Mahayana Buddhism

1
Mahayana Buddhism

• The Big Vehicle

2
Mahayana Buddhism emphazises

• Enlightenment is attainable for everyone
• Stress on Bodhisattva
• Stress on compassion for everyone thus the
  stress on Bodhisattva
• Attempts to meet almost every religious and
  philosophical need.

3
Mahayana Teaching and Practice
4
Some key characteristics

• Body is viewed positively
• Material things are viewed positively
• Open to art and music
• Senses and emotions part of spiritual
  transformation
• The gulf between sacred and non sacred is bridged

5
All Seeing Buddha
6
Main Emphasis

• A main emphasis in Mahayana is karuna which
  means compassion, empathy, kindness, sympathy.
  The idea is the all of us are part of the same
  ever changing universe and deep down we are
  really not different. To act kindly to another
  is to act kindly to ones self.

7
Karuna taken to another level

• The idea of compassion in Buddhism is taken to
  another level in regard to enlightenment. A
  person becomes enlightened not simply for his or
  her sake but for the sake of others. A person
  who becomes enlightened and returns to show
  others is a bodhisattva which means
  enlightenment being.

8
Openness

• Mahayana Buddhism is open to a number of
  religious paths. A person may not find a
  devotion to a deity particularly suited for them
  however, that person may appreciate meditation.
• Mahayana is open to anything that will help a
  person spiritually this is known as upaya or
  skillful means.

9
Thought and Worldview

• The universe is filled with the divine
• The universe is populated with holy personalities.

10
The Divine Nature of Buddha
11
The Three-Body Doctrine or Trikaya Doctrine

• The Buddha nature expresses itself in three ways
  called the trikaya.
• Buddha was considered a manifestation of divine
  reality, the cosmic Buddha nature.
• This is known as Dharmakaya variously known as
  law body, form body, or body of reality.
• The cosmic Buddha nature permeates everything.

12
Incarnation

• Siddhartha Gautamas physical body is considered
  an incarnation of divine reality and is called
  Narmanakya (transformation body).
• There idea is the idea that there are more than
  one incarnation of Buddha and therefore another
  historical Buddha Maitreya will appear on earth
  in the future in inaugurate the golden age.

13
Cosmic Buddha

• This Buddha has taken on bodily form who are
  supernatural Buddhas who live in the heavens.
• Buddhas are envisioned in heavenly realms which
  spread in all directions and therefore each
  direction must have its own reigning body-bliss
  Buddha.
• The one that rules the Western Paradise is called
  Amitabha Buddha.

14
More on heaven

• Heavenly Bodhisattvas are Buddha beings who
  exists in other realms who are eager to help
  humans. They are beings of great compassion who
  once lived on Earth.
• The most significant one is Avalokiteshvara who
  looks from above to help. Was male in India
• In female Guanyin, hears all cries.

15
More Mahayana Concepts

• Shunyata - emptiness or zeroness. Because
  everything is in constant change, each apparently
  individual person and thing is actually empty
  of permanent individual identity.
• Tathata - thatness, thusness, suchness. Reality
  is revealed in each moment, as we savor pattern,s
  relationships and change. Because no moment is
  exactly the same, each one can be observed and
  appreciated as it passes.

16
Mahayana Literature

• Prajnaparamita Sutras (sutra on the perfection
  of wisdom) contrast ordinary understanding with
  enlightened understanding.
• Vimalakirti Sutra teaches that it is possible to
  live a devout Buddhist life without becoming a
  monk.
• Saddharma Pundarika Sutra (lotus of the good
  law. The Buddha shows his cosmic transcendent
  nature.

17
The Lands of Mahayana Buddhism

• Mahayana Buddhism exists in many countries among
  them are
• China
• Japan
• Korea

18
Major Schools in Mahayana

• Shingon (true word) - this school stresses uses
  sacred chants called mantras and if the rituals
  were carefully followed it would provide security
  for rulers, children for married couples. The
  followers attempt to unite with Buddhas cosmic
  nature. This school uses mandalas which are
  geometrical designs that present reality in
  symbolic form.

19
More Schools

• Tendai is named for the greatest Chinese monastic
  mountain institution at Mount Tiantai (heavenly
  terrace) which is where the sect began. It
  focuses on ritual.
• Jodo or Pure Land is a devotional form of
  Buddhism that could be practiced by both
  laypeople and monks. Devotion to Amitabha is
  great.

20
More Schools

• Nichiren began in Japan. Its founder was a
  Tendai monk named Nichiren. Believed that the
  Lotus Sutra contained all of the basic teachings
  of the Buddha. His sect uses the chant Nam
  Myoho Renge Kyo which means Praise to the
  mystic law of the Lotus Sutra.