One of the clearest distinctions between Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism lies in the scriptures they uphold. Theravada relies on the Pali canon, while Mahayana embraces texts such as the Lotus Sutra, Heart Sutra, Diamond Sutra and the Perfection of Wisdom literature. Emerging around the 1st century CE, these works share familiar settings with earlier sutras but deliver strikingly different messages.
Bhikkhu Anālayo, a scholar-monk renowned for his meticulous research, explores this transition in his book The Perfection of Wisdom in First Bloom. By comparing early versions of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines in Chinese and Gandhari, he argues that Mahayana was not a sudden rupture but a gradual evolution from earlier traditions.
From the beginning, Buddhist teachings were framed with commentary. Narrative introductions contextualised discourses, while disciples and even celestial beings contributed teachings later attributed to the Buddha. Over time, these layers of commentary gave rise to the Abhidharma—systematic texts that sought to categorise and define phenomena with precision.
It was within this analytical tradition that the notion of svabhāva, or intrinsic nature, took hold. The Abhidharma insisted that things possessed defining essences. In response, the Perfection of Wisdom texts rebelled, declaring that all phenomena are empty of inherent existence. This emphasis on emptiness sharpened the early Buddhist teaching of not-self into a critique of reification.
Anālayo notes that Mahayana’s playful use of paradox and narrative style was a deliberate return to earlier modes of expression, contrasting with the rigid systematisation of the Abhidharma. The Perfection of Wisdom thus became a cornerstone of Mahayana thought, influencing later traditions such as Madhyamaka and Chan.
The bodhisattva ideal also illustrates continuity. In early Buddhism, “bodhisattva” referred to Shakyamuni before his awakening. Through jataka tales and discourses like the Lakkhaṇa Sutta, the idea expanded, showing how past lives prepared the Buddha for enlightenment. Mahayana later universalised this path, with the Lotus Sutra insisting that everyone should become a buddha.
For Anālayo, the surprise in his research was the high level of continuity between early and Mahayana texts. The decisive shift, he argues, comes not with the Perfection of Wisdom but with the Lotus Sutra, which redefined the goal of practice entirely.
His broader message is that Buddhism’s history is one of conditionality—ideas arising in response to context. Recognising this evolution allows practitioners today to appreciate both continuity and divergence without clinging to one tradition as the sole truth.
About the Author
