An Introduction to Mahayana Buddhism

Buddhism is divided into two great schools, Mahayana and Hinayana. Both systems originated in India, but since the former predominates in China, Japan, Nepal, Japan, in a modified form, in Tibet and Mongolia, while the latter is confined almost exclusively to Ceylon, Burma, and Siam, they are often, and rather incorrectly, known as Northern and Southern Buddhism. Mahayana is again divided into unreformed and reformed branches, the unreformed branch being found all over Eastern Asia, while the reformed branch has its center in Japan. Roughly, we may compare these divisions of Buddhism to those of the principal Occidental faiths. Hinayana, or the earlier and more primitive form of Buddhism, correlates to Judaism; Unreformed Yahiyana to Catholicism, and Reformed Mahayana to Protestantism. An Introduction to Mahayana Buddhism describes the foundations of Buddhism and how it spread and divided into local schools inspired and compared to various other systems of beliefs and religions.