Editing Noble Eightfold Path (section)

===Mahayana presentations of the path===
[[Mahayana|Mahāyāna]] Buddhism is based principally upon the path of a [[Bodhisattva]].{{sfnp|Nattier |2003|pp=137–138, 142–146}} A ''Bodhisattva'' refers to one who is on the path to buddhahood.{{sfnp|Gyatso|1995|p=1}} The term ''Mahāyāna'' was originally a synonym for ''Bodhisattvayāna'' or "Bodhisattva Vehicle".{{sfnp|Nattier|2003|p=174}}{{sfnp|Hirakawa|1993|p=297}}{{sfnp|Conze|2001|p=2001}}

In the earliest texts of Mahāyāna Buddhism, the path of a bodhisattva was to awaken the ''bodhicitta''.{{sfnp|Robinson|Johnson|1997|p=99}} Between the 1st and 3rd century CE, this tradition introduced the ''Ten Bhumi'' doctrine, which means ten levels or stages of awakening.{{sfnp|Robinson|Johnson|1997|p=99}} This development was followed by the acceptance that it is impossible to achieve Buddhahood in one (current) lifetime, and the best goal is not nirvana for oneself, but Buddhahood after climbing through the ten levels during multiple rebirths.{{sfnp|Nattier |2003|pp= 142–152}} Mahāyāna scholars then outlined an elaborate path, for monks and laypeople, and the path includes the vow to help teach Buddhist knowledge to other beings, so as to help them cross samsara and liberate themselves, once one reaches the Buddhahood in a future rebirth.{{sfnp|Nattier |2003|pp=137–138, 142–146}} One part of this path are the ''[[pāramitā]]'' (perfections, to cross over), derived from the ''Jatakas'' tales of Buddha's numerous rebirths.{{sfnp|Robinson|Johnson|1997|pp=101–102}}{{sfnp|Buswell|2004|pp=631–632}}

The doctrine of the bodhisattva bhūmis was also eventually merged with the [[Vaibhāṣika|Sarvāstivāda Vaibhāṣika]] schema of the "five paths" by the [[Yogachara|Yogacara]] school''.<ref name=":02">Watanabe, Chikafumi (2000), ''A Study of Mahayanasamgraha III: The Relation of Practical Theories and Philosophical Theories''. Ph.D. dissertation, The University of Calgary, pp. 38-40.</ref>'' This Mahāyāna "five paths" presentation can be seen in [[Asanga|Asanga's]] ''[[Mahāyānasaṃgraha]]''.<ref name=":02" />

The Mahāyāna texts are inconsistent in their discussion of the ''pāramitās'', and some texts include lists of two, others four, six, ten and fifty-two.{{sfnp|Nattier |2003|pp= 151–154}}{{sfnp|Keown|2003|p=212}}<ref name="Ichimura2001p28">{{cite book|author=Shōhei Ichimura|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xTW6XNxOxbkC|title=Buddhist Critical Spirituality: Prajñā and Śūnyatā|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|year=2001|isbn=978-81-208-1798-2|pages=28–29 with footnotes 56, 57}}</ref> The six paramitas have been most studied, and these are:{{sfnp|Robinson|Johnson|1997|pp=101–102}}<ref name="Ichimura2001p28" />{{sfnp|Gyatso|1995|pp=4–12}}

# ''[[Dāna]] pāramitā'': perfection of giving; primarily to monks, nuns and the Buddhist monastic establishment dependent on the alms and gifts of the lay householders, in return for generating religious merit;{{sfnp|Buswell|2004|p=196}} some texts recommend ritually transferring the merit so accumulated for better rebirth to someone else
# ''[[Śīla]] pāramitā'': perfection of morality; it outlines ethical behaviour for both the laity and the Mahayana monastic community; this list is similar to Śīla in the Eightfold Path (i.e. Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood)<ref name="MizunoSekimori1996p28">{{cite book|author1=Kōgen Mizuno|url=https://archive.org/details/essentialsofbudd00mizu/page/28|title=Essentials of Buddhism: basic terminology and concepts of Buddhist philosophy and practice|author2=Gaynor Sekimori|publisher=Kōsei|year=1996|isbn=978-4-333-01683-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/essentialsofbudd00mizu/page/28 28–29]}}</ref>
# ''[[Kshanti|{{IAST|Kṣānti}}]] pāramitā'': perfection of patience, willingness to endure hardship
# ''[[Vīrya]] pāramitā'': perfection of vigour; this is similar to Right Effort in the Eightfold Path<ref name="MizunoSekimori1996p28" />
# ''[[Dhyāna in Buddhism|Dhyāna]] pāramitā'': perfection of meditation; this is similar to Right Concentration in the Eightfold Path
# ''[[Prajñā (Buddhism)|Prajñā]] pāramitā'': perfection of insight (wisdom), awakening to the characteristics of existence such as karma, rebirths, impermanence, no-self, dependent origination and emptiness;<ref name="Ichimura2001p28" />{{sfnp|Buswell|2004|pp=631–632, 664–665, 809}} this is complete acceptance of the Buddha teaching, then conviction, followed by ultimate realisation that "dharmas are non-arising".{{sfnp|Robinson|Johnson|1997|pp=101–102}}

In Mahāyāna Sutras that include ten ''pāramitā'', the additional four perfections are "skillful means, vow, power and knowledge".{{sfnp|Keown|2003|p=212}} The most discussed ''pāramitā'' and the highest rated perfection in Mahayana texts is the "Prajna-paramita", or the "perfection of insight".{{sfnp|Keown|2003|p=212}} This insight in the Mahāyāna tradition, states Shōhei Ichimura, has been the "insight of non-duality or the absence of reality in all things".<ref>{{cite book|author=Shōhei Ichimura |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xTW6XNxOxbkC|title=Buddhist Critical Spirituality: Prajñā and Śūnyatā |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|year=2001|isbn=978-81-208-1798-2|page=114}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Carl Olson|url=https://archive.org/details/differentpathsof0000olso|url-access=registration |title=The Different Paths of Buddhism: A Narrative-Historical Introduction|publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=2005|isbn=978-0-8135-3778-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/differentpathsof0000olso/page/154 154]–155}}</ref>

====East Asian Buddhism====

[[East Asian Buddhism]] is influenced by both the classic Indian Buddhist presentations of the path such as the Eightfold Path as well as classic Indian Mahāyāna presentations such as that found in the [[Da zhidu lun]].<ref>Robert E. Buswell, Robert M. Gimello (1992). ''"Paths to Liberation: The Marga and Its Transformations in Buddhist Thought,"'' pp. 313-314. (Studies in East Asian Buddhism). University of Hawaii Press.</ref>

There are many different presentations of [[soteriology]], including numerous paths and vehicles (''yanas'') in the different traditions of East Asian Buddhism.<ref>Robert E. Buswell, Robert M. Gimello (1992). ''"Paths to Liberation: The Marga and Its Transformations in Buddhist Thought,"''  p. 316. (Studies in East Asian Buddhism). University of Hawaii Press.</ref> There is no single dominant presentation. In [[Zen Buddhism]] for example, one can find outlines of the path such as the [[Long Scroll of the Treatise on the Two Entrances and Four Practices|Two Entrances and Four Practices]]'','' The [[Five Ranks|Five ranks]], The [[Ten Bulls|Ten Ox-Herding Pictures]] and [[Linji Yixuan#Expressing the inexpressible|The Three mysterious Gates]] of Linji.

====Indo-Tibetan Buddhism====
In Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, the path to liberation is outlined in the genre known as [[Lamrim]] ("Stages of the Path"). All the various Tibetan schools have their own Lamrim presentations. This genre can be traced to [[Atisha|Atiśa]]'s 11th-century ''[[Bodhipathapradīpa|A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment]]'' (''Bodhipathapradīpa'').<ref name="thubten">{{Cite web|url=https://thubtenchodron.org/buddhism/02-lam-rim/|title=Stages of the Path (Lamrim)|website=Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron|access-date=4 December 2022|archive-date=30 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220830184726/https://thubtenchodron.org/buddhism/02-lam-rim/|url-status=live}}</ref>