Mahāyāna, meaning the ‘the Great Way,’ is a general name for schools of Buddhism that began to evolve around the first millennium, some 500 years after the Buddha. The original impetus for the development of Mahāyāna was a legitimate unease about the increasing quietism, self-absorption and over-emphasis of monasticism within early Buddhist schools. While some Mahāyāna concepts are logical developments of the Buddha’s teachings and others are unique, although not contrary to the Buddha’s teachings, there are others that reflect the distinct influence of Hinduism. In time, Mahāyāna absorbed even more Hindu concepts and this led to yet another movement within Buddhism called Vajrayāna. Today Mahāyana is practised in Vietnam, China, Korea, Japanand in various Chinese communities around the world.Over the centuries, the different schools of Buddhism often engaged in vigorous and even ill-tempered debates with one another, but there are very few examples where this led to persecution. See Hīnayāna.
Mahayana Buddhism, Paul Williams,1991.