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Eastern Buddhism
Chinese Ming dynasty porcelain figure of Guanyin, "Goddess of Mercy."Main
article: Mahayana
Mahayana ("Great Vehicle") is an inclusive, cosmically-dimensioned faith
characterized by the adoption of additional texts, seen as ultimately
transcending the Pali suttas, and a shift in the understanding of Buddhism. It
goes beyond the traditional Theravada ideal of the release from suffering (dukkha)
and personal enlightenment of the arhats, to elevate the Buddha to the God-like
status of an eternal, omnipresent, all-knowing being, and to create a pantheon
of quasi-divine Bodhisattvas devoting themselves to personal excellence,
ultimate knowledge and the salvation of humanity (and indeed of all living
beings, including animals, ghosts and gods). In Mahayana, the Buddha became an
idealized man-god and the Bodhisattva was the universal ideal of excellence.
The Mahayana branch emphasizes infinite, universal compassion (maha-karuna) or
the selfless, ultra-altruistic quest of the Bodhisattva to attain the "Awakened
Mind" (bodhicitta) of Buddhahood so as to have the fullest possible knowledge of
how most effectively to lead all sentient beings into Nirvana. Emphasis is also
often placed on the notions of Emptiness (shunyata), perfected spiritual insight
(prajnaparamita) and Buddha-nature (the deathless tathagatagarbha, or Buddhic
Essence, inherent in all beings and creatures). The teaching of the
tathagatagarbha is said by the Buddha in the tathagatagarbha sutras to
constitute the "absolutely final culmination" of his Dharma - the highest
presentation of Truth. The Mahayana can also on occasion communicate a vision of
the Buddha or Dharma which amounts to mysticism and gives expression to a form
of mentalist panentheism (God in Buddhism).
In addition to the Tripitaka scriptures, which (within Mahayana) are viewed as
valid but only provisional or basic, Mahayana schools recognize all or part of a
genre of Mahayana scriptures. Some of these sutras became for Mahayanists a
manifestation of the Buddha himself. Mahayana Buddhism shows a great deal of
doctrinal variation and development over time, and even more variation in terms
of practice. While there is much agreement on general principles, there is
disagreement over which texts are more authoritative.
Native Eastern Buddhism is practiced today in China, Japan, Korea, Singapore,
parts of Russia and most of Vietnam. The Buddhism practiced in Tibet, the
Himalayan regions, and Mongolia is also Mahayana in origin, but will be
discussed below under the heading of Northern Buddhism. There are a variety of
strands in Eastern Buddhism, which in most of this area are fused into a single
unified form of Buddhism. However, in Japan they form separate denominations.
The five major ones are the following.
Chan/Zen
Pure Land
Nichiren, peculiar to Japan
Shingon, a form of Vajrayana
Tendai
The
Four Noble Truths
Noble Eightfold Path
Bodhi
Refuge in the Three Jewels
Sila
Samadhi,
Vipassana, and Buddhist meditation
Prajñā
Wisdom
Early
Buddhism
Rise of Mahayana Buddhism
Emergence of
the Vajrayāna
Decline of Buddhism in India and
Central Asia
Southern Buddhism
Eastern Buddhism
Northern Buddhism
Buddhist
Texts
Hinduism and Buddhism
Similarities between Hinduism and
Buddhism
Buddhism and Eastern Teaching
God in
Buddhism
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