The book by the famous St. Petersburg Buddhologist and sinologist E. A. Torchinov is dedicated to the philosophy of Mahayana Buddhism, or the Great Vehicle, a direction of Buddhism that has become widespread in China, Japan, Tibet, Mongolia, and also in Russia. Based on the analysis of the most complex Buddhist philosophical texts, the author reveals the main provisions of the main intellectual trends of Mahayana thought - Madhyamaka (the middle doctrine of the emptiness of existence), Yogacara (yogic discourse on only consciousness) and the theory of Buddha nature present in all beings. Of particular interest are the parallels drawn by the author between Buddhist theories and the ideas of a number of European thinkers. E. A. Torchinov also examines the development of the philosophical foundations of classical Indian Mahayana by Buddhists in Tibet and China. The book ends with an essay on the history of the study of Buddhist philosophy in Russia. The book is intended for a wide range of readers interested in the history and philosophy of Buddhism, problems of the history of philosophy and religious studies.