In contrast to the relative conservatism of earlier Buddhist schools, which adhered closely to the recognized teachings of the historical Buddha, Mahayana embraces a wider variety of practices, has a more mythological view of what a Buddha is, and addresses broader philosophical issues.在早期的佛教学校，严格遵守公认的历史上的佛陀教义相对保守，大乘拥抱一个更广泛的做法，有更多的神话，佛陀是什么，和地址更广泛的哲学问题。
Two major Mahayana schools arose in India: Madhyamika (Middle Path) and Vijñanavada (Consciousness Only; also known as Yogachara ).在印度出现了两个主要的大乘学校：中观（中道）和Vijñanavada（意识;也被称为Yogachara ）。With the spread of Mahayana Buddhism beyond India, other indigenous schools appeared, such as Pure Land Buddhism and Zen .超越印度大乘佛教的传播，其他土著学校出现， 如净土宗和禅宗。
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Precisely when and where Mahayana arose in India is unclear, but its origin can be traced to between the 2nd century BC and the 1st century AD.恰恰在大乘佛教在印度产生的还不清楚，但它的起源可以追溯到公元前2世纪和公元1世纪之间。The early growth of Mahayana was promoted by Indian philosopher Nagarjuna, who founded the Madhyamika school.大乘的早期生长，促进印度哲学家龙树，谁创立的中观学派。His influential writings provide some of the most persuasive early formulations of Mahayana.他有影响力的著作提供了一些最有说服力的早期配方的大乘。The Madhyamika school proliferated into a number of sects, and was carried to China in the early 5th century by Buddhist missionary Kumarajiva, who translated Nagarjuna's work into Chinese.激增到教派中观学校，并在5世纪初，中国佛教传教士鸠摩罗什，龙树翻译成中文的工作进行。By 625 Madhyamika had reached Japan by way of Korea, though everywhere it remained more influential among the scholarly elite than the common people.到625中观已经达到了韩国，日本，虽然无处不在，它仍然比常人的学术精英之间更有影响力。
The Pure Land school of Mahayana, based on the 1st-century Sukhavativyuha Sutra (Pure Land Sutra; a sutra is a writing that purports to record a discourse of the Buddha), was established in China in the 4th century by Chinese scholar Huiyuan, who formed a devotional society for meditating on the name of Amitabha Buddha (Buddha of Infinite Light).大乘净土学校，基于在第一世纪Sukhavativyuha经“（净土经，经书面宣称记录佛陀的话语），成立于公元4世纪由中国学者汇源，在中国的人形成一个虔诚打坐社会阿弥陀佛（佛无量光）的名称。 This sect grew and spread through the 6th and 7th centuries, especially among the common people.这个教派的生长和扩散通过第6和第7世纪，特别是普通百姓。
The Vijñanavada (Consciousness Only) school maintained that consciousness alone is real.Vijñanavada（意识）学校认为意识仅是真实的。Vijñanavada first arose in India about the 4th century and was taken to China two centuries later by Chinese monk and pilgrim Xuanzang (Hsuan-tsang). Vijñanavada首次出现在印度，约4世纪被带到中国两个世纪后，中国僧人和朝圣者玄奘法师（玄奘）。A Japanese disciple, Dosho, who arrived to study with him in 653, conveyed it to Japan.一位日本弟子，Dosho，抵达与他的研究在653，转达了日本。A native Chinese Mahayana school, Avatamsaka (Huayan in Chinese), was established in the 7th century by Chinese monk Dushun around a Chinese translation of its basic text, the Avatamsaka Sutra (Garland Sutra).围绕其基本的文字的中文翻译，“华严经”（加兰经）在公元7世纪建立了原生的中国大乘佛教学校，华严（在中国华严），中国僧人Dushun。 The school reached Korea in the late 7th century, and between 725 and 740 was carried to Japan, where it was known as Kegon.学校达成在公元7世纪后期的韩国，725和740之间进行到日本，它被称为华严。Another important Chinese school, the Tiantai (Tendai in Japanese), was founded by Chinese monk Zhiyi, who organized the entire Buddhist canon around the cardinal Mahayana scripture, the Saddharmapundarika Sutra (Lotus Sutra).另一个重要的中文学校，天台山（在日本天台），是由中国僧人志毅，谁组织各地的枢机主教Saddharmapundarika经（法华经）大乘佛教经文，整个佛教佳能的成立。 This school became very influential in China and Korea, and also in Japan, where it served as a means for introducing Pure Land doctrines.在中国和韩国，这所学校成为非常有影响力的，也是在日本，在那里担任引进净土教义的一种手段。
The Mahayana school called Dhyana (Sanskrit for "meditation"; known in Chinese as Chan and in Japanese as Zen ) was supposedly introduced into China in 520 by Indian monk Bodhidharma, but actually arose from cross-fertilization between Mahayana and Chinese Daoism (Taoism). Chan split into a number of schools and was introduced into Korea and into Japan in the 7th century, though its full development occurred later.大乘学校叫禅 （梵文; 陈和日本禅宗在中国被称为“冥想”）据说是520引入中国，印度僧人达摩， 但实际上从交叉施肥之间发生大乘佛教和中国道教（道家 ）议员分成若干学校和进入韩国，并于公元7世纪传入日本，但后来发生的全面发展 Zen and Pure Land both spread into Vietnam (under Chinese rule at the time) in the 6th century.禅宗和净土都蔓延到越南（当时的中国统治下）在公元6世纪。Beginning in the 7th century the Indian form of Mahayana Buddhism was gradually introduced into Tibet (see Lamaism / Tibetan Buddhism).印度大乘佛教的形式，在公元7世纪开始逐渐被引入西藏（见喇嘛教/藏传佛教）。
Mahayana thus was established as the dominant Buddhist school of East Asia by about the 7th century.大乘从而被确立为主导的东亚佛教学校，约在公元7世纪。Some Mahayana influences penetrated into Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and other Southeast Asian countries - for example, the great Cambodian monuments of Angkor Thum reflect a 12th-century Mahayana tradition.一些大乘佛教的影响渗透到斯里兰卡，印度尼西亚和其他东南亚国家 - 例如，伟大的柬埔寨吴哥古迹姆反映了12世纪大乘佛教的传统。These influences were later superseded by Theravada, Hinduism, and Islam.这些影响，后来上座部佛教，印度教和伊斯兰教所取代。
Buddhism in China suffered persecution under the emperor Wuzong in 845, and subsequently was overshadowed by the state cult of Confucianism, but remained an integral part of Chinese life.皇帝武宗，佛教在中国遭受迫害，在845，并随后被儒学的状态邪教所掩盖，但仍然是一个中国人生活中不可或缺的一部分。 In Korea, where the Zen school (known as Son in Korean) had become dominant, Mahayana flourished in the Koryo period (935-1392), but was restricted under the Yi dynasty (1392-1910).在韩国，大乘佛教禅宗学校（被称为韩国的儿子）已经成为主导，在高丽时期（935-1392）的蓬勃发展，但下李朝（1392-1910）的限制。 Japan supported a vibrant Mahayana culture, which after the 12th century gave rise to new Zen and Pure Land sects under such reformers as Japanese monks Dogen and Honen, as well as to Japan's only entirely indigenous Buddhist sect, Nichiren Buddhism.日本支持一个充满活力的大乘佛教文化，12世纪之后上升到了新的禅和纯下这样的改革者作为日本僧人道元和Honen，以及日本完全土著佛教教派，日莲佛法的土地教派。 Japanese Mahayana lost much of its vitality in the Edo period (1600-1868), during which the Tokugawa shogunate used it for social control through registration of parishioners.日本大乘失去其生命力在江户时代（1600-1868），德川幕府在此期间，用于通过教友登记的社会控制。 The anti-Buddhist policy of Japan's new rulers in the first decade following the Meiji Restoration of 1868 foreshadowed much of Mahayana's experience in the 20th century, in which Communist regimes in China, Vietnam, and North Korea prohibited worship, and in which the Chinese annexation of Tibet led to considerable persecution of Mahayana practitioners.反佛日本的新的第一个十年的统治者1868年明治维新后政策埋下了伏笔，大乘的经验，在20世纪，其中在中国，越南，和北朝鲜共产党政权禁止崇拜，并在其中的中国人吞并西藏导致相当大的大乘练习者的迫害。 The easing of doctrinaire Communism led to a revival of Mahayana in some of these areas.在这些方面的一些教条的共产主义的缓和导致了大乘佛教的复兴。Mahayana has also spread into new territory with the growing popularity in the West of Zen and other Mahayana schools.在大乘佛教禅宗和其他学校的西的日益普及，大乘也已蔓延到新的领土。
Although Mahayana monks generally follow the Buddhist rules of poverty and celibacy, some sects - notably the Japanese Shin sect of Pure Land Buddhism - permit clerical marriage.虽然大乘佛教僧侣普遍遵循的贫困和独身的佛教的规则，一些教派 - 尤其是日本净土宗的新教派 - 允许文书婚姻。 In pre-modern China, an aspiring monk was traditionally admitted on probation for one year before becoming a novice, often the limit of progress for those without government connections.前现代的中国，一个有抱负的和尚传统上承认在缓刑一年之前成为一个新手，往往是那些没有政府关系的进展的限制。 The unordained laity includes those who take the bodhisattva vow but who do not become monks: some may live as ordinary householders; others join religious communities with their own specific vows or Tantric initiations. unordained俗人包括那些参加菩萨发誓，但谁不成为僧侣：有些人可能生活普通住户;其他人加入自己的具体的誓言或密宗灌顶的宗教社区。
Relations between Mahayana sangha and governments have varied among countries with strong Mahayana traditions.大乘佛教僧伽和政府之间的关系具有较强的大乘佛教传统的国家之间有不同。In the early Tang (T'ang) dynasty in China (7th and 8th centuries), Buddhism was organized under the state, with a government commissioner for religion.在初唐（唐）在中国的王朝（第7和第8世纪），佛教组织的状态下，一个宗教政府专员。However, beginning in 845, Chinese Buddhists were persecuted by the government.然而，在845开始，中国佛教是由政府的迫害。 In Vietnam, after independence from Chinese rule was achieved in the 10th century, a Confucian bureaucracy continued to supervise monasteries.在越南，从中国统治独立后，在10世纪实现的儒家官僚继续监督寺院。In Japan, Buddhist temples were often powerful autonomous institutions with their own lands and armies of soldier-monks.在日本，佛教寺庙往往是强大的自治机构，用自己的土地和军队的士兵，僧侣。After 1603 the Tokugawa regime took control of the temples and integrated them into the Japanese government. 1603年后的德川政权控制了寺庙，并融入日本政府。
Mahayana generally offers more hope of enlightenment for the lay believer than Theravada: the compassionate bodhisattvas can supposedly transfer their merit to worshippers; Zen is notoriously disdainful of the formalities of creed and hierarchy; the Pure Land is an interim paradise on the road to salvation attainable by the pious.一般大乘比小乘提供了更多的的希望奠定信徒的启示：慈悲的菩萨可以假想转让其优点崇拜者;禅宗的信条和层次的手续是出了名的蔑视;净土是一个救赎达到道路上的临时天堂虔诚的。 Consequently, Mahayana lay movements have abounded through the centuries.因此，大乘奠定运动已经通过几个世纪以来一直存在。Pure Land sects in particular tend to actively evangelize.特别是净土教派往往积极传福音。In China, Pure Land groups were sometimes associated with secret societies and peasant revolts.在中国，有时净土组与秘密会社和农民起义。In Japan, Pure Land Buddhism became the people's version of Buddhism and periodically spawned millenarian movements (movements that looked for the establishment of an earthly paradise).在日本，净土宗成为人民群众的版本佛教和定期产生的千禧年运动（运动，为建立一个人间天堂看着）。The Japanese Nichiren sect also focused on the common people and produced many lay societies of worshippers.日本的日莲宗还侧重于普通百姓，并产生了许多奠定崇拜者社会。The extreme of Mahayana lay participation is perhaps Japan's Sôka Gakkai movement, an entirely lay group with definite secular aims and a policy of aggressive evangelization.大乘极端打下参与也许是日本创价学会的运动，一个完全在于世俗的目的是明确的和积极的福传事业的政策。
Mahayana attitudes toward Buddhist teachings are in part a consequence of the Mahayana view of the Buddha.大乘佛教对佛教教义的态度在部分佛大乘观点的后果。Whereas Theravadins regarded the Buddha as a supremely enlightened man, most Mahayana thought treats him as a manifestation of a divine being.鉴于Theravadins视为一个超级开明的人的佛，大乘佛教思想视为他的表现了一个神。This view was formalized as the doctrine of the threefold nature, or triple body (trikaya), of the Buddha.这一观点学说的三重性质，或三联体（trikaya），佛，正规化。The Buddha's three bodies are known as the body of essence (dharmakaya), the sum of the spiritual qualities that make him Buddha; the body of communal bliss, or enjoyment body (sambhoga-kaya), a godlike form revealed to the Mahayana initiate during contemplation; and the body of transformation (nirmana-kaya), a mortal body that appears in the transient world of death and rebirth to lead sentient beings (beings that possess senses) to enlightenment.佛陀的三个团体是作为的本质身体（法身），在他佛的精神素质的总和称为;社区极乐世界，或享受的身体（sambhoga -卡亚）的主体，一个神圣的形式显示大乘期间发起沉思;和改造身体（nirmana克耶邦），必死的身体出现在死亡和重生，导致以启迪众生（人类拥有的感官）的瞬态的世界。 The body of communal bliss appears in various manifestations, notably that of the five cosmic Buddhas, the eternal Buddhas that comprise and sustain the cosmos: Vairocana, Aksobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha (or Amida), and Amoghasiddhi.公共幸福的身体出现在各种表现，特别是宇宙佛，组成和维持宇宙的永恒的佛：毗卢遮那，Aksobhya，Ratnasambhava，阿弥陀佛（阿弥陀），并Amoghasiddhi。 The body of essence is seen as the universal ground of being, revealed for many Mahayana believers in the Lotus Sutra; other sects regard it as present within oneself and accessible through meditation.身体的本质是被普遍地看作，许多大乘妙法莲华经“的信徒透露，其他教派认为它目前在自己和通过冥想。The historical Buddha is believed to be one transformation body emanated by the body of essence.历史上的佛陀被认为是一个改造身体的本质是人体所产生的。Consequently, his teachings can be supplemented or superseded by further revelations.因此，他的教诲，可以补充或取代进一步的启示。
Mahayana posits an infinite number of Buddhas, or transformation bodies and enjoyment bodies of the essential Buddha, appearing in innumerable worlds to help sentient beings reach enlightenment.大乘假定无限多佛，或改造的机构和享有的基本佛机构，出现在无数的世界，以帮助众生达到启蒙。 These Buddhas are paralleled by bodhisattvas, enlightened beings who, through compassion, delay their final passage to the transcendent state of nirvana in order to labor on behalf of universal salvation.这些佛菩萨，觉者，通过同情，拖延代表普渡众生，最后通过必杀技的超然状态，以劳动并联。 A bodhisattva can transfer his supreme merit to others, and is thus regarded in Mahayana as superior to the arhat, the ideal Theravadin who has achieved enlightenment but can do little else for other beings.菩萨可以转让给别人，他的至高无上的优点，因而在大乘视为优于罗汉，理想的小乘人已经取得了启蒙，但可以做其他的人类没有别的。 A Mahayana worshipper can aspire to become a bodhisattva, rising through ten stages of perfection, and approaching ever closer to Buddha's body of essence, until finally bodhisattva and essential Buddha are one.大乘崇拜者可以立志要成为一个菩萨，通过十年的完善阶段，不断提高和接近以往任何时候都更接近佛的身体本质，直到最后菩萨和必要的佛之一。 Certain bodhisattvas are themselves worshipped as virtual deities.某些菩萨本身作为虚拟神灵崇拜。These include Avalokiteshvara (Guanyin in China, where he came to be regarded as the female protector of women, children, and sailors), the personification of compassion, and Maitreya (the only bodhisattva also recognized by Theravadins), the future Buddha who waits in the Tsuhita Heaven to be reborn and lead all beings to enlightenment.这些措施包括观世音菩萨（观音在中国，他来到女性保护妇女，儿童，和水兵），人格化的同情，和弥勒（也Theravadins认可的唯一菩萨），等待未来佛Tsuhita天堂重生，并导致所有人类的启蒙。 Even the Buddha Amitabha, creator of the Pure Land who leads mortals to his paradise, began as a monk who became a bodhisattva.即使阿弥陀佛，他的天堂谁领导凡人净土的创作者开始为僧，成为菩萨。
Another important Mahayana doctrine is the emptiness (sunyata) of all things.另一个重要的大乘佛教的教义，是空虚的一切事物（sunyata）。In the formulation of Indian philosopher Nagarjuna, the familiar world of experience is the product of thought forms imposed on the Absolute, which is entirely unconditioned (not subject to limitations of any kind).在制定了印度哲学家龙树，熟悉的世界的经验是绝对的，这完全是无条件的（不受任何形式的限制）规定的思想形式的产品。 These thought forms are the categories that reason creates in its attempt to apprehend the nature of reality.这些思想形式的原因在它试图逮捕现实的性质创建的类别。Since all phenomena in the world of experience depend upon these constructs of reason, they are purely relative and therefore ultimately unreal.由于经验世界中的一切现象依赖于这些构造的原因，他们纯粹是相对的，因此最终虚幻。The Absolute, on the other hand, is empty in the sense that it is totally devoid of artificial conceptual distinctions.绝对的，另一方面，在这个意义上，这是完全没有人工概念的区别是空的。This teaching was variously interpreted, with the Vijñanavada school maintaining that nothing exists outside the mind.这种教学模式是不同的解释，与Vijñanavada保持心灵的存在，没有外的学校。The teaching's most influential version holds that there is an eternal, mutually sustaining dialectic between the Absolute and relative reality: although phenomena are false and void in absolute terms, they are true and real in relative terms.教学最有影响力的版本认为，有一个永恒的，相互维持之间的绝对和相对现实的辩证关系：现象虽然是在绝对意义上的虚假和无效的，他们是相对而言的真实和真实。 The Mahayana goal was to transcend these opposites in ultimate enlightenment.大乘的目标是要超越这些对立的，在最终的启示。 This doctrine made Zen and other schools turn from the practice of renunciation and withdrawal to embrace the world in the belief that nirvana could be found within the transience (samsara) of ordinary life.这一学说禅宗和其他学校的放弃和撤出拥抱世界的信念，可在平凡生活中的无常（轮回）的必杀技的做法。
Within the Buddhist tradition, Mahayana has produced important innovations in three principal areas.在佛教的传统，大乘在三个主要领域的重要创新。The first area concerns the spiritual goal of Buddhism.第一方面是有关佛教的精神目标。The ideal of the arhat (taught by the historical Buddha to his immediate disciples) was replaced in Mahayana by the bodhisattva ideal, regarded as superior and open to all followers.罗汉（由历史上的佛陀教给他的顶头弟子）的理想是在大乘菩萨理想优越，开放所有的追随者，取代。Every person who professes Mahayana Buddhism can take the bodhisattva vow, which expresses the aspiration to attain enlightenment just as the Buddha did and to help all beings on their way to nirvana.每个人都自称大乘佛教菩萨发誓，它表达的愿望，达到启迪就像佛祖那样，以帮助他们的方式必杀技众生。The bodhisattva path can be undertaken in either a monastic or a secular context, depending on individual circumstances.菩萨的路径可以在任何一个寺院或世俗的背景下进行的，视个别情况而定。
The second area of Mahayana innovation concerns the interpretation of the Buddha's nature.大乘创新的第二个方面是关于佛的性质的解释。In addition to producing a systematic doctrine of the various Buddha bodies, Mahayana practitioners have accepted the existence of countless Buddhas who preside over countless universes.除了制作一个佛的各种机构的系统学说，大乘练习者已经接受了无数佛的存在，谁主持了无数的宇宙。These divine beings are far different from the single supremely gifted yet mortal human sage whom Theravada Buddhists revere as the sole originator of their faith.这些天人远从单一的超级天才尚未凡人人类圣人的人作为自己的信仰的唯一的鼻祖小乘佛教徒敬仰的不同。
The third area of Mahayana innovation covers doctrine and philosophy.大乘创新的第三个方面，涵盖理论和哲学。Early Buddhists rejected the existence of any permanent self or soul (atman) and taught the no-soul (anatman) theory.早期佛教徒拒绝任何永久性的自我或灵魂（阿特曼）的存在，并教无灵魂（anatman）理论。However, they also accepted the reality of the elements (dharmas) of existence.然而，他们也接受了现实存在的元素（诸法）。A famous example of this duality is the early Buddhist parable of the cart: the components of a cart exist, but the cart itself, being a mere concept, does not exist.这种二元性的一个著名的例子是早期佛教车的比喻：一个购物车的组件存在，但车本身，是一个单纯的概念，不存在。Similarly, the components or aggregates of living beings exist, but the single permanent entity (atman) postulated as uniting them does not.同样，众生的组件或聚集存在，但单一的常设实体（阿特曼）假定为不团结他们。The Mahayana sutras and their interpreters rejected this realistic and limited interpretation.大乘佛经和他们的口译员拒绝了这一现实的和有限的解释。They reaffirmed the nonexistence of the soul, but also denied the existence of the components.他们重申，不存在的灵魂，但也否认了存在的组件。They argued that since there is no permanent foundation beneath or within all things, the things themselves do not and indeed cannot exist.他们认为，下方或内所有的东西，因为没有永久的基础，自己的东西不要，甚至可以不存在。 This doctrinal position is encapsulated in Madhyamika school's doctrine of sunyata, discussed earlier.这个理论的立场是封装在中观学派的sunyata的学说，前面讨论过的。The concept of emptiness in its basic scope means that all things and their characteristics are deprived (empty) of reality and individual existence.虚无的概念，在其基本范围，意味着所有的东西和自己的特点被剥夺的现实和个人存在的（空）。In its mystic dimensions, emptiness is seen as a meditational process through which one purges one's mind.在其神秘的层面，被看作是一个冥想的过程中，通过哪一个清除一个人的头脑空虚。The Vijñanavada school of Mahayana also accepted this notion, but for the purposes of spiritual practices taught that the mind alone exists and that the whole external world is an illusion projected by the mind.大乘Vijñanavada学校也接受了这个概念，但精神实践的目的，教导头脑单独存在，并且整个外部世界是心灵的预测的一种错觉。 The dispelling of that illusion through meditation was presented as the path to enlightenment.通过冥想，幻觉消除启示的路径。In order to retain the basic assumption of Buddhism, the Vijñanavada school taught that after a full realization of the nature of all things, the mind dissolves in emptiness.为了留住佛教的基本假设，Vijñanavada学校任教后的一切事物的性质的充分实现，心灵空虚溶解。
A final important Mahayana teaching, never embodied in a formal school but nonetheless permeating all layers of the Mahayana approach, concerns the Buddha nature (tathagata-garbha) of all living beings and their capacity to become Buddhas.从来没有体现在正规的学校，但尽管如此大乘方法贯穿所有层，最后一个重要的大乘教学，关注众生的佛性（如来藏）和自己的能力，成为佛。 Although certain isolated texts taught that some living beings are barred from deliverance, Mahayana Buddhism maintains that any sentient thing can gain Buddhahood-that gods, humans, and animals alike have the seeds of Buddha nature within them.虽然某些孤立的文本教，禁止从解脱一些众生，大乘佛教认为，任何众生的事可以得到成佛的神，人类和动物都在他们的佛性的种子。
This subject presentation in the original English language这在原来的主题演讲， 英语