Page "religion" Paragraph 272

Mahayana Buddhism was no exception to these prevailing magical concepts.

After this form of Indian Buddhism had been introduced into China, it underwent extensive changes.

During its flowering in the sixth to the eighth centuries, Mahayana offered a supernatural package to the Chinese which bears no resemblance to the highly digested philosophical Zen morsels offered to the modern Western reader.

Mahayana had gods, and magic, a pantheon, heavens and hells, and gorgeously appareled priests, monks, and nuns, all of whom wielded power over souls in the other world.

The self-realized Mahayana saint possessed superhuman powers and magic.

The Mahayana that developed in the north was a religion of idolatry and coarse magic, that made the world into a huge magical garden.

In its monastic form, Mahayana was merely an organization of magic-practicing monks ( bonzes ), who catered to the Chinese faith in the supernatural.