The Mahayana Buddhism movement has its beginnings in northern India and Central Asia around 410 B.C.E. and is well rooted in the Theravada School. However, the Mahayanists consider the Theravada to be Hinayana or "the lesser vehicle". Mahayanists accept much of the scripture and ritual that the Hinayanists believe in, but they hold their concepts to be of higher value than that of the Hinayana. Their belief in attaining Nirvana through devotion, their view of Nirvana as heaven, and their notion that salvation is attained through intercession of a bodhisattva distinguishes them from the Hinayanists.…
