The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1444 page)

. The distinctive teaching of the Mah
y
na is that of compassion for all sentient beings such that the practitioner delays his own
nirv
na
until all other beings shall have been liberated. The ideal practitioner is the
bodhisattva
, i.e. one who has given birth to the
bodhicitta
(Skt., ‘enlightenment-mind’) which strives to manifest Great Compassion. The two main philosophical schools of Mah
y
na are
M
dhyamaka
and Yog
c
ra/
Vijñ
nav
da
(for the lineages, see
BUDDHIST SCHOOLS
). Also of importance are the forms of devotion, e.g. to the Buddha Amit
bha (
Amida
) with the promise of rebirth in the paradise of
Sukh
vat
; the emphasis on s