Buddhist Deities Buddhist deities include a wide array of divine beings that are venerated in various rituals and popular contexts. Initially, they included mainly Indian figures such as vedic devas and yakshas, but later came to include other Asian spirits and local gods. Buddhist deities range from enlightened Buddhas to regional spirits adopted...
Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism (also Indo-Tibetan Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet where it is the dominant religion. It is also found in the regions surrounding the Himalayas (such as Bhutan, Ladakh, and Sikkim), much of Chinese Central Asia, the Southern Siberian regions such as Tuva, as well as...
Japanese Buddhist Pantheon The Japanese Buddhist Pantheon designates the multitude (the Pantheon) of various Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and lesser deities and eminent religious masters in Buddhism. A Buddhist Pantheon exists to a certain extent in Mahāyāna, but is especially characteristic of Vajrayana Esoteric Buddhism, including Tibetan Buddhism and especially Japanese Shingon Buddhism,...
Buddhist Ethics Buddhist ethics are traditionally based on what Buddhists view as the enlightened perspective of the Buddha, or other enlightened beings such as Bodhisattvas. The Indian term for ethics or morality used in Buddhism is Śīla (शील) or sīla (Pāli). Śīla in Buddhism is one of three sections of the Noble Eightfold Path, and is a...
Mahayana Mahayana or Mahāyāna (“Great Vehicle”) is one of two main existing branches of Buddhism (the other being Theravada) and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice. This movement added a further set of discourses, and although it was initially small in India, it had long-term historical significance....