Buddhayana — Awakening Buddhism

Where the word “Buddhayāna” comes from

Buddhayāna (Sanskrit: बुद्धयान, “the Buddha Vehicle”) is a classical Buddhist term, not a modern invention. In Mahāyāna literature it appears alongside Ekayāna — the “One Vehicle” — most famously in the Lotus Sūtra (Saddharmapuṇḍarīka), where the many paths taught to different listeners are described as skilful means that ultimately converge on a single vehicle leading to Buddhahood. In Vietnamese the term is rendered Phật Thừa.

Because the word is part of the shared Buddhist vocabulary, you will meet it in academic writing, in sūtra translations, and in the teaching of many traditions. It does not belong to any one school.

How Inti Foundation uses the name

Buddhayana as used on this site refers to a specific Dharma community within Inti Foundation, founded in Vietnam by Tạ Minh Tuấn (Saga), whose body of teaching is called Awakening Dharma — in Vietnamese Phật Pháp Thức Tỉnh. The community takes the classical name because its orientation is the same convergence the term points to: many entry points, one direction of awakening.

Two things worth stating plainly, so the distinction is not blurred:

• This community does not claim ownership of the classical term. Buddhayāna as a doctrinal idea predates it by many centuries.
• It does not present itself as a replacement for Theravāda, Mahāyāna or Vajrayāna. Its first vow is to preserve the True Dharma and to honour the essence of every tradition that has carried it. The fourth turning is framed as a continuation for a scientific and modern age, not a correction of what came before.

Reading the sources directly

Rather than asking anyone to take these claims on trust, the community publishes a bilingual Vietnamese–English scripture library covering the Theravāda, Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna canons, so readers can compare the primary texts themselves: browse the scripture library. The Lotus Sūtra passages on the One Vehicle sit within the Mahāyāna collection.