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The Indo-Tibetan tradition (Vajrayana Buddhism, mainly found in Tibet, Inner Mongolia and elsewhere in Western China, Mongolia, Bhutan, parts of India, Nepal and Russia, also known as "Northern Buddhism". According to Harvey "the number of people belonging to Northern Buddhism totals only around 18.2 million."
Other traditions like contemporary Chinese Buddhism, Japanese Zen, Korean Buddhism, and Vietnamese Buddhism also make use of esoteric (Chinese: mijiao, Japanese: mikkyo) or mantrayana methods to a lesser extent. In many Asian Mahayana Buddhist traditions, esoteric methods are used as a complement, not as the central practice.
East Asian Mahayana began to develop in China during the Han dynasty (when Buddhism was first introduced from Central Asia). It is thus influenced by Chinese culture and philosophy. [37] East Asian Mahayana developed new, uniquely Asian interpretations of Buddhist texts and focused on the study of sutras. [38]
Furthermore, in certain regions of China and East Asia (notably in Southern China), non-Mahayana forms of Buddhism were sometimes dominant. Vietnam represents an interesting case of a country lying in the liminal region between the Northern and Southern Buddhist schools. As might be expected, Vietnamese Buddhism shows both a strong Mahayana and ...
In Japanese Buddhism, the Five Tathagathas are the primary objects of realization and meditation in Shingon Buddhism, a school of Vajrayana Buddhism founded by Kūkai. In Chinese Buddhism, veneration of the five Buddhas has dispersed from Chinese Esoteric Buddhism into other Chinese Buddhist traditions like Chan Buddhism and Tiantai.
In older Chinese literature, the term esoteric is used rhetorically to "designate what this or that writer feels is superior or best in the tradition." [3] Aaron Proffitt argues that "'Esoteric Buddhism' can be taken as a synonym for Mahayana Buddhism itself" in particular contexts, where it takes a polemical rather than descriptive function. [4]
In his translation and commentary of Asanga's Distinguishing Dharma from Dharmata, he writes, "all three traditions of hinayana, mahayana, and vajrayana were practiced in Tibet and that the hinayana which literally means "lesser vehicle" is in no way inferior to the mahayana."
Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions also recognize five primary Buddhas: Vairocana ("the Illuminator"), a key figure in the Avatamsaka Sutra and the Vairocanābhisaṃbodhi Sūtra. He is the central Buddha in Huayan Buddhism, Chinese Esoteric Buddhism, and Shingon.