Part 1 of this article surveyed and appraised recent developments in the study of early Indian Mahāyāna. Part 2 continues by presenting a number of new perspectives on the nature of this movement, the practices it advocated, and the preachers, known as inline image, that seem to have been its primary agents. An appendix discusses the use of terms such as Mahāyāna, Theravāda, Hīnayāna, and Mainstream Buddhism.
