The Mahayana emerged between 100 B.C.E. and 100 C.E. in India in the context of debate about proper Buddhist doctrine and practice, about monastic discipline, and particularly about the ongoing presence of the Buddha after his death as well as the nature of enlightenment itself.
Initially, the Mahayana was influenced by other Buddhist schools of thought in India; as it spread in and beyond India, it absorbed and adopted aspects of indigenous religious traditions, such as Taoism, Confucianism, Bon, and various forms of Hinduism.
The philosopher/monk Nagarjuna is sometimes said to be the founder of the Mahayana, along with such early figures as Asanga and Vasubandhu, although each of these figures actually founded sub-schools within the early Mahayana; in reality there is no single founder of the tradition.
The earliest Mahayana texts compose the vast corpus known as the "Prajnaparamita" ("Perfection of Wisdom"), which forms the foundation of many later Mahayana schools. Other important early texts include the "Sadharmapundarika" ("Lotus Sutra") and the "Vimalakirti Nirdesha Sutra."
Mahayana thought has been extremely influential in western philosophy and, in recent decades, western religious and ethical practice. Early scholarship on the Mahayana focused primarily on Mahayana thought, but more attention recently has been paid to ritual and devotional practices.
The early Mahayana is marked by, among other things, a profound emphasis on the importance of the book; hundreds of new texts were written, copied, disseminated, and often worshipped. This may have been intended to counter the dominance of stupa veneration in other Buddhist schools.
The Mahayana itself is often understood as a schismatic movement. After the initial emergence of the Mahayana, a number of important subschools emerged in India and then in China - among them Madhyamaka, Yogacara, the Pure Land Schools, and Ch'an.
A variety of kings in both India and east and southeast Asia supported the Mahayana, among them: the Kushanas, Guptas, and Palas in India; the Han and Tang in China; the Srivijaya and Sailendra in Indonesia.
The Mahayana spread throughout the Indian subcontinent through the missionary activities of monks and the patronage of kings. By the 2nd century C.E. it had made its way to China. It also spread to both east and southeast Asia.
Mahayana Buddhism has adapted to tremendous change in its 2000-year history, and the tradition has continued to evolve in the modern world. In Asia, Europe, and North America the Mahayana has thrived, often by integrating seeming secular aspects of political and social-welfare activities into its practices.
There is no single sacred narrative in Mahayana Buddhism. Accounts of the lives and activities of the buddhas, boddhisattvas, female deities, and significant monks serve as a means of spreading and explaining Mahayana doctrine and practice.
The bodhisattva is perhaps the defining characteristic of the Mahayana. Bodhisattvas are enlightened beings who remain in the world to assist those beings still suffering in samsara. The Mahayana pantheon is populated by thousands of bodhisattvas, as well as buddhas and goddess-like figures.
The Mahayana holds that the cultivation of wisdom, prajna -- through various meditation techniques, sometimes with the help of bodhisattvas -- allows individuals to cut through the ignorance and grasping that keep them stuck in samsara.
As with other schools of Buddhism, the Mahayana holds that suffering is caused by grasping on to things and experiences that are, by their very nature, impermanent.
Final salvation in the Mahayana is nirvana, although the meaning of that term changed significantly as the Mahayana developed. Some schools hold that enlightened beings are reborn in pure lands, limitless paradises where they reside with buddhas and bodhisattvas.
The Mahayana does not hold a consistent idea of sacred time. The bodhisattvas are always present and active in the world, and thus in a sense all time could be understood to be sacred.
Mahayana temples represent a kind of sacred space. Mandalas, often elaborate diagrams used in meditation, are another kind of sacred space; practitioners can inhabit the spaces that they represent through various meditation practices.
Mahayana Buddhists engage in a tremendous range and variety of rituals and ceremonies: complex meditation practices, ritual devotion to buddhas and bodhisattvas, visualizations, pilgrimage, and mantra recitation.
Mahayana Buddhists worship a wide range of bodhisattvas and semi-divine beings. The Buddha, the bodhisattvas Avalokiteshvara, Manjushri, and Amitabha, and the goddess Tara are among the most popular objects of devotion, providing protection and guidance to their devotees.
The lotus (purity) and the eight-spoke wheel (the Buddha's teachings, dharma) are ubiquitous symbols in the Mahayana; other common symbols are various hand gestures (mudras), seated and standing postures, the book (dharma and wisdom) and the sword (insight and wisdom).
Although each individual Buddhist is fully responsible for his or her own progress, monks provide a moral and ethical model for the laity, as well as guidance and teaching. Mahayana monks have typically been celibate men, although in some countries monks are married, and the monastic path is open to women.
As with other schools of Buddhism, there is a symbiotic relationship between lay people and monks in the Mahayana; lay people materially support the monks, while the monks provide teaching and guidance to the laity. Monasteries are hierarchially structured based on seniority.
Karma is at the center of all discussions of morality and ethics in the Mahayana, along with the idea of selfless compassion (karuna). It is the bodhisattvas' selfless compassion, coupled with wisdom (prajna) and skillful means (upaya), that compels them to remain in the world to aid other beings.
The Mahayana, literally the "great vehicle," holds that all beings can and will eventually become perfectly enlightened beings. The goal of all people is to act ethically and compassionately, and thereby ideally to affect a perfectly harmonious society.
Images of spiritually powerful and advanced female figures are common in the Mahayana -- Tara, who guides and protects her devotees; Prajnaparamita, who embodies wisdom. Some Mahayana schools employ sexual imagery to symbolize the union of wisdom and skillful means, and the overcoming of oppositions.
