a of Mahayana arose. It first arrived on the scene approximately a century after the death of the Buddha. It first emerged in a school named Mahasamghika, meaning the Great Monastic Order. They still accepted the Tipitaka as the central book of their religion, but they also adopted sutras which had been written in Sanskrit. These sutras shifted the focus of the story of the Buddhas final life to his previous lives as a bodhisattva. This led people to believe that a bodhisattva was what a good Buddhist should strive to become. The new Mahayana belief was a marriage of two virtues, Wisdom and Compassion. It combined the reflective virtues of the monastic life with the active virtues of a layperson.# The idea was very appealing to the common man due to the fact that it meant that you no longer had to be a monk to become a bodhisattva. This belief along with a new acceptance of god-like bodhisattvas, who helped the layperson when they were in danger, shifted the religion from being transcendental, to more of a polytheistic and cosmological religion. Although this new found belief quickly became the more popular practice, the more traditional Theravada still remained. Buddhism continued to grow throughout the centuries, spreading its beliefs to China, Japan and even America. Its impact on these cultures has not only changed the religion, but has also helped to redefine the society we live in today.Buddhism today, has spread its influence all throughout the world. In some places, as in Tibet, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, Buddhism is clearly the dominant tradition; in others, such as China Korea and Japan Buddhism has not necessarily dominated the culture but has had deep impact on the way people think through religious questions and deal with the religious crises in their lives.# Those countries primarily found in Southeast Asia typically still practice the Theravada tradition. The Mahayana belief, on the other hand, has made Buddhism easie...
