Proem 3 The terminology: Mahayana, Bodhisattvayana, Vaipulya, etc., in relation to Sravakayana, Hinayana, Sthaviravada / Theravada, etc. 5 The contextual position of the Mahayana 7 Theravada / Sthaviravada, and the question of a ‘Common’, ‘Mainstream’or ‘Conservative’ Buddhism 10 Types of sources for the history of the earlier Indian Mahayana 12 Some factors involved in the composition and transmission of Mahayana Sutras 18 On versions and recensions of Mahayana Sutras 20 The matter of laymen (grhin, grhapati, grhastha) and of stupas 24 The relation between Mahayana and Sravakayana / Hinayana: opposition and complementarity 28 Co-existence of Mahayana and Sravakayana 30 Buddhism and the ambient Indian religions, and the problem of the relationship between Mahayana and Brahmanism / Hinduism 31 The geographical milieu 33 Two problems in comparativism: Gnosticism and Manichaeism 35 Periodization 36 Hermeneutics in Mahayana 37 The problem of the classification of Sutras as Mahayanist, and the referential extension of the expression ‘mahayana’ 38 A doctrinal and philosophical criterion for the Mahayana 39 The doctrinal classification of individual Mahayanasutras 39 The doctrinal classification of the tathagatagarbha teaching 40 Scripture (Sutra) and commentary (Sastra) in Mahayana 41 On two early masters of the Mahayana: Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu 42 Some other problems of authorship and authenticity in earlier Mahayanist literature 47 The Bodhi(sattva)caryavatara 48 Buddhas and Bodhisattvas 48 Antecedents and prefigurations of Mahayanist doctrine in the thought of Sravakayanist orders / schools (nikaya) 49 The question of so-called ‘merit-transfer’ 52 Mahakaru∞a, or niralambana karu∞a, and sarvakaravaropeta sunyata 54 The complexity of the concept of Mahayana 54 By way of conclusion 56
