IN INDIA
BOOK V
HINDUISM
XXV. SIVA AND VISHNU
XXVI. FEATURES OF HINDUISM: RITUAL, CASTE, SECT,
FAITH
XXVII. THE EVOLUTION OF HINDUISM. BHAGAVATAS AND
PASUPATAS
XXVIII. SANKARA. SIVAISM IN SOUTHERN INDIA. KASHMIR.
LlNGAYATS
XXIX. VISHNUISM IN SOUTH INDIA
XXX. LATER VISHNUISM IN NORTH INDIA
XXXI. AMALGAMATION OF HINDUISM AND ISLAM. KABIR
AND THE SIKHS
XXXII. SAKTISM
XXXIII. HINDU PHILOSOPHY
BOOK IV
THE MAHAYANA
CHAPTER XVI
MAIN FEATURES OF THE MAHAYANA
The obscurest period in the history of Buddhism is that which follows
the reign of Asoka, but the enquirer cannot grope for long in these
dark ages without stumbling upon the word Mahayana. This is the name
given to a movement which in its various phases may be regarded as a
philosophical school, a sect and a church, and though it is not always
easy to define its relationship to other schools and sects it
certainly became a prominent aspect of Buddhism in India about the
beginning of our era besides achieving enduring triumphs in the Far
East. The word[1] signifies Great Vehicle or Carriage, that is a means
of conveyance to salvation, and is contrasted with Hinayana, the
Little Vehicle, a name bestowed on the more conservative party though
not willingly accepted by them. The simplest description of the two
Vehicles is that given by the Chinese traveller I-Ching (635-713 A.D.)
who saw them both as living realities in India. He says[2] "Those who
worship Bodhisattvas and read Mahayana Sutras are called Mahayanists,
while those who do not do this are called Hinayanists." In other
words, the Mahayanists have scriptures of their own, not included in
the Hinayanist Canon and adore superhuman beings in the stage of
existence immediately below Buddhahood and practically differing
little from Indian deities. Many characteristics could be added to
I-Ching's description but they might not prove universally true of the
Mahayana nor entirely absent from the Hinayana, for however divergent
the two Vehicles may have become when separated geographically, for
instance in Ceylon and Japan, it is clear that when they were in
contact, as in India and China, the distinction was not always sharp.
But in general the Mahayana was more popular, not i
|