Mahayana - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

MAHAYANA (" Great Vehicle"), the name given to the later Buddhism, the popular religion which embraced all the people and had its pantheon of Buddhas and Bodhisatvas, with attendant deities and demons, spacious temples and images, pompous ceremonial and noisy festivals. It was thus contrasted with the Hinayana ("Little Vehicle") of the primitive Buddhism which had been only for the select few. (See BUDDHISM.)