Causal Vehicle (Tibetan, rgyu'i theg-pa). A Tibetan hermeneutical term used to indicate the non-esoteric Mahāyāna Buddhist path in contrast to the tantric ‘Result Vehicle’, so-called because it approaches enlightenment (bodhi) as something which is to be acquired, and through which the causal basis for Buddhahood is generated. Also known as the Vehicle of Attributes (lakṣaṇayāna), and the Vehicle of Perfections (pāramitāyāna), meaning that it is the vehicle for the cultivation of the perfections (pāramitā).

A Dictionary of Buddhism, Oxford University Press, 2003, 2004 (which is available in electronic version from answer.com)