tradition, which can be simplified as Theravada Buddhism, is prevalent in Sri Lanka (Ceylon), Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos. I have not studied in the Pali tradition, so I don’t want to say too much about it, but generally speaking the goal in the Pali tradition is individual liberation, or release from the cycle of suffering and rebirth in this existence. The path of the bodhisattva is much less prevalent, and enlightenment (as it is taught in the Mahayana texts) does not exist. It may be less confusing to say that the Sanskrit and the Pali tradition describe the final goal — enlightenment — differently. I certainly do not mean to say that Buddhists that follow the Pali tradition are not greatly compassionate nor that the Pali tradition does not value love and compassion.

The understanding of the final nature of reality is somewhat different in the two traditions. This is because the Mahayana tradition believes that the Perfection of Wisdom sutras, of which the Heart Sutra is a famous example, are true teachings of the Buddha that describe a subtle and profound truth about our existence. In contrast, the Perfection of Wisdom sutras do not exist in the Pali canon, and as such, adherents to this tradition may not even believe that these sutras are genuine teachings but, in fact, later fabrications (and may not even be Buddhism at all).

Remember that according to Buddhism, we suffer because we misperceive reality. This is the “ignorance” that is the cause of all our suffering. The ignorance that craving, anger, jealousy, etc. arise from. It’s not just a “not knowing,” though, it’s an active failure to understand and perceive reality as it exists. The Pali canon holds that we generally perceive external reality correctly. A table, for example, exists ultimately more or less as we perceive it (again, generalizing here). The Pali canon says that the problem is that we misperceive our own existence, we project a manner of existence onto our body and mind that is impossible. This is the fundamental ignorance.

The Sanksrit tradition, based on the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras and later teaching by great Indian pandits like Nagarjuna and Asanga, says that the problem is much deeper and more subtle than that. Not only do we misperceive our selves but we misperceive all of reality, animate and inanimate objects. This places mind in a much more fundamental position in the Sanskrit tradition, and has profound implications for the details of the philosophy and the view of the Buddhist path.

The Sanskrit tradition is the Mahayana tradition, the only Buddhist tradition that I have studied (a little). My studies have been in a Tibetan Buddhist tradition based on the teachings of Gelug Tibetan Buddhism in a school that mixes a Western pedagogy with a traditional Tibetan lineage. All that is to say that part of the reason I love Mahayana Buddhism is because I found a school with kind and wise teachers that brought me into the path. I think there are deeper, more fundamental reasons why I found this path and why it fits me, but I need to acknowledge that it is partly “mine” because I’ve been taught it skillfully. So, in part, this is “Why Mahayana” because of my teachers, who have shown me this path with loving care.

I cannot speak about Mahayana Buddhism in comparison to the Pali tradition (or Theravada Buddhism) because I have not studied the Pali tradition. I have barely studied the Tibetan Mahayana tradition. What I can speak to is the aspects of the teachings I received that touched my heart. I found in them a call to profound selflessness, a call to profound love of all beings, and a call to service that had been absent in my life (and was an answer to the meaningless I felt in success for its own sake or merely collecting epic experiences).

This call is expressed well in Shantideva’s The Way of the Bodhisattva (Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra), a classic Mahayana Buddhist text universally revered in the Tibetan tradition.

གང་དག་བདག་ལ་ཁ་ཟེར་རམ། །གཞན་དག་གནོད་པ་བྱེད་པའམ། །
དེ་བཞིན་ཕྱར་ཀ་གཏོང་ཡང་རུང༌། །ཐམས་ཅད་བྱང་ཆུབ་སྐལ་ལྡན་གྱུར། །

May all who say bad things to me
Or cause me any other harm
And those who mock and insult me
Have the fortune to fully awaken.

བདག་ནི་མགོན་མེད་རྣམས་ཀྱི་མགོན། །ལམ་ཞུགས་རྣམས་ཀྱི་དེད་དཔོན་དང༌། །
བརྒལ་འདོད་རྣམས་ཀྱི་གྲུ་དང་ནི། །གཟིངས་དང་ཟམ་པ་ཉིད་དུ་གྱུར། །

May I be a protector for those without a protector,
A guide for all travelers on the way;
May I be a bridge, a boat, and a ship
For all who wish to cross the water.

གླིང་དོན་གཉེར་ལ་གླིང་དང་ནི། །མར་མེ་འདོད་ལ་མར་མེ་དང༌།
གནས་མལ་འདོད་ལ་གནས་མལ་དང༌། །བདག་ནི་ལུས་ཅན་བྲན་འདོད་པ། །
ཀུན་གྱི་བྲན་དུ་འགྱུར་བར་ཤོག །

May I be an island for those who [seek a safe shore]
And a lamp for those desiring light,
May I be a bed for all who wish to rest
And a slave for all who want a slave.

ཡིད་བཞིན་ནོར་དང་བུམ་པ་བཟང༌། །རིགས་སྔགས་གྲུབ་དང་སྨན་ཆེན་དང༌། །
དཔག་བསམ་གྱི་ནི་ཤིང་དག་དང༌། །ལུས་ཅན་རྣམས་ཀྱི་འདོད་འཇོར་གྱུར། །

May I be a wishing jewel, a magic vase,
Powerful mantras and great medicine,
May I become a wish-fulfilling tree
And a cow of plenty for the world

ས་སོགས་འབྱུང་བ་ཆེན་པོ་དང༌། །ནམ་མཁའ་བཞིན་དུ་རྟག་པར་ཡང༌། །
སེམས་ཅན་དཔག་ཏུ་མེད་པ་ཡི། །རྣམ་མང་ཉེར་འཚོའི་གཞིར་ཡང་ཤོག །

Just like space
And the great elements such as earth,
May I always support the life
Of all the boundless creatures.

དེ་བཞིན་ནམ་མཁའི་མཐས་གཏུགས་པའི། །སེམས་ཅན་ཁམས་ལ་རྣམ་ཀུན་ཏུ། །
ཐམས་ཅད་མྱ་ངན་འདས་བར་དུ། །བདག་ནི་ཉེར་འཚོའི་རྒྱུར་ཡང་ཤོག །

And until they pass away from pain
May I also be the source of life
For all the realms of varied beings
That reach unto the ends of space.

The call to selflessness in Mahayana Buddhism is both a philosophic selflessness and an ethical selflessness. It does not seem so far to me from the teachings of Jesus in many ways. However, it is not a sacrifice, not a dying on the cross, a wounding of one's self for the sake of others, but just the opposite, a call to genuine happiness, a call to completeness, a call to truth. We are not called to die for others. Death is inevitable. We are called to live for others. This is probably how many Christians understand their calling to faith as well.

Regardless, there is an intellectual and philosophical rigor to the Tibetan Buddhist teachings that I appreciate. Nor, in Buddhism, is there a “savior.” We must save ourselves through our own efforts. We can and should ask for blessing and help from Buddahs, Bodhisattvas, and teachers, but we have to do the work. We have to heal our mind.

A word on terminology: Mahayana means, in Sanskrit, “Great Vehicle.” Historically, Mahayana Buddhists have called adherents of the Pali tradition Hiniyanists and their belief, Hinayana Buddhism. Hinayana means “Lesser Vehicle” in Sanskrit. Obviously, Theravadin monks do not describe themselves as adherents to the “Lesser Vehicle.” They call themselves Buddhists. Many of them may look at Mahayanists and Tibetan Buddhists and think they’re not Buddhists at all and instead are following a set of beliefs based on writings of Indian intellectuals hundreds of years after the Buddha’s death.

The important point here is that, while widely used, Mahayana and Hinayana are awkward (and even insulting) terms. Hinayana is decidedly out of favor, while Mahayana still gets used. The Dalai Lama has suggested that Buddhists use Pali and Sanskrit traditions as a way to be more ecumenical.

In conclusion, when I say “Why Mahayana?” I am referring to a lineage of teachings that began with Buddha Shakyamuni around 400 BCE, passed through India over the next 700 years or so, at some point came to include the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras, were expanded upon by great practitioners and scholars such as Nagarjuna and Asanga, eventually were transmitted to Tibet, where they were practiced, guarded, and developed in a commentarial, scholarly, and practice tradition for over a thousand years.

I am also referring to a belief in the profound potential of the mind for unlimited wisdom and love. I am referring to a belief that reality exists in a manner very different from our typical, naive perceptions. I am referring to a belief about the world based on dependent arising and cause and effect. And I am referring to a belief that we can learn to aspire to a vast purpose, the benefit of all sentient beings, and through the vastness of this purpose, we can eliminate our afflictions and learn to live in true freedom and joy in the service of all beings.

This is not a repudiation of other belief systems. It is more an exploration and a celebration of system that I love and that worked for me.

(I simplified a lot of things here and made some sweeping claims about history and belief systems. If anyone finds any outright mistakes, please let me know).