Mahāyāna Buddhism is marked above all by its distinctive spiritual ideal: the bodhisattva. Rather than aiming primarily at personal liberation as an arhat, the practitioner aspires to full Buddhahood for the sake of all beings, taking a vow to work for universal liberation and, if necessary, to postpone final nirvāṇa until others are freed. Compassion is elevated to a central, driving virtue, standing alongside wisdom as the heart of the path. This vision reframes spiritual practice from a solitary ascent to a shared journey, where one’s awakening is inseparable from the awakening of others.

Flowing from this ideal is a strong emphasis on universal salvation. Mahāyāna affirms that enlightenment is accessible to all sentient beings, not only a monastic elite or a spiritually gifted few. Many teachings express this in terms of an inherent potential for Buddhahood, often described as Buddha-nature, and they stress that laypeople as well as monastics can advance far along the path. In this way, the tradition widens the scope of who is seen as a genuine practitioner and what forms a life of practice may take.

Doctrinally, Mahāyāna develops a sophisticated philosophy of emptiness (śūnyatā), extending the early teaching of non-self to all phenomena, which are said to lack inherent, independent existence. This vision is often linked with the insight that saṃsāra and nirvāṇa are not ultimately two separate realities, but are understood differently when seen with perfect wisdom. The Buddha is also presented in a more expansive way, with teachings on multiple Buddhas and great bodhisattvas active throughout countless world-systems, and with a rich cosmology that includes pure lands associated with Buddhas such as Amitābha. Devotional practices directed toward these Buddhas and bodhisattvas, including those of Pure Land traditions, become important supports for the path.

Mahāyāna is further distinguished by its expanded scriptural heritage and its use of skillful means (upāya). A large body of Mahāyāna sūtras, such as the Prajñāpāramitā texts and the Lotus Sūtra, introduces and elaborates these distinctive doctrines and practices, often presenting them as teachings adapted to the diverse capacities of beings. The idea of skillful means allows for a wide variety of methods—philosophical, meditative, and devotional—to be understood as compassionate expressions of the same liberating truth. Together, these elements form a vision of the path in which wisdom and compassion, philosophy and devotion, individual effort and universal concern are woven into a single, great vehicle.