The Development of
Mahayana Buddhism

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While the Mahayana propagation movement advanced, a great number of Mahayana scriptures also were compiled. Then around the second century CE, commentaries were written on the sutras by such renowned theoreticians as Nagarjuna and others. Nagarjuna systematized the doctrine of emptiness (non-substantiality; Jp. ku) through such works as The Middle Treatise (Skt., Madhyamaka-karika; Jp. Chu-ron), Treatise on the Great Sutra of the Perfection of Wisdom (Skt., Mahaprajnaparamita-shastra; Jp. Daichido-ron) and Discourse on the Ten Stages (Skt., Dashabhumi-vibhasha-shastra; Jp. Jujubibasha-ron), thus creating the foundation for Mahayana ideology. Because of this accomplishment, Nagarjuna is revered as the founder of many Mahayana sects in both China and Japan, and often is referred to as the father of eight sects. Nagarjuna’s successors focused most of their research on The Middle Treatise, hence, their lineage became known as the Middle Way School (Skt., Madhyamika School; Jp. Chugan-ha). Later on in the fourth century, other prominent scholars appeared, including Asanga (Jp. Mujaku) and Vasubandhu (Jp. Seshin, also Tenjin), who established the consciousness only ideology and worked to further promote Mahayana Buddhism. Successors to this lineage became known as the Consciousness Only school, which, together with the Middle Way School, formed two Buddhist centers of higher learning, thus strengthening the influence of academic Buddhism.

In the sixth century, however, Buddhism began to lean toward the esoteric and the occult. Local Hindu influence also became so powerful that Buddhism was eventually absorbed into the Hindu religion. Moreover, Islam began to spread into India in about the 11^th Century, at which time Muslim aggression caused many monks, nuns, and priests to flee India for safe havens in Nepal and Tibet.

Followers of Islam destroyed Buddhist monasteries and slaughtered the priests and nuns living in them. Finally, in 1203 CE, Bikuramasila Monastery, the only remaining bastion of Indian Buddhism, succumbed to an overwhelming Muslim onslaught, which marked the extinction of Buddhism in India.

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