What Is Mahayana Buddhism?

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What Is Mahayana Buddhism?

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

In this video, Lama Jampa Thaye explains that Mahāyāna Buddhism is characterized by followers who considered Buddha's example as primary, adopting a broader and more profound motivation to become a Buddha for the sake of all beings. The teaching emphasizes the bodhisattva path, which centers on developing compassion and wisdom through the cultivation of bodhicitta—the altruistic aspiration to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings. Lama Jampa presents how these ancient Mahāyāna teachings remain vitally relevant to modern practitioners seeking to develop a more open heart and clearer mind in everyday life.

Citation

Thaye, Lama Jampa. "What Is Mahayana Buddhism?" Produced by Lama Jampa Thaye Jun 8, 2019. Video, 4:22. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZUwfrlL5lE.

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Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of the Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. Skt महायान  Tib ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ།  Ch 大乘  

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Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

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Karuṇā - The profound wish for all sentient beings to be free from suffering and the causes of suffering. It is a core virtue in Buddhism and, in the Mahāyāna tradition, develops into 'great compassion' (mahākaruṇā), the driving force behind the pursuit of enlightenment for the benefit of others. Skt करुणा  Tib ཐུགས་རྗེ་  Ch 悲  

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Prajñā - One of the key terms for wisdom or knowledge, most often having the sense of insight, transcendent knowledge, or perhaps gnosis. In some contexts it can also refer to cognition or intellectual understanding. Skt प्रज्ञा  Tib ཤེས་རབ་  Ch 般若  

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Bodhicitta - The altruistic thought to seek enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. It is said to have two aspects: compassion aimed at sentient beings and their problems and the wisdom of enlightenment as the solution. Skt बोधिचित्त  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས།  Ch 菩提心  

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