The Kushan Empire (c.
1st–3rd
centuries) was a state that at its cultural zenith,
circa 105–250
AD, extended from what is now
Tajikistan
to Afghanistan,
Pakistan
and down into the
Ganges
river valley in
northern India.
The empire was created by the Kushan tribe of the
Yuezhi
confederation, an
Indo-European people
from the eastern
Tarim
Basin, China,
possibly related to the
Tocharians.
They had diplomatic contacts with
Rome,
Persia and China,
and for several centuries were at the center of exchange between the East and
the West. 
- The most common, found in English dictionaries, is as one of two major branches of Buddhism existing today, the other being Theravada .
- However, the normal usage in the Mahayana in sense 1 is to refer to a level of spiritual motivation and practice, namely the Bodhisattvayana, the Bodhisattva's vehicle.
- The term Mahayana is also often used in a sense exclusive of the Vajrayana, which is itself used in a variety of senses.
The source of the name Mahayana is polemical, having its origin in a debate about what were the real teachings of the Buddha. Although the Mahayana movement claims that it was founded by the Buddha himself, the consensus of the evidence indicates that it originated in South India in the first century CE. It was first propagated into by Lokaksema , the first translator of Mahayana sutras into Chinese.The earliest mention of "Mahayana" occurs in the Lotus Sutra between the first century BCE and the first century CE.Mahayana scriptures are based on the belief that Buddha is still teaching and, announced in the Lotus Sutra, that a Buddha is immortal. The earliest Mahayana scriptures probably originated during the first century CE in the Indian subcontinent, and spread to China during the second century CE. Only in the fifth century CE did Mahayana become an influential school in India.In the course of its history, Mahayana spread throughout East Asia. The main countries in which it is practiced today are China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.From the point of view of Tantric Buddhism, from Mahayana developed the esoteric Vajrayana found mainly in Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and Mongolia, but also in adjacent areas of China, Japan, India, and Russia. The Vajrayana school claims to encompass all previous schools.The main Mahayana sutras, codified in Sanskrit, have not survived over time and have been lost.Versions later translated into Tibetan language and Chinese language have survived.The main schools of Mahayana Buddhism which have a significant following are Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, and Tendai. Read more »
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