Mahayana Buddhism keeps the eightfold path but folds it inside a larger structure built around the six or ten paramitas, perfections, and the bodhisattva vow to liberate all beings before entering final nirvana oneself; ethical conduct and concentration in the eightfold scheme map onto sila and dhyana among the perfections, while the wisdom factor expands into the systematic study of emptiness. Zen and Chan traditions, working from the same base, place unusual weight on right concentration and right mindfulness as cultivated directly in seated meditation, zazen, sometimes treating extended doctrinal analysis of the other factors as secondary to direct practice, a position associated with the slogan that Zen is a transmission outside the scriptures.
Tibetan Buddhism absorbs the eightfold path into graded-path literature, lamrim, where it appears as the practice appropriate to a practitioner seeking personal liberation, one of three capacities the texts describe before moving on to the bodhisattva's motivation and, for initiates, tantric method. Right livelihood in particular has taken on distinct emphasis across cultures: the prohibition on trading in living beings and meat shaped debates over vegetarianism differently in Theravada Southeast Asia, where almsfood is eaten as offered, and in Mahayana East Asia, where several traditions expect monastics to abstain from meat outright.