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Mahayana
The Great Vehicle — Buddhist traditions emphasizing the bodhisattva path, emptiness, and universal liberation.
Mahāyāna (“Great Vehicle”) names a vast family of Buddhist movements that developed in India and flourished across Central and East Asia. Distinctive themes include the bodhisattva vow to liberate all beings, the perfection of wisdom (prajñāpāramitā), and philosophical schools such as Madhyamaka and Yogācāra.
Zen, Pure Land, Nichiren, and Tibetan Buddhism all inherit Mahāyāna frameworks even as they diverge in method. On Dharma Atlas, the Mahāyāna page gathers places and teachers tagged at this broad level when a more specific school is not assigned.
Practices
Bodhisattva precepts
Vows and ethical trainings oriented toward universal compassion.
Prajñāpāramitā contemplation
Meditation and study on emptiness and the perfection of wisdom.
Six perfections
Generosity, ethics, patience, energy, meditation, and wisdom as a path structure.
Texts
The Heart Sutra
Concise prajñāpāramitā scripture.
The Lotus Sutra
Central Mahāyāna scripture of the One Vehicle.
The Way of the Bodhisattva
Śāntideva