History of Mahayana Buddhism: Innovation and Perfection

We'll take a quick overview of the history of Mahāyāna Buddhism, beginning with its earliest developments and how it separated from the rest of mainstream Buddhism. Then we'll look at a few of its later developments that came to define the Mahāyāna approach. It's a huge topic so this video only can provide an introduction!

Sutta mentioned:

Other references:

Richard Gombrich “How the Mahāyāna Began” in Paul Williams Buddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies (Routledge, 2005).

Thanks to Patrons:
Matthew Smith
Kathy Voldstad

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[clasherface]

Hello, 16 year old male here. I've decided to take upon Buddhism and begin to practice. I just wanted to say that these videos have been a tremendous help in learning about it so far. Much appreciated good sir!

[madhurasenevirathna.srilan]

This is very informative.Being a Theravada Buddhist, I went to Wutaishan mountain, Shanxi province in China.I saw huge number of monks and pilgrims from various sectors of Mahayana Buddhism.I thought to get an idea about what is the Mahayana Buddhism.This helped a lot.

[hanwin]

I am traditional Buddhist from Burma . I grew up in Buddhist culture . We have to recite Buddhist prayer for 5-10 mins before school started . But all in Pali words and I never understood. I don’t even understand “ Arahan”. Only thing I understand from Buddhist teaching was “ don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t indulge in drug and alcohol, don’t commit adultery, don’t lie “ . These basic teaching works for me to live in life. You explained really well about Buddhism .

[kiayungko]

I’m a Mahayana Buddhist from China. Namo Amituofo🇨🇳🙏🏻🌹❤️

[mamasquid]

Thank you for your videos. I am new to Zen practice and my new sangha is in the Western school of Buddhism. I am trying to understand Zen in the larger historical context and your videos have been very illuminating. Like you I am more on the secular side and it is interesting to me that Zen appears in many ways different than other Mahayana traditions. It's fascinating to see how Buddhist ideas have evolved throughout history.

[greenobeeno]

I don't know if you've read it but a follow up video you might wanna consider is the Lotus Sutra. It's impact on Mahayana cannot be understated and it introduced the concept that no distinction exists between vehicles, all roads lead to Buddhahood. It further asserts the Tathagata only seems to die, but really the Buddha lives forever, though not physically. It also most boldly is where schools got the notion that Buddhahood is inherent to reality itself and therefore Tathagatagarbha would be found here too. Loved the video and thank you!

[Bjarku]

Been looking for a video like this for ages. Thank you so much.

[dr.shuppet]

For some time I've been thinking about how should I perceive Mahayana Buddhism with its emphasis on bodhicitta, six paramitas, two truths and so on in comparison to the in my view more conservative Theravada tradition, centered around the Noble Eightfold Path. I had the feeling that I must somehow resolve this relationship to be able to practice Buddhism correctly, but then I remembered what the Buddha said to the kalamas in Kesamuttisutta:

"Please, Kālāmas, don’t go by oral transmission, don’t go by lineage, don’t go by testament, don’t go by canonical authority, don’t rely on logic, don’t rely on inference, don’t go by reasoned contemplation, don’t go by the acceptance of a view after consideration, don’t go by the appearance of competence, and don’t think ‘The ascetic is our respected teacher.’ But when you know for yourselves: ‘These things are unskillful, blameworthy, criticized by sensible people, and when you undertake them, they lead to harm and suffering’, then you should give them up."

Finally I came to the conclusion that I shouldn't let my practice be restrained by from which traditions the teaching come and judging the traditions' correctness, because that's entirely irrelevant when considering the value of the teachings.

[chipperjones]

It is extremely fascinating watching a non-religious man analyze religious texts from such a non-religious point of view. Thank you for your intriguing perspective

[vt.angeles]

I was raised in a Christian family as I'm South American but as I started to think by myself and discover different aspects of life I've realized that my beliefs tend to naturally match Buddhist beliefs.
It's been a while since I've started my research (even though i don't know much due to the lack of correct information about Buddhism in Spanish therefore I have to learn English in order to access to more information) and I have realized that it's difficult for me to choose a school. For me it's easier to comprehend Buddhism as a religion without deities and god/goddesses and take it more as a philosophy and lifestyle in order to achieve the state of a bodhisattva and later on a buddha scaping the cycle of life and achieving Nirvana. I have mixed beliefs between the Theravada school and the Mahayana school, do you believe thats it's possible to have mixed beliefs or should i strictly follow only one school?

[craigedinger]

Thanks for the great video Doug! I have been focusing on Theravada so much without really knowing much about Mahayana. I kind of like aspects of both.

[asliuf]

absolutely fascinating - so grateful for these overviews of the different schools!

[ws]

I am a Theravada Buddhist from Thailand and the Thai forest tradition is the only one that makes sense to me. (I have not made much progress in my practice though - I'm just too lazy!)
I find Mahayana Buddhism harder to understand than Christianity, Judaism or Islam and my attempts to learn more about it by reading have not been fruitful. Your videos have been a lot more helpful and I'm very grateful.

[PavaniGanga]

Thank you. Very helpful. I look forward to watching a number of your other videos. Buddhism will always be interesting to me, because of its very substantial influence on other Indian traditions. As an adopted-faith Hindu who deeply values history while also inhabiting wholeheartedly what I regard as the mythic/imaginal "tirtha" of a reality that is indeed metaphysical, I am immensely grateful to those who have done the painstaking work of tracing (as far as possible) the cultural history of the stories, images, developed ideals, and philosophies that today facilitate the spiritual experience of hundreds of millions of people.

[straightouttacomicbook]

As a new Buddhist been practicing for about 2 years now. Mahayana Buddhism has been my main practice but I’ve been learning about Theravada Buddhism.

[charleswey]

*My Conviction of Theravada & Mahayana*
Before any sects of Buddhism, there was only one Dharma called as Buddha Sasana or Vaca (Buddha’s teachings or words) and Tipitaka or Pali Canon is Buddha Sasana. Theravadian follow only Tipitaka. Theravada sect is the oldest and closest to the Dharma taught by Buddha himself. The most common and popular translation of the word thera is elders but “Thera” actually means elder monks who were Buddha’s companion; hence the belief by the theravadian that the lineage of ordination of monks can be traced back to Buddha’s disciple and ultimately to Buddha Himself.
On the other hand, even though Mahayana accepts Tipitaka as the Buddha Sasana but Mahayanist also believe in the teachings of the Boddhisattvas and they give more importance to the teachings of Boddhisattvas than to Buddha’s teachings. According to Theravadian, there’s nothing to be added or nothing to be taken out from the teachings of Buddha; the Dharma taught by Buddha is perfect. Yes, changes can be made to the teachings of Buddha because Buddha is not a god or his teachings a dogma; if there’s any changes to be made, it can only be changed by a Samma-SamBuddha and not by an Arhant or Mahayana Boddhisattvas such as Yogacara, Nagarjuna, Padmasambhava and so on...
Furthermore, Mahayana also added too many local rituals & traditions in their practice and these local rituals & traditions are very important to Mahayanist. Thus, you’ll find different version of Mahayana in different countries. A good example is the Vajrayana which is basically a version of Mahayana. There are so many rituals and ritual objects in Vajrayana which I find it to be more Hinduism rather than Buddhism; to name some: Vajra, human skull, Bowl, dagger, rosary and so on; they also have so many ceremonies where monks wear costumes & masks, play instruments and dance to the music but the most ridiculous of all is the chanting of prayers and mantras. The Tibatan really believe that one can achieve Nirvana by chanting “Om Mane Padme Hum”
In Mahayana, Buddhism is obscured because of excessive importance to Boddhisattvas’ teachings, rituals and traditions.

[NewEarth]

Buddha said, even our own father and mother cannot save us from the consequences of our wrongly directed mind. How can a Bodhisattva do what Buddha himself cannot do?

[xiaomaozen]

Even in Zen most teachers/masters reify "emptiness" or "Buddha nature" and understand it as a kind of "Brahman". I prefer the approach of the few who don't regard "emptiness" as an entity, but as the absence of any kind of inherent or persistent self.

Great video! 🙏🏻

[chericruz]

Excellent exposition on Mahayana Buddhism, thank you very much Dr.Doug for this enlightening commentary, Richard D CRUZ, Malaysia.

[atualidades]

One more excellent explanation opening paths and clarifyng important aspects of Buddhism to begginer students like me. Thanks one more time!