I Preliminary
BluDDHisMinitscourseofdevelopmenthascompletedaform
whichdistinguishesitselffromitsso-calledprimitiveororiginal
type—so greatly,indeed,that wearejustifiedinemphasizing
itshistoricaldivisionintotwoschools,HinayanaandMahayana,
ortheLesserVehicleandtheGreater\'ehicleofsalvation.As
amatteroffact,theMahayana,withallitsvariedformulae,is
nomorethanadevelopedformofBuddhismand tracesback
its final authority to its Indian founder, the great Buddha
Sakyamuni. WTienthisdevelopedformoftheMahayanawas
introducedintoChinaandthenintoJapan,itachievedfurther
development in these countries. This achievement was no
doubtduetotheChineseandJapaneseBuddhistleaders,who
knew how toapplythe principlesoftheirfaithto the ever-
varyingconditionsoflifeandtothereligiousneedsofthepeople.Andthiselaborationandadaptationontheirparthasstillfurther
widenedthe gap thathasalreadybeen in existence between
the Mahayana^ and its more primitive type. Atpresent the
Mahayanaform maybe said not todisplay, superficiallyat
least,thosefeaturesmostconspicuouslycharacteristicoforiginal
Buddhism.
*Tobeaccurate,thefundamentalideasoftheMahayanaareexpounded
inthePrajnaparamitagroupofBuddhistliterature,theearliestofwhichmust
haveappeared atthelatestwithinthreehundredyearsoftheBuddha's
death.Thegermsarenodoubtinthewritingsbelongingtotheso-called
primitiveBuddhism.Onlytheirdevelopment,thatis,aconsciousgraspof
themasmostessentialintheteachingsofthefounder,couldnotbeeffected
withouthbfollowers'actuallylivingtheteachingsforsometimethrough
thevariouslychangingconditionsoflife.Thusenrichedinexperienceand
maturedinreflection,theIndianBuddhistscametohavetheMahayana
formofBuddhismasdistinguishedfromitsprimitiveororiginalform.In
Indiatwo Mahayanaschoolsareknown:theMadhyamikaofNagarjuna
andtheVijnaptimatraorYogacaraofAsangaandV'asubandhu.InChina
moreschoolsdeveloped:theTendai {t'ien-tai),theKegon[avatamsaka),the
Jodo{ching-t'u),theZen {Man),etc.InJapanwehavebesidesthesethe
Hokke,theShingon,theShin,theJi,etc.Alltheseschoolsorsectsbelongto
theMahayanawingofBuddhism.