Outlines of the Mahāyāna as Taught by Buddha

This book introduces Mahāyāna Buddhism through a compact doctrinal architecture built around liberation, causation, consciousness, and sectarian development. The first chapter explains the principles of the Buddha’s teaching, stressing that Buddhism should not be reduced to rigid formulas or merely literal readings of scripture, because the Buddha’s teachings function as skillful means for removing attachment and leading beings toward true Moksha. The second chapter clarifies Moksha and Nirvāṇa as the objective of Buddhism, rejecting the view that liberation is only heavenly reward or annihilation and instead presenting it as freedom from delusion, restraint, and discriminating attachment. The third chapter develops the law of actions, results, causes, and effects, showing that all phenomena arise through causes and supporting conditions. The fourth chapter distinguishes pure and impure causes, linking ethical and spiritual practice with the transformation of beings and worlds. The fifth chapter presents the Mind-only orientation of Mahāyāna, explaining that distinctions between subject and object, self and other, purity and impurity arise through mental operations. The final chapter places Buddhist sects within a historical and doctrinal framework, showing that the diversity of Indian, Chinese, and Japanese Buddhist schools reflects different interpretive gateways while retaining the same ultimate orientation toward emancipation.