01:840:211 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Mahayana Sutras, Lotus Sutra, Mahayana
Document Summary
Mahayana: gotama isn"t that important here anymore - remains accessible to us. Died - 2,500 years ago - sasna (prophecy) - will disappear. Amitabha buddha attended by the bodhisattvas kannon (avalokitesvara) and seishi (mahasthamaprapta) welcoming beings to the pure land of sukhavati. Mahayana buddhism is a development within the buddhist tradition that began in india around 0 c. e. and later spread to china, tibet, korea, japan, vietnam and elsewhere. It is based upon and further elaborates ideas and practices that were a central part of the earliest forms of indian buddhism. Subsequently, mahayana further developed into many different orientations and sub-schools with different emphases: chan/zen, pure. In very general terms, the basic orientation of the. Mahayana is a refocus of the ultimate aspiration of buddhist practice away from the arhat (pali arahant) path towards the bodhisattva (pali, bodhisatta) path. Early mahayana sutras begin to be composed around the 1st century b. c. e.
