VII TABULATED SYNOPSIS
| Branch | School (as far as mentioned in present book) | Period and country of Origin | Founder or Systematiser (as far as mentioned in present book) | Language of Oldest Original Sources | Still Extant in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hīnayāna | Original Buddhism (in all central doctrines presumably identical with Theravāda) | 6th cent. B.C. in India | Siddhattha Gotama, the 'Buddha' (563-483 B.C.) | Māgadhī (?) (no written sources) | — |
| Theravāda | 4th cent. B.C. in India | Separate school from Second Council onwards | Pāli | Ceylon, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam | |
| Mahāsāṅghika | 4th cent. B.C. in India | Separate school from Second Council onwards | Hybrid Sanskrit (only fragments) | — | |
| Puggalavāda | 3rd cent. B.C. in India | Pāli (?) | — | ||
| Sarvāstivāda | 3rd cent. B.C. in India | Vasubandhu (5th cent. A.D.) | Sanskrit (only fragments) | — | |
| Sautrāntika | 2nd cent. B.C. in India | Sanskrit (only fragments) | — | ||
| Mahāyāna | Wisdom School | 1st cent. B.C. in India | Sanskrit | Tibet, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Vietnam, China, Korea, Japan | |
| Madhyamaka | 2nd cent. A.D. in India | Nāgārjuna (2nd cent. A.D.) | Sanskrit | As above | |
| Bodhisattva School | 1st cent. A.D. in India | Sanskrit | As above | ||
| Buddhism of Faith | 1st cent. B.C. in India | In Japan: Honen-Shonin (1133-1212), Shinran-Shonin (1173-1265) | Sanskrit | As above |
| Method for Achieving Deliverance | Interim Goal | Ultimate Goal |
|---|---|---|
| Termination of rebirth through eradication of the causes of rebirth and suffering, viz. craving and ignorance, by means of self-discipline and enlightenment | — | a) Pre-mortal Nibbāna b) Post-mortal Nibbāna |
| As above | — | As above |
| As above | — | As above |
| As above | — | As above |
| As above | — | As above |
| As above | — | As above |
| Realisation of the emptiness of the empirical person and of all things and insight by means of Wisdom, that this Emptiness is the Absolute and liberation | — | a) Pre-mortal Nirvāṇa b) Post-mortal Nirvāṇa |
| As above | — | As above |
| Relief from unwholesome Karman through the assistance of Bodhisattvas | Out of gratitude for the help received from Bodhisattvas to become oneself a Bodhisattva in order to help others | a) Active Nirvāṇa b) Passive Nirvāṇa |
| through faithful confidence in Transcendent Buddhas (esp. Amitābha) to obtain rebirth in a Buddha paradise | Rebirth in one of the Buddha paradises (esp. Sukhāvatī) where the faithful mature toward Nirvāṇa | Nirvāṇa |
| Branch | School (as far as mentioned in present book) | Period and country of Origin | Founder or Systematiser (as far as mentioned in present book) | Language of Oldest Original Sources | Still Extant in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mahāyāna—cont. | Yogācāra | 3rd/4th cent. A.D. in India | Maitreyanātha (3rd/4th cent.) Asanga, Vasu-bandhu (4th/5th cent.) | Sanskrit | Tibet, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, China, Japan |
| Zen (Ch'an) | 6th cent. A.D. in China | Bodhidharma (6th cent.) | Chinese | China, Vietnam, Korea, Japan | |
| Tantrayāna | Mantrayāna | 2nd cent. A.D. in India | Sanskrit | Tibet, Sikkim, Bhutan, Mongolia, China, Korea, Japan | |
| Vajrayāna | 3rd cent. A.D. in India | Sanskrit, Tibetan | Tibet, Sikkim, Bhutan, Mongolia, China, Korea | ||
| Sahajayāna | c. 8th cent. A.D. in India | Sarahapāda (8th/9th cent. A.D.) | Apabhramśa, Tibetan | Tibet, Sikkim, Bhutan, Mongolia | |
| Kālacakrayāna | 10th cent. A.D. in India | Sanskrit, Tibetan | As above |
| Method for Achieving Deliverance | Interim Goal | Ultimate Goal |
|---|---|---|
| Realisation that everything is 'Mind only' and return to the Pure Mind (= liberation) | — | Nirvāṇa |
| Realisation by means of meditation that everything is 'Mind only' (= Buddha Heart = liberation) | — | a) Pre-mortal Nirvāṇa b) Post-mortal Nirvāṇa |
| Deliverance through knowledge of the identity of individual consciousness and Base-consciousness by means of psychologically effective Mantras and Mudrās | — | As above |
| Through seed-formulas the Sādhaka ideates Transcendent (Bodhisattvas) with whom he emotively identifies himself. He so experiences the essential all-identity and becomes aware of his essential liberatedness | — | As above |
| Through discarding vain thinking which is the cause of multiplicity, the Yogin intuitively grasps the inter-wovenness of Saṃsāra and Nirvāṇa and by this realises liberation | — | As above |
| Liberation through the realisation of the parallelism between man and cosmos. The mystical union with the Primeval Buddha Kālacakra reveals all the insights important for liberation | — | As above |