The Rise of Mahayana Buddhism

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The Rise of Mahayana Buddhism

About a hundred years after the Buddha’s passing, the Buddhist order, which had split into the Theravada and Mahasamghika schools as a result of the second council, experienced successive rifts thereafter, ultimately dividing into eighteen splinter groups, and then again into twenty groups. There were various reasons for these schisms, including divergent interpretations of the Buddha’s teachings. Some of the independent schools, however, were formed because of the teachings of elder monks who had formed their own methodologies, while others were established for no other reason than geographic isolation.

During this continuing splintering process, the various schools were forced to focus foremost on their particular interpretations of the sutras and the rules of conduct, so that the practice of Buddhism gradually became academic and egocentric, with scarcely a semblance of its original and true substance.

In reaction to this corruption of the Buddha’s teachings, a new movement began in an effort to recapture the original intent of Buddhism – the relief of humanity’s suffering. Activists within this new movement strongly believed that the true purpose of Shakyamuni’s teachings was not limited to practice by individuals for their own attainment of Buddhahood alone, but was directed toward the ultimate happiness of all people. On that basis, the new activists called their own practice, which sought salvation for all people, Mahayana (greater vehicle), and ostracized the purely egocentric practices with the appellation Hinayana (lesser vehicle).

The values of the Mahayana activists resonated among many Hinayana sectarianists, which led to the rapid diffusion of Mahayana Buddhism throughout India. The Development of Mahayana Buddhism

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