As Buddhism spread across Asia, particularly towards the north and through the region of Tibet and China, there was an emergence of the Mahayana tradition that adopted the regional and local customs which began to augment, reevaluate and reshape fundamental early Indian Buddhist concepts. Thus, early Indian Buddhism had inevitably evolved and formed a new school of Buddhism known as Mahayana. The Mahayana school of Buddhism shares vast similarities with Early Indian Buddhism in their fundamental beliefs but have contrasting differences on certain aspects such as the five pathways towards liberation and enlightenment.
In Buddhism, one of the most important beliefs is “The Five Paths (lam-lnga)” in which there are five levels of spiritual pathways to reach liberation and enlightenment or towards a purified state or “Bodhi.” The five levels of minds that are able to be achieved consists of a building up of pathway mind (tshogs-lam, path of accumulation), an applying pathway mind (sbyor-lam, path of preparation), a seeing pathway mind (mthong-lam, a
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Exclusive to Mahayana buddhism, one is able to partake in the building up of the two enlightenment-building networks for a finite number that is unable to be counted or measured. On the other hand, shravakas are able to attain arhatship in as short as three lifetimes, which is appealing and tempting to many individuals. Therefore, early Indian buddhism and Mahayana share vast similarities but many aspects in their differences of interpretations and beliefs of the five pathways towards liberation and enlightenment was reshaped, reevaluated and reinterpreted especially as a result of the Buddhism diaspora had spread all throughout the continent of Asia and new interpretations and ideas were introduced resulting in the evolution of the Mahayana school of