Early Mahāyāna Buddhism

Abstract

Early Mahāyāna Buddhism occupied the period from the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa to the fi rst century CE. For fi ve centuries, Mahāyāna sūtras were developed gradually and disseminated orally. After the Buddha and his disciples passed away, there were two opposing views regarding buddhavacana or the words spoken by the Buddha. The fi rst view stated that buddhavacana ended after the First Buddhist Council and the second held the view that buddhavacana continued. Mahāyāna Buddhism supports the latter view since its doctrines, in the form of sūtras, were written long
after the council and new interpretations of its teachings were revealed at a later date.