The Origin of Mahayana Buddhism
In the three or four centuries following Ashoka a surprising change came over Indian Buddhism, but though the facts are clear it is hard to connect them with dates and persons.
But the change was clearly posterior to Ashoka for though his edicts show a spirit of wide charity it is not crystallized in the form of certain doctrines which subsequently became prominent.The first of these holds up as the moral ideal not personal perfection or individual salvation but the happiness of all living creatures.
The good man who strives for this should boldly aspire to become a Buddha in some future birth and such aspirants are called Bodhisattvas. Secondly Buddhas and some Bodhisattvas come to be considered as supernatural beings and practically deities. The human life of Siddharta Gautama, though not denied, is regarded as the manifestation of a cosmic force which also reveals itself in countless other Buddhas who are not merely his predecessors or destined successors but the rulers of paradises in other worlds.Faith in a Buddha, especially in Amit?bha, can secure rebirth in his paradise. The great Bodhisattvas, such as Avalokita and Mahayana?, are splendid angels of mercy and knowledge who are theoretically distinguished from Buddhas because they have indefinitely postponed their entry into nirvana in order to alleviate the sufferings of the world. These new tenets are accompanied by a remarkable development of art and of idealist metaphysics.This new form of Buddhism is called Mahayana, or the Great Vehicle, as opposed to the Small Vehicle or H?nay?na, a somewhat contemptuous name given to the older school. The idea underlying these phrases is that sects are merely coaches, all travelling on the same road to salvation though some may be quicker than others. The Mahayana did not suppress the Hinayana but it gradually absorbed the traffic.”
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