The Mahayana understands the teachings of the Hinayana, and it is use as basic a basic core. The core of these teachings are the denial of Self (Atman/vo^ nga~) in the Five Groups (skandha/ngu~ ua^?n) which constitutes the impirical person, and the theory of rebirth according to the quality of Karman. The consciousness of a dying being occasions in a mother's womb the origination of a new impirical person without entering into this person. The proprelling force causing the consciousness to do this is ignorance and craving. Their annihilation leads to Nirvana.

There are two types of Dharma(Pha'p), the Unconditioned Dharma (asamskrta)and the Conditioned Dharma(samskrta). The Uncondtioned Dharma are not dependent on anything, not influenced by devoid or impermanence. It constitute Nirvana(Nie^'t Ba`n), the seed of Buddha nature. The Conditioned Dharmas are combinations of which that compose the impirical person, originating from previous Dharmas formed by an individual's Karman(Nghie^.p Ba'o), moving from the previous body to the next in rebirth. Through out a life time, Conditioned Dharmas are in a continual process of disintergration, renewal, and rearrangement. Of all the shortest being the thought. They barely exist for a split second before they yield to new Dharmas(or new thoughts).

Man is comparable to a melody, made up of various chords and sounds. The continuous successions of chords produces the phenomenon of melody. The dissonance in the melody does not mean the end of music. Like death does not mean the end of the chain of Conditioned Dharmas. Death itself is a Dharma of the chain as dissonance is an element of the melody. We are enchanted by the melody as long as we perceive it as an ensouled pattern of sounds. The moment we are aware of the separate tones, the enchantment collapses. In a way when we see the world as something essential, and when we see it as a phenomena produced by Conditioned Dharmas, as illusory as a melody with its chords and sounds components, we found wisdom. It is from this realization that Nirvana is recognized.

Knowledge is a matter of the mere intellect which can only grasp fragments of reality; wisdom on the other hand is intuitive identification of the reality of all existence and being - an experience which is made with the whole of the personality after all rational limitations, views and doctrines have been discarded. It is defined as "omniscience" and in the Mahayana is synonymous with "enlightenment".

What is wisdom? Wisdom as taught in the Prajnaparamitas (Ba't Nha~ Kinh) is the realization of non-selfness, or "emptiness" (Kho^ng). That the Conditioned Dharmas (Pha'p) are empty in nature, such that it is made of a unison of others factors. Once all the factors made up the Condition are free, the Condition ceased to exist. Just as a chair robed of its shape, wooden nature, and nails would ceased to be a chair.

But be aware that "emptiness" too is empty. For without a thing to be empty of, there wouldn't be emptiness.

But wisdom is first born by the realization of emptiness. By developing wisdom, it destroy craving and ignorance, the two causes of suffering. Craving feeds through contact of the senses and the illusory perception of a "self". This self is created through ignorance of the true nature of Contioned Dharmas, its destruction will lead to end of craving and ignorance. By seing that the world is illusory, and the Dharma-Phenomenon is like a melody, ignorance vanishes leaving emptiness as the Asolute. Therefore suffering through attachment is uprooted. He who has rooted both causes of suffering is no longer threatened by rebirth.

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The fundamentals of Mahayana Buddhism

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