his date is not beyond dispute for while a considerable consensus of opinion fixes his accession at about 78 A.D., some scholars place it earlier and others in the second century A.D.[4] Apart from this, it appears established that the Sukhavati-vyuha which is definitely Mahayanist was translated into Chinese between 147 and 186 A.D.  We may assume that it was then already well known and had been composed some time before, so that, whatever Kanishka’s date may have been, Mahayanist doctrines must have been in existence about the time of the Christian era, and perhaps considerably earlier.  Naturally no one date like a reign or a council can be selected to mark the beginning of a great school.  Such a body of doctrine must have existed piecemeal and unauthorized before it was collected and recognized and some tenets are older than others.  Enlarging I-Ching’s definition we may find in the Mahayana seven lines of thought or practice.  All are not found in all sects and some are shared with the Hinayana but probably none are found fully developed outside the Mahayana.  Many of them have parallels in the contemporary phases of Hinduism.

1.  A belief in Bodhisattvas and in the power of human beings to become Bodhisattvas.

2.  A code of altruistic ethics which teaches that everyone must do good in the interest of the whole world and make over to others any merit he may acquire by his virtues.  The aim of the religious life is to become a Bodhisattva, not to become an Arhat.

3.  A doctrine that Buddhas are supernatural beings, distributed through infinite space and time, and innumerable.  In the language of later theology a Buddha has three bodies and still later there is a group of five Buddhas.

4.  Various systems of idealist metaphysics, which tend to regard the Buddha essence or Nirvana much as Brahman is regarded in the Vedanta.

5.  A canon composed in Sanskrit and apparently later than the Pali Canon.

6.  Habitual worship of images and elaboration of ritual.  There is a dangerous tendency to rely on formulae and charms.

7.  A special doctrine of salvation by faith in a Buddha, usually Amitabha, and invocation of his name.  Mahayanism can exist without this doctrine but it is tolerated by most sects and considered essential by some.

FOOTNOTES: 

[Footnote 1:  Sanskrit, Mahayana; Chinese, Ta Ch’eng (pronounced Tai Sheng in many southern provinces); Japanese, Dai-jo; Tibetan, Theg-pa-chen-po; Mongolian, Yaekae-kuelgaen; Sanskrit, Hinayana; Chinese, Hsiao-Ch’eng; Japanese, Sho-jo; Tibetan, Theg-dman; Mongolian Uetsuekaen-kuelgaen.  In Sanskrit the synonyms agrayana and uttama-yana are also found.]

[Footnote 2:  Record of Buddhist practices.  Transl.  Takakusu, 1896, p. 14.  Hsuean Chuang seems to have thought that acceptance of the Yogacaryabhumi (Nanjio, 1170) was essential for a Mahayanist.  See his life, transl. by Beal, p. 39, transl. by Julien, p. 50.]