What is Mahayana Buddhism?

I gave the first of a series of five talks introducing Mahayana Buddhism at the Manchester Buddhist Centre last night. If you are interested you can hear the talk by following this link:

What is Mahayana Buddhism?

I identified six distinctive feature of Mahayana Buddhism:

1 A distinctive literature - a 'literature of the fantastic'

2 A distinctive conception of the Buddha(s) - especially the notion of a 'transhistorical' Buddha

3 A distintive spiritual ideal embodied in the bodhisattva (awakening being)

4 Distinctive Soteriologies; e.g. Pure Land (Other-power) and Chan

5 Distinctive Philosophical Ideas; including Mdhyamika, Yogachara, and Buddha-nature

6 Distinctive Practices; including Buddha cults, koans, and sutra worship