MahayanaMahāyāna (महायान, ˌmɑːhəˈjɑːnə ; Great Vehicle) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in ancient India (1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing branches of Buddhism, the other being Theravāda and Vajrayāna. Mahāyāna accepts the main scriptures and teachings of early Buddhism but also recognizes various doctrines and texts that are not accepted by Theravada Buddhism as original.
BījaIn Hinduism and Buddhism, the Sanskrit term Bīja (बीज) (Jp. 種子 shuji) (Chinese 种子 zhǒng zǐ), literally seed, is used as a metaphor for the origin or cause of things and cognate with bindu. Various schools of Buddhist thought held that karmic effects arose out of seeds that were latent in an individual's mindstream or psycho-physical continuum. Rupert Gethin describes the theory thus: When I perform an action motivated by greed, it plants a 'seed' in the series of dharmas [phenomena] that is my mind.
WonhyoWŏnhyo (Chinese: 元曉; ; 617 – 686, meaning: "Dawnbreak") was one of the most important philosophers and commentators in East Asian Buddhism and the most prolific scholar in Korean Buddhism. As one of the most eminent scholar-monks in East Asian history, his extensive literary output runs to over 80 works in 240 fascicles. His most influential commentaries are those on buddha-nature texts like the *Vajrasamādhisūtra, the Awakening of Faith, and the Mahāparinivāṇasūtra. These works became classics widely respected throughout Korea, China and Japan.
Tathāgatagarbha sūtrasThe Tathāgatagarbha sūtras are a group of Mahayana sutras that present the concept of the "womb" or "embryo" (garbha) of the tathāgata, the buddha. Every sentient being has the possibility to attain Buddhahood because of the tathāgatagarbha. This concept originated in India but was a major influence in the development of East Asian Buddhism, where it was equated with the concept of Buddhadhātu, "buddha-element" or "buddha-nature". The Tathāgatagarbha sūtras include the Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra, Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra, Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra and the Aṅgulimālīya Sūtra.
YogacharaYogachara (योगाचार, IAST: ; literally "yoga practice"; "one whose practice is yoga") is an influential tradition of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing the study of cognition, perception, and consciousness through the interior lens of meditative and yogic practices. Yogachara was one of the two most influential traditions of Mahayana Buddhism in India, the other being Madhyamaka.
Eight ConsciousnessesThe Eight Consciousnesses (Skt. aṣṭa vijñānakāyāḥ) is a classification developed in the tradition of the Yogācāra school of Mahayana Buddhism. They enumerate the five sense consciousnesses, supplemented by the mental consciousness (manovijñāna), the defiled mental consciousness (kliṣṭamanovijñāna), and finally the fundamental store-house consciousness (ālāyavijñāna), which is the basis of the other seven. This eighth consciousness is said to store the impressions (vāsanāḥ) of previous experiences, which form the seeds (bīja) of future karma in this life and in the next after rebirth.
Mu (negative)The Japanese and Korean term () or Chinese (), meaning "not have; without", is a key word in Buddhism, especially Zen traditions. It is a fourth grade kanji. The Old Chinese * (無) is cognate with the Proto-Tibeto-Burman *ma, meaning "not". This reconstructed root is widely represented in Tibeto-Burman languages; for instance, means "not" in both Written Tibetan and Written Burmese. The Standard Chinese pronunciation of (無, "not; nothing") historically derives from the 7th century CE Middle Chinese , the 3rd century CE Late Han Chinese muɑ, and the reconstructed 6th century BCE Old Chinese *.
ŚūnyatāŚūnyatā (ʃuːnˈjɑːtɑː ; śūnyatā; suññatā), translated most often as "emptiness", "vacuity", and sometimes "voidness", or "nothingness" is an Indian philosophical concept. Within Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and other philosophical strands, the concept has multiple meanings depending on its doctrinal context. It is either an ontological feature of reality, a meditative state, or a phenomenological analysis of experience. In Theravāda Buddhism, suññatā often refers to the non-self (Pāli: anattā, Sanskrit: anātman) nature of the five aggregates of experience and the six sense spheres.
BuddhismBuddhism (ˈbʊdɪzəm , USalsoˈbuːd- ), also known as Buddha Dharma, and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in the eastern Gangetic plain as a śramaṇa–movement in the 5th century BCE, and gradually spread throughout much of Asia via the Silk Road. It is the world's fourth-largest religion, with over 520 million followers (Buddhists) who comprise seven percent of the global population.
HuayanThe Huayan school of Buddhism (, Wade-Giles: Hua-Yen, "Flower Garland," from the Sanskrit "Avataṃsaka") is Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty (618-907). The Huayan worldview is based primarily on the Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra (, Flower Garland Sutra) as well as on the works of Huayan patriarchs, like Zhiyan (602–668), Fazang (643–712) and Zongmi (780–841). Another common name for this tradition is the Xianshou school (Xianshou being another name for patriach Fazang).
