Buddhism

===Other key Mahāyāna views===
{{Main|Yogachara|Buddha-nature}}

Mahāyāna Buddhism also differs from Theravada and the other schools of early Buddhism in promoting several unique doctrines which are contained in Mahāyāna sutras and philosophical treatises.

One of these is the unique interpretation of emptiness and dependent origination found in the Madhyamaka school. Another very influential doctrine for Mahāyāna is the main philosophical view of the [[Yogachara|Yogācāra]] school variously, termed ''Vijñaptimātratā-vāda'' ("the doctrine that there are only ideas" or "mental impressions") or ''Vijñānavāda'' ("the doctrine of consciousness"). According to Mark Siderits, what classical Yogācāra thinkers like Vasubandhu had in mind is that we are only ever aware of mental images or impressions, which may appear as external objects, but "there is actually no such thing outside the mind".<ref>Siderits, Mark, ''Buddhism as philosophy'', 2017, p. 149.</ref> There are several interpretations of this main theory, many scholars see it as a type of Idealism, others as a kind of phenomenology.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Gold |first=Jonathan C. |date=April 22, 2011 |title=Vasubandhu |encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Archive (Summer 2018 Edition) |editor=Edward N. Zalta |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2018/entries/vasubandhu/ |access-date=13 April 2020 |archive-date=5 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190705225152/https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2018/entries/vasubandhu/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Another very influential concept unique to Mahāyāna is that of "Buddha-nature" (''buddhadhātu'') or "Tathagata-womb" (''tathāgatagarbha''). Buddha-nature is a concept found in some 1st-millennium CE Buddhist texts, such as the ''[[Tathāgatagarbha sūtras]]''. According to Paul Williams these [[Sutra]]s suggest that 'all sentient beings contain a Tathagata' as their 'essence, core inner nature, Self'.{{sfnp|Williams|2008|p=104}}{{refn|group=note|Wayman and Wayman have disagreed with this view, and they state that the ''Tathagatagarbha'' is neither self nor sentient being, nor soul, nor personality.{{sfnp|Williams|2008|p=107}}}} According to Karl Brunnholzl "the earliest mahayana sutras that are based on and discuss the notion of tathāgatagarbha as the buddha potential that is innate in all sentient beings began to appear in written form in the late second and early third century."<ref>Brunnholzl, Karl, When the Clouds Part, The ''Uttaratantra'' and Its Meditative Tradition as a Bridge between Sutra and Tantra, Snow Lion, Boston & London, 2014, page 3.</ref> For some, the doctrine seems to conflict with the Buddhist anatta doctrine (non-Self), leading scholars to posit that the ''Tathāgatagarbha Sutras'' were written to promote Buddhism to non-Buddhists.{{sfnp|Williams|2008|pp=104–105, 108–109; Quote: "...&nbsp;[The ''Mahaparinirvana Sutra''] refers to the Buddha using the term "Self" in order to win over non-Buddhist ascetics."}}<ref>{{harvp|Fowler|1999|pp=101–102}} Quote: "Some texts of the ''tathagatagarbha'' literature, such as the ''Mahaparinirvana Sutra'' actually refer to an ''atman'', though other texts are careful to avoid the term. This would be in direct opposition to the general teachings of Buddhism on ''anatta''. Indeed, the distinctions between the general Indian concept of ''atman'' and the popular Buddhist concept of Buddha-nature are often blurred to the point that writers consider them to be synonymous."</ref> This can be seen in texts like the ''[[Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra]]'', which state that Buddha-nature is taught to help those who have fear when they listen to the teaching of anatta.<ref>Suzuki, D.T. (1956), ''The Lankavatara Sutra: A Mahayana Text''. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd. p.69</ref> Buddhist texts like the ''[[Ratnagotravibhāga]]'' clarify that the "Self" implied in ''Tathagatagarbha'' doctrine is actually "[[Anattā|not-self]]".{{sfnp|Williams|2008|p=112}}{{sfnp|Hookham|1991|p=96}} Various interpretations of the concept have been advanced by Buddhist thinkers throughout the history of Buddhist thought and most attempt to avoid anything like the [[Ātman (Hinduism)|Hindu Atman]] doctrine.

These Indian Buddhist ideas, in various synthetic ways, form the basis of subsequent Mahāyāna philosophy in Tibetan Buddhism and East Asian Buddhism.