The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1443 page)

(Skt., ‘Great Vehicle’; Chin., Tach’eng; Jap., Daij
; Korean, Taes
ng). The form of Buddhism prominent in Tibet, Mongolia, China, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. It regards itself as a more adequate expression of the
dharma
than what it calls
H
nay
na
(Skt., ‘Lesser’ or ‘Inferior Vehicle’). The absence of the later teaching in early texts is variously explained. Tibetan Buddhism ascribes, within the
Trik
ya
of the Buddha, the H
nay
na to the historical Nirm
ak
ya and the Mah
y
na to the
Sambhoga-k
ya
; whereas
Zen
claims a special wordless transmission that could not by its very nature have a literary witness. In any case, such teaching is now recorded in many
s
tras