Every Mahayana Buddhist sutra is fake?

(Natasha Yehenara) Did the Buddha actually say this? The mystery of the Mahayana sutras [that displaced authentic historical Buddha texts with Hindu syncretism and a Brahmin-subverted movement to push the Buddha out and bring back the Old Vedic Religion]

Awaken by self-power or other-power?

Alan Watts; Dhr. Seven, Sayalay, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

In the decadent Kali Yuga, be reborn in Amida's "Western Paradise" instead of bodhi.

Jiriki (self-power) versus tariki (other-power), by our will or another's will, that is the question.

To love ALL means to love ourselves, too.

Can we possibly attain selflessness (anatta, emptiness, the liberating realization that all things are impersonal) by self-will? Can we attain wisdom by our own ignorant efforts of trial and error?

It seems impossible. Or in any case, it seemed impossible until someone did it. Furtively scrambling in the dark, life after life, striving for complete liberation, someone came upon the ultimate truth and was liberated then pointed out the way for others to awaken themselves.

No one saves us but ourselves;

No one can and no one may;

We ourselves must walk the Path;

Buddhas only point the way.

Since then others have awakened to complete wisdom, having been shown the way. These beings are called disciples or followers of buddhas, particularly of a special kind of buddha, the supremely self-enlightened, supremely self-awakened (samma-sam-buddha), who managed to do it on their own over many, many lifetimes.

They weren't really on their own at all. They had a great deal of help all along the way, but as for the final awakening, that was not done under a teacher -- as no enlightened teacher exists when a buddha awakens.

They do it, it is said, by pursuing the development of the Ten Perfections over a long course of samsara (cyclical rebirth) over the span of aeons (kalpas) and great-aeons (mahakalpas), staggering periods of time (Vedic measurement).

Alan Watts on Amitabha's Pure Land

By self or help: jiriki versus tariki

(redirected from Tariki Buddhism)

Jiriki (自力) is one's own strength (will, power). It is the Japanese Buddhist term for self-power, the ability to achieve awakening (bodhi), liberation (moksha), enlightenment (in other words, to reach nirvana) through one's own efforts. Tariki (他力) means "other power," "outside help."

These terms in Japanese Buddhist schools classify methods by whether they rely on oneself (as the historical Buddha advised, particularly in his final admonition for us to "be lamps/islands (dipas) unto ourselves and to strive with diligence) or on an outside force.

Examples of an outside force are a Cosmic Buddha (e.g., Amitabha), God, Brahman, Brahma, or some other agency (higher power, other power, maybe even the group power of the Arya-Sangha, the community of enlightened disciples who followed the historical Buddha's advice).

How does one arrive at final emancipation, deliverance, liberation (moksha), reach the further shore of nirvana (the end of all rebirth and suffering)? How does one become spiritually enlightened? [2]

Jiriki is commonly practiced in Zen Buddhism, as in traditional Theravada (and the earlier "Hinayana" school, none of which survived and the last of which seems to have been the Sarvastivada) Buddhism.

• NOTE: Theravada is a back-to-basics movement, not a surviving form of Hinayana ("Lesser or Smaller Vehicle" schools, but as there are no more Hinayana schools to hurl invective at, ill-informed Mahayana ("Great Vehicle") Buddhists sometimes accuse Theravada as being such a school.

In Pure Land Buddhism, tariki often refers to the power of Amitābha Buddha [3].

Who needs to put for effort like Siddhartha?

These two terms describe the strands of practice that followers of every religion throughout the world develop.

In most religions we can find popular expressions of faith that rely on the worship of external powers such as an idol or "god" of some kind who is expected to bestow favor after being given offerings of faith from a believer (sacrifices, vows, pledges of allegiance).

Some believers of Pure Land Buddhism accept that through faith and reliance on Amitabha Buddha one will be led to enlightenment (salvation).

These are examples of tariki, reliance on a power outside of oneself for salvation.

Self-will

Jiriki is seeking spiritual enlightenment through one's own efforts.

An example of jiriki in Buddhism is the practice of meditation. In meditation, one observes the body (most often in the form of following the breath and mind to directly experience the principles of impermanence and dependent arising or "emptiness"/its impersonal nature or the selflessness) of all phenomena.

Such principles are formally discussed in the Buddhist scriptures, but jiriki implies experiencing them directly for oneself. More

What is "Buddhism"? (World Atlas)

WorldAtlas.com edited and corrected by Wisdom Quarterly, Fall 2022

The historical Buddha (Gandhara art)

Buddhism is considered the 4th largest religion in the world [because 1,000,000,000 Chinese Buddhists are not counted in officially atheist communist China] that originated in Ancient India between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE.

The practice is based on a series of teachings by Siddhartha Gautama, the historical Buddha. From India [in particular Gandhara, now Afghanistan], Buddhism spread to major parts of Asia [particularly along the Silk Road] and the rest of the world.

The largest Buddha statues are in Bamiyan, Afghanistan (one of three real Kapilavastus)

.

Currently, there are three major groups of Buddhism. These are:

1. Mahayana Buddhism followed in the countries of China, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam;
2. Theravada followed in Burma, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and Laos; 
3. Vajrayana followed in Tibet, Mongolia, Nepal, Bhutan, parts of Russia, and northern India.

Cosmic Amitabha eclipses the historical Buddha

There are also many subsects of Buddhism like Nichiren Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, Tendai, [secular American Vipassana] Buddhism.

Followers of Buddhism are referred to as Buddhists and at present, there are [at least one billion] more than 535 million Buddhists all over the world.

Buddhist beliefs

Shakyamuni the Sage of the Scythians/Shakyians

Buddhism consists of many spiritual practices, traditions, beliefs, and bodies of literature that are part of the teachings of the historical Buddha as well as later [make believe or apocryphal cosmic] "Buddhas."

The principal goal of Buddhism is to escape the endless cycle of rebirth and all forms of suffering and attain a state of awakening (enlightenment) followed by Nirvana, thereby ending the continuous cycle of death and rebirth.

Buddhists believe that the path to enlightenment is through the practice and development of morality, meditation, and wisdom (virtue, stillness, and direct knowing).

The core doctrines or teachings of Buddhism are known as the “Dharma.” These include the Three Universal Marks of Existence, the Four Enlightening Truths, and the Noble Eightfold Path.

Large Japanese Buddha statue in Bodh Gaya ("Enlightenment Grove"), Bihar, India

The Four Enlightening or Noble Truths are:

1. There is a problem called suffering (dukkha);
2. There is a cause of suffering (samudaya);
3. There is an end to suffering (nirodha);
4. There is a path to the end of suffering (magga).

The fourth ennobling or enlightening truth -- the Path -- refers to the factors Buddhists call the Noble Eightfold Path, following which one can awaken in this very life and here make an end of all suffering.

The Noble Eightfold Path to awakening that is often represented by an eight-spoked wheel or “The Wheel of Dharma” is comprised of these eight limbs or factors:

1. right view (samma ditthi),
2. right intention (samma sankappa),
3. right speech (samma vaca),
4. right action (samma kammanta),
5. right livelihood (samma ajiva),
6. right effort (samma vayama),
7. right mindfulness (samma sati),
8. right stillness (samma samadhi).

Maha Bodhi ("Great Awakening") temple reconstruction, Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India

.

The Future Buddha Maitreya (Messiah), Thikse

Buddhists view the world as swirling in a sea of rebirth over and over again, where death represents a change not an end. Being are reborn again and again onto different planes of existence in countless worlds with different bodies -- of light, dense matter, or even in immaterial states -- which are dependent on the ripening of “deeds” (karma) or moral conduct of thought, speech, and deed in life after life.

Theravada Buddhists believe that every individual takes rebirth within one of 31 Planes of Existence (with countless individual worlds on each plane), which Mahayana has reduced to six realms.

Buddhist numbers by country (World Atlas)

There are many sutras (discourses) and spiritual texts written in Pali (a commonly spoken form of Sanskrit since Sanskrit was the exclusive language of those in the Brahmin priest caste who used it as an exclusive liturgical language).

Texts revered by Buddhists include the threefold collections of texts (Tipitaka), Mahayana sutras (Agamas), Tantric Texts, the Abhidharma ("Doctrine in Ultimate Terms"), and the early Buddhist texts of the Pali canon. More

The Way to True Happiness: Theravada (doc)

Theravada Buddhism (video) via Ellie Askew, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu (text), Wisdom Quarterly

Women can awaken.

"Theravada Buddhism, The Way to True Happiness" is a brief look into the Thai Forest Tradition, where Westerners have been going to sit with the enlightened teacher Ajahn Chah, who was able to communicate the heart of Buddhism to Westerners better than any teacher in Thailand. Many benefitted from it, themselves awakening the way the Buddha awakened to become the "Enlightened One."

Is rebirth really a real thing?

The British monk who first studied theoretical physics at Cambridge Ajahn Brahm (Peter Betts) is an excellent example of this, but he is not the only one. There are many Westerners in this tradition.

What were these young British, Americans, Australians, and Europeans finding in the forest? Anyone may today visit Ajahn Chah's monastery Wat Pah Pong and stay at Wat Pah Nanachat, the "International Forest Monastery" in northeast Thailand to find out. In the place of a visit to Isan, the rural northeast bordering Laos, there's this short film.

Ajahn Brahm (Peter Betts), a UK success story

Insight LA teachers earn Theravada creds

Rod Meade Sperry (Lion's Roar, 5/25/17); Dhr. Seven, Crystal Q. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

New trainees Teresa Romano, Alisa Dennis, and Gullu Singh receive blessings for the 5th Spirit Rock’s Teacher Training from Buddhist teachers Beth Sternlieb and Christiane Wolf (InsightLA.org).

Emily Horn, Celeste Young, Lisa Kring, Paloma Cain, and Vincent Horn [Buddhist Geeks] at InsightLA’s Teacher Authorization Ceremony (InsightLA.org).

.

InsightLA teachers earn Theravada authorization; others graduate from Spirit Rock’s Retreat Teacher Training Program

Wife Trudy Goodman-Kornfield (spiritrock.org)

From Insight LA in Santa Monica comes the announcement that five of the meditation center’s teachers have become “recognized, honored, and formally authorized in the Theravada lineage.”

Husband Jack Kornfield (Spirit Rock)

On Saturday May 13th, Paloma Cain, Celeste Young, Lisa Kring, Emily Horn, and Vincent Horn were formally authorized in the Theravada Buddhist lineage. Presiding over the ceremony was InsightLA’s founding teacher Trudy Goodman and her husband and InsightLA Board Member Jack Kornfield (spiritrock.org).

Kornfield represents the Theravada lineage that he handed down to Goodman years before. Together, they now pass the Dharma on to another five InsightLA teachers in this formal Teacher Authorization Ceremony.

Famous friend Ram Dass looks on as Jack Kornfield and Trudy Goodman marry (LR via SR).

.

Sharon Salzberg + Omid Safi Retreat (1440)

Each teacher lit a small candle from the big candle on the altar and shared their teaching aspirations with the community. It was a beautiful celebration of light, love, and the blessings that cascade down the generations of teachers all the way back to the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama.

Also on this day, Goodman formally recognized the graduation of three InsightLA teachers from Spirit Rock’s Retreat Teacher Training Program: Emily Horn, Beth Sternlieb, and Christiane Wolf.

They offered their encouragement and appreciation to the new trainees: Teresa Romano, Alisa Dennis, and Gullu Singh.

(lionsroar.com)

InsightLA is happy that the next Spirit Rock training is designed to expand the presence of teachers of color in both centers. They are proud of their graduates and trainees. Source

• Dharma teachers Trudy Goodman, Jack Kornfield marry
  
• Wise Heart: A profile of Jack Kornfield (Steve Silberman)
• Insight Meditation: Present, Open, and Aware: How to discover peace in every moment (Emily Horn)

Mahayana: Vasubandhu's Abhidharma-kosa

K.R. Paramahamsa, The Red Carpet Broadcast (TRCB.com)

1,000-armed Goddess of Compassion, Kwan Yin, Capital Museum, Beijing (Sftrajan/Flickr.com)

  

The Abhidharma-kosa ("Treasury of the Higher Teachings") of Vasubandhu helps orient readers to a Buddhist view of the path to liberation.

 
The Abhidharma-kosa is organized into nine chapters. The first two set forth the factors organized under categories like aggregates, sense bases, and elements.

  

These factors are distinguished as pure and impure, conditioned and unconditioned, and so on. The work lists about 75 factors that have come to be thought of as the definitive Abhidharma ("Higher Teaching") account relating to Dharma.

  

The intention of the entire work is fixed on the proclivities. The basic six ones are considered to be:

1. attachment (raga)
2. aversion or repugnance (dvesa, pratigha)
3. pride (mana)
4. ignorance (avidya)
5. wrong view (drsti)
6. perplexity (vicikitsa).

By relating these proclivities to varied defilements, contaminants [taints], floods, bonds, afflictions and envelopers, Vasubandhu develops a highly complex analysis in Chapter 5.

• Tibetan interpretations of the concentrations (jhanas)
• Vasubandhu's Critique of the Soul (metaphysics) 

Collet Cox relates the problems that arise when trying to abandon the proclivities, which relate to different sources of bondage such as defilements thus:
  

Within post-Vibhasa Sarvastivadin Abhidharma texts, categories of defilements come to be differentiated according to their functions, which in turn become the subject of heated sectarian controversy.
  
This controversy reflects the further refinement of theories concerning the operation of thought and proclivities as well as the methods by which proclivities are to be abandoned. It is also interconnected with the development of more sophisticated ontological theories, which affected all aspects of Abhidharma doctrine.

  

In particular, this controversy involves the possibility of a distinction between latent and active proclivities and the relation between them and the thought processes of the individual life-stream they characterize.

  

At issue is the development of a model that could successfully explain the apparent, persistent activity of certain proclivities, the reemergence of their activity after an interruption, and the mechanism by which they are to be abandoned. For example, can un-virtuous proclivities arise conditioned by a virtuous factor?

   

If not, then what is the causal mechanism by which defilements arise immediately after a virtuous moment of thought? Further, if defilements are associated with thought, since two associated thought-concomitants of differing moral quality cannot occur simultaneously, how can the virtuous counter agent that obstructs a particular proclivity arise simultaneously with it?

  

If, however, proclivities are not understood to be associated with thought, their very activity of defiling thought is meaningless, and no abandonment is necessary. Finally, if proclivities are understood to exist as real entities in the past and future as well as in the present, then they can never be destroyed in the sense that they become nonexistent, so in what sense can they be said to be abandoned?
   
Vasubandhu and Samghabhadra attempt to... More

Why is Mahayana Buddhism so popular?

Mahayana Buddhism: How did it achieve such popularity?

Rit Nosotro (comparative essay from a predominantly Christian perspective)

Given the established Asian religions and/or philosophies of Taoism, Confucianism, and Shintoism, why did Mahayana Buddhism gain such popularity?

The Force, Nature, Master Kong, the Sun Goddess, and Buddha – each of these play their respective roles in the Eastern religions of Taoism, Confucianism, Shintoism, and Mahayana Buddhism. However, Mahayana Buddhism has surpassed all in its ability to weave its way into Western [Judeo-Christian] culture, in particular. Why is this true?

The answer may be had by examining Mahayana Buddhism in contrast with basic beliefs in other religions including those of evangelical Christianity. Wherever nominal Christians turn from the truth [sic.] to New Age mythology, Mahayana Buddhism is a popular belief system that tickles their itching ears.

Mahayana vs. Hinayana Buddhism
All forms of Buddhism, including Mahayana, believe in meditation and concentration, the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Noble Path, the impermanence of all phenomena [anicca], dependent causation, and the nonexistence of an essential self [anatta]. Yet, Buddhism has two major branches.

“From Mahayana sources, it seems that the major point of difference was that the now defunct Lesser Vehicle [Hinayana or Sarvastivada now mistakenly equated with the ancient Theravada tradition] sought salvation through individual effort, whereas Mahayana advocated salvation for all beings through the worship and grace of the Buddha or buddhas (“enlightened ones”) and bodhisattvas ([beings who vow to become buddhas) Buddhist-saviors, whose ‘essence is enlightenment’),” Royal W. Weiler stated.

However, in practical terms, even the historical Buddha is overshadowed by the bodhisattvas, who are people who vow that they will forgo or delay their final enlightenment until all creatures are “saved” (Ref. 1, Ref. 2 “Mahayana” Encyclopedia Americana, “Buddha and Buddhism” Encyclopedia Americana).

Another split between Hinayana (Lesser Vehicle) and Mahayana (Greater Vehicle) Buddhism is the Hinayana belief that Buddha was just human. They believe that when he died [parinirvana is the opposite of death since "death" is almost inseparably involved with rebirth] he ceased to exist. [This is, of course, a great distortion since that which does not exist cannot then cease to exist; what is true to say is that he broke the cycle of rebirth and escaped Samsara].

Mahayana, however, believes that Buddha did not die, but merely transformed himself into another body. [This would seem to say that the Buddha did not attain nirvana or that, as is more commonly suggested, "Nirvana is Samsara."] That’s where Mahayana developed [or invented] the idea of the Trikaya or “The Three Bodies” which Buddha uses.

Another difference is that the standards to achieve nirvana (a lack of desire and feelings) [nirvana -- the "end of all suffering" --is in fact marked by the absence of craving and the presence of an exquisite, ineffable feeling of bliss] was lowered in Mahayana Buddhism. Mahayana lowered the standard two notches from the previous Hinayana standard so that more people could be “saved” by achieving nirvana.

By reducing the standard, it increased the possibility of the masses achieving the goal(Ref. 3, Ref. 4)... and so on with many common distortions being repeated and given new life.

• Original, uncorrected essay

NOTE: Who is Rit Nosotro [pseudonym "writ by us"?], and how does one cite "his" essays? All material on this site (hyperhistory.net) is under constant revision. Essays continue to be donated by students and other authors which become property of hyperhistory.net. Emails to the servant at hyperhistory.net often contain constructive comments about the published material. These are used to supplement, clarify, and delete as evidence demands. Hyperhistory.net is a global community effort. Thus, essays do not use the first person nor are they written from a uniquely American perspective. In order to reflect the collective authorship of the dynamic content contained on Hyperhistory.net, the pseudonym of "Rit Nosotro" has been devised. (Writ is an archaic past tense of "written" and Nosotros is the plural pronoun for "us" in Spanish.) The authorship is "written by us." [So the WQ deduction was correct.] This does not mean "public domain." Unless otherwise stated, these are anonymous contributions over which hyperhistory.net controls all copyright. For example, this page might be cited in a bibliography in the following manner: Nosotro, Rit. How to cite material from hyperhistory.net. 27 Oct. 2003. (Date of access: Oct. 27, 2009). It has been available for six years exactly without being corrected. Published in the hopes that these revisions help (WQ).

Is "Mahayana" a Different Religion?

Originally in Life Magazine (WQ update)

PHOTOS: 1. Mahayana "god" Amitabha in heaven (thezenfrog blog); 2. (yogilin.net); dogged Zen devotion (missfidget.com); iconic Japanese Buddha; mother goddess Western and Eastern form, Mariam and Kwan Yin.

From early times the type of Buddhism practiced in China and eventually in Japan (Zen) and Tibet (Lamaism) differed from the earlier practices of South and Southeast Asian Buddhists.

The difference was due to some extent to variations in national temperament. But it can be traced back to about 200 years after Gautama's passing, when a group of disciples disagreed on the interpretation of the Teaching and preached instead a doctrine that was less rigorous and more easily adapted to the needs of ordinary people.

This new, easier doctrine became known as Mahayana ("greater vehicle"). And its members disdainfully referred to the orthodox, original form of Buddhism as Hinayana ("lesser vehicle").

Shakyamuni (Siddhartha Gautama), who became the historical Buddha (or "fully enlightened teacher"), taught a Path to individual emancipation from continuous-rebirth (Samsara) and suffering (dukkha).

Mahayana, like Christianity, developed a messianic message of a savior who would provide for the "salvation" of others (variously: Maitreya, the prophesied future-buddha; Amitabha, a buddha in a heaven known as the Western Paradise; or any number of bodhisattvas). This salvation would not be into nirvana (the complete freedom from all further suffering) but into a "pure land" (heavenly abode) or simply more and improved rebirths.

So vast was the difference between original Buddhist doctrines and popular Mahayana innovations that it constituted almost a different religion. Some say it was a vastly different new religion with a Buddhist appearance and substantively Hindu doctrines.

Some go so far as to say that Mahayana is simply "Chinese Christianity" since the similarities are so striking and in line with the Buddhism Jesus was exposed to in India. (See previous entries on the Lost Years of Jesus).

Mahayana Buddhism, matured mainly in the free religious atmosphere of Tang Dynasty China, sought a way to make Buddhism a religion of the masses. It found the ascetic life of India and Southeast Asia too austere and demanding for ordinary people. And it searched for a method by which enlightenment might be achieved more simply than the historical Buddha had taught.

Whereas the new ideal of Mahayana was a saintly would-be savior figure known as a bodhisattva who vows to forego enlightenment and emancipation until he or she saves all other beings, the ideal Buddhist of the Hinayana was the arhat.

(Hinayana technically refers to sects like the Sarvastivada school that no longer exist but are somewhat close in character to the oldest surviving Buddhist tradition, the Theravada, or "Teaching of the Enlightened Elders," the Theras being the immediate disciples of the historical Buddha).

An arhat is a meditator who realizes enlightenment in this very life. But the bodhisattva-ideal of the Mahayana school became someone still stuck in Samsara. This became acceptable with the counter-intuitive leap in logic that Nirvana is Samsara, that is, the old Hindu idea that liberation is here now for immediate realization within suffering and rebirth. Bodhisattvas (which faithful Mahayana practitioners vow to be) elect to remain unenlightened (or at least not fully-enlightened, which would entail emancipation).

Thus, they do not achieve the liberating goal of Buddhism, at least as taught by the historical Buddha, which was always nirvana. That is, they will not accept freedom until everyone else achieves the goal. The belief is that this is what perfectly enlightened teachers (samma-sam-buddhas) do, in spite of the fact that the historical Buddha established the Teaching and was emancipated from rebirth.

Since meditation and even temporary asceticism are thought too demanding for the average person, Mahayana teaches that faith and devotion are enough. Salvation-by-faith (as in Christian and Hindu worship [bhakti]) became one of Mahayana's basic tenets. And the serene meditative example of Gautama was superseded by a glorious redeemer, a god known as the Amitabha Buddha or "Buddha of Infinite Light," to whom the prayers of the faithful were addressed.

Unlike the Buddha, Amitabha was not an actual historical person. So the dominant virtue changed from an emphasis on detached wisdom to engaged compassion, which further popularized the new Mahayana religion. Now that it had a Jesus/Jehovah figure, it adopted a Madonna or Mary (Hebrew "Miriam") in the form of a human mother goddess -- the embodiment of compassion and mercy -- Kwan Yin.

Buddhism's Evolution during Tang Dynasty

Text: excerpts from the second in a series of six articles on religions in Life Magazine, reprinted in Doctrines of Buddhism (Vol. 1); edited, expanded, and updated by WQ.


A model presents a creation inspired by the court dress of ancient China's Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.C.E.), during a show at the 2009 Qingdao Fashion Week in Qingdao, a coastal city in east China's Shandong province, 6/15/09 (Xinhua/Li Ziheng).

• Photo gallery

From the islands of Sri Lanka to Japan and throughout large sections of the Asian mainland, hundreds of millions of people -- perhaps as many as half a billion (in the 1950's) -- believe in a gentle and peaceable religion called Buddhism.

Many Western thinkers, who have come to know its yellow-robed monastics and have investigated the vast libraries of their quiet nunneries and monasteries, consider it one of the noblest edifices of thought ever erected by the human spirit. It is, as a whole, one of the most rational of the world's great religions [along with Christianity, which has striking parallels to Mahayana Buddhism, and Islam], for the system of human conduct that it preaches relies very little on the supernatural.

In its history, which stretches back for 2,500 years, Buddhism has bee one of the greatest civilizing forces the Far East has ever known, stimulating art and contributing profound ideas to the great Tang Dynasty culture of China in the 7th to 10th Centuries, A.C.E., and bringing civilization to Japan.

Today it is the state religion of Thailand, Tibet, Burma, Cambodia, and Laos, the dominant religion of China, Taiwan, and Sri Lanka, and a faith to which vast numbers of non-religious Chinese and Japanese turn for spiritual purpose....

Stripped of the accretions of poetic Oriental legend with which centuries of Asian imagination have surrounded it, the life of Siddhartha Gautama, or the Buddha as he was later called, is one of the great and elegant biographies of religious literature.

Mahayana Buddhism

For a while Buddhism was dominant over Hinduism. In time travelers from northern Asia, following the mountain trade routes across the Himalayas, learned something about the new religion of enlightenment and brought back reports to the cities of China.

About 65 A.C.E. a Chinese emperor, according to a legend, dreamed that a golden image of the Buddha appeared from out of the west and dispatched messengers beyond the Himalayas to find out about the mysterious source of this dream.

Indian Buddhist wandering-monks gradually made their way northward across the mountain passes as missionaries, and Chinese pilgrims traveled in the opposite direction seeking information and opportunities to worship at the shrines where Gautama had lived and taught. Two of these pilgrims became as spectacular figures in the annals of travel as Marco Polo. One of them, Fa-Hsien, left China in 399 A.C.E. and after incredible hardships in central Asia spent 15 years in India compiling an eyewitness account of that country, which is still studied by historians.

The other traveling monk, Hsuan-Tsang, left China in 629 A.C.E., crossed the Gobi desert, Sinkiang and what is now Afghanistan, spent 16 years in India and returned laden with books and manuscripts. Hsuan-Tsang subsequently translated Buddhist literature so extensively that what is ascribed to him and his pupils in Chinese amounts to more than a thousand volumes.

The court of the great Tang Dynasty, during which he lived, became filled with converts to Buddhism. Some of the greatest artists in Chinese history were devoting themselves to Buddhist subjects, and in the streets of the old Tang capital of Changan (modern Sian), Buddhist scholars could be found discussing their doctrines with Confucianists, Taoists, Zoroastrians, Manichaeans, and even Nestorian Christian missionaries from the Near East. Buddhism itself proved to be one of the hardiest of them all, and its teaching ramified into many different sects, some of which exist down to the present day.

Tang in Japan

Meanwhile, in the 7th Century, A.C.E. the great Japanese Prince Shotoku Taishi became converted to Buddhism, which had reached Japan through the sea routes from Korea, and established it as a national religion. The Japanese, who had heretofore been largely a nation of illiterate and primitive fishermen and farmers, accepted the new doctrines along with the whole culture of Tang Dynasty China.

Tantrism in Tibet

Shortly afterward, about 750 A.C.E., an Indian Buddhism monk named Padma-Sambhava crossed the mountains into Tibet, where Buddhism had already existed in scattered monasteries, and preached there a different and peculiar form of the doctrine known as Tantrism. Tantrism was a mixture of Mahayana Buddhism and certain magical and mystical doctrines derived from Hinduism. This together with the age-old sorcery and demonolatry practiced in Tibet made up Tibetan Lamaism. In its popular aspects it involved prayers, ritual dances, and the exorcism of devils. Out of it, in Tibet, grew a theocratic state dominated by the Dalai and Panchen Lamas, who are believed to be the living incarnations of Buddhist holy beings of the past.

Buddhist Art

Wherever it penetrated, Buddhism brought with it high ethical concepts such as:

• tolerance
• nonviolence
• respect for the individual
• love of animals and nature
• a fundamental belief in spiritual equality.

It also stimulated most of the great art Asia has known. The superlative art of India (Gupta period) was predominantly Buddhist in inspiration. So was the art of the Tang Dynasty, the golden age of Chinese civilization, and much of the tradition of literature and art that Japan learned front he Chinese and finally made part of its own culture. In the south of Asia, helped by vigorous Indian trade, these concepts of ethics and art spread to Indonesia and to what are now Burma and Thailand. In the two latter countries Buddhism became so firmly rooted that these can be described today as, along with Sri Lanka, Tibet, and Cambodia, probably the most devout of all the Buddhist nations of the world.

Then after having helped spread its high culture to eastern Asia, Buddhism was displaced in India, the country of its origin. The brahmins, proprietors of the ancient and orthodox Vedic religions now collectively and loosely called "Hinduism," which Gautama had broken away from, succeeded in absorbing it. Then Muslim conquest wiped out its last vestiges in successive crusades in the north of India down to Buddhist [present-day] Bangladesh, leaving the Himalayan Buddhist kingdoms of Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, and Sikkim largely Buddhist and isolated. Curiously, India, which gave Buddhism to the world, has contained relatively few Buddhists since the 12th Century A.C.E.

From early times the type of Buddhism practiced in China, Japan, and Tibet differed from that o f the south Asian Buddhists. This difference was due to some extent to variations in national temperament, but it can be traced back to about 100 years after Gautama's passing, when a group of disciples disagreed on the interpretation of his teaching and preached a doctrine which was less rigours and more easily adapted to the needs of the ordinary person.

• Next: Is "Mahayana" a Different Religion?

Mahayana versus Theravada

Dr. W. Rahula (Gems of Buddhist Wisdom, additional editing by WQ)

.

What is the difference between Mahayana [the Buddhist school prevalent in China, Korea, Japan, Tibet, and Vietnam] and Theravada [the Buddhist school prevalent in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos]? To put things in perspective, let us turn to the history of Buddhism and trace the emergence and development of Mahayana and Theravada.

History
The Buddha was born in the 6th Century B.C. From the attainment of enlightenment at the age of 35 until his final nirvana at the age of 80, he spent his life teaching. He was energetic: for 45 years he taught day and night, sleeping for about two hours a day.

The Buddha spoke to all kinds of people: kings, farmers, beggars, brahmins, wanderers, and ordinary everyday people. His discourses were tailored to the experience, understanding, and mental capacity of his audience. What he taught was called Buddha-Vacana, that is, “the word of the Buddha.” There was nothing called Theravada or Mahayana at that time.

After establishing the Order of monks and nuns, the Buddha set down disciplinary and procedural rules called the Vinaya to the guide the Order. The remainder of his Teaching was called the Dharma, which included discourses, sermons, and sayings to monastics and lay people.

The First Council
Three months after the Buddha’s final nirvana, his immediate disciples convened a council in Rajagaha, India. Maha Kassapa, the most respected and elderly monk, presided over that council. Two very important Great Disciples (mahatheras) who specialized in the two distinct areas of the Teaching (the Dharma and the Vinaya) were present. The first was Ananda, the Buddha’s closest companion and disciple over the preceding 25 years. Endowed with a remarkable memory (even in an age of remarkable memories), Ananda was able to recite all the discourses the Buddha had uttered. [When sutras begin “Thus have I heard,” Ananda is that “I” and he made this statement in front of the First Council of enlightened elders]. The other monastic was Upali, who had committed all of the Discipline to memory.

Only these two sections, Discourses and Discipline, were recited at the First Council. Although there were no differences of opinion on the Dharma (no mention was yet made of the Abhidharma, “Higher Teaching,” the metaphysical and psychological explanations), there was some discussion about the Rules.

Before the Buddha’s was to pass into nirvana, he told Ananda that if the Order wished to amend or modify some “minor” rules after his passing, they could do so. But on that occasion Ananda, overpowered by grief on hearing of the Buddha’s impending passing, it did not occur to him to ask what the “minor” rules were.

As the members of the First Council were unable to agree as to what constituted those minor rules, Maha Kassapa finally ruled that no disciplinary rule laid down by the Buddha should be changed and that no new ones should be introduced. No intrinsic reason was given. Maha Kassapa did say one thing, however: “If we changed the rules, people would say that Ven. Gautama’s disciples changed them even before his funeral pyre had gone out.”

At the First Council, the Dharma was divided into various sections, and each section was assigned to an Elder (a Thera) and his pupils to commit to memory. The Dharma (or “Teaching,” the Vada) was then passed on from teacher to pupil orally.

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The Dharma was recited daily by groups of monastics who often cross checked each other to ensure that no omissions or additions were made. Historians agree that an oral tradition is more reliable than a report written by one person from memory several years later.

The Second Council
One-hundred years later, a Second Council was held to discuss some Rules. There was no need to change the Rules three months after the final passing of the Buddha because little to no political, economic, or social changes took place during that short interval. But a century later, some monastics saw the need to change certain minor rules. The orthodox Order said that nothing should be changed, while others insisted on modifying some Rules.

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Finally, a group of monks left the Second Council and formed the Mahasanghika, the “Great Community.” Even though it was called the Mahasanghika, it was not known as “Mahayana.” During the Second Council, only matters pertaining to the Rules were discussed, and no controversy whatsoever about the Teaching is reported.

The Third Council
In the 3rd Century B.C.E., during the reign of Emperor Asoka, the Third Council was held to discuss the differences of opinion among the monks of [18] different sects that had arisen. By the Third Council the differences were not confined to the Rules but were also connected with the Teaching. At the end of the Third Council, the president of the council, Moggaliputta Tissa, compiled a book he called Kathavatthu refuting the heretical, false views and theories held by some sects.

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The Teaching approved and accepted by the Third Council was known as Theravada -- the “Teaching of the Elders” or what the Buddha’s original-hearers (those Theras) had rehearsed and passed down through the students dedicated to memorizing, reciting, and cross checking the various sections of the Dharma. The Abhidharma collection -- the Higher Teaching, that is, the philosophical commentaries and metaphysical treatises as distinct from the bare discourses -- was also included at the Third Council.

After the Third Council, Asoka’s son, Venerable Mahinda, brought the Three Collections (Tripitaka: Teaching, Rules, and Abhidharma) to Sri Lanka, along with the commentaries and explanations which were recited at the Third Council. The texts brought to Sri Lanka were preserved to the present day without losing a single page. The texts were written in the Pali language, which was based on the Magadhi dialect spoken by the Buddha. There was still nothing known as “Mahayana.”

The Coming of Mahayana
Between the 1st Century B.C.E. to the 1st Century A.D., the two terms Mahayana (the “Great Vehicle”) and Hinayana (the “Inferior Vehicle”) appeared in the Saddharma Pundarika Sutra, the “Discourse of the Lotus of the Good Law.”

About the 2nd Century A.D., Mahayana became clearly defined. Nagarjuna developed the Mahayana philosophy of Sunyata (Emptiness or nonexistence) and proved that everything is Void [devoid of personality or identity] in a small text called the Madhyamika Karika.

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About the 4th Century, Asanga and Vasubandhu wrote many additional works on Mahayana.

After the 1st Century AD., the Mahayanists took a definite stand and only then were the opposing terms Mahayana and Hinayana introduced and propagated, the latter as a foil or strawman for the former. [Mahayana teachings were a criticism of those now defunct Indian sects (not of Theravada) particularly the Sarvastivada School, which taught the theory that all exists].

Therefore, one must not confuse Hinayana with “Theravada,” the Teaching of the Elders, because the terms are not synonymous. Theravada Buddhism had gone to Sri Lanka during the 3rd Century B.C.E. when there was no Mahayana at all. Hinayana schools [among the 18 sects that had] developed in India [200 years after the Buddha’s passing] and had an existence independent from the form of Buddhism existing in Sri Lanka.

Today there is no “Hinayana” sect or school in existence anywhere in the world.

Therefore, in 1950 the World Fellowship of Buddhists inaugurated in Colombo, Sri Lanka unanimously decided that the term “Hinayana” should be dropped when referring to Buddhism existing today in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, etc. [sometimes referred to as “Southern Buddhism”].

This is the brief history of Theravada, Mahayana, and Hinayana.

Mahayana and Theravada
Now, then, what can be said of the difference between Mahayana and Theravada?

I have studied Mahayana for many years, and the more I study it the more I find there is hardly any difference between Theravada and Mahayana with regard to the fundamental Teaching.

• Both accept Sakyamuni Buddha as the teacher.
• The Four Noble Truths are exactly the same in both schools.
• The Eightfold Path (to enlightenment) is exactly the same in both schools.
• The teaching of Dependent Origination is the same in both schools.
• Both reject the idea of a supreme being who creats and governs this world.
• Both accept the teachings of Impermance, Unsatisfactoriness (Dukkha), Impersonality (Anatta) as well as Morality, Concentration, and Wisdom without any difference.

These are the most important teachings of the Buddha, and they are all accepted by both schools without question.

Differences
There are also, however, some points of difference, or at least of emphasis. An obvious one is the “Bodhisattva ideal.” Many people say that Mahayana is for a Bodhisattvahood that will lead to Buddhahood, while Theravada is for Arahantship (immediate enlightenment as taught by the Buddha). I must point out that the Buddha was an arahant (an enlightened one). A Nonteaching (Prateka or Pacceka) Buddha is also an arahant.

A disciple can also be an arahant. Mahayana texts never use the term “Arahant-yana,” the Arahant Vehicle. Instead, Mahayanists use three terms: Bodhisattva-yana, Prateka-Buddha-yana, and Sravaka-yana (the Bodhisattva-vehicle, the Nonteaching-Buddha vehicle, and the Disciple-vehicle). In the Theravada tradition these three are called Bodhis.

Some people mistakenly imagine that Theravada Buddhism is “selfish” because it teaches (what the historical Buddha taught) that people should diligently work towards their own salvation without helping others. But how could a selfish person ever gain enlightenment? (It would be impossible because selfishness precludes the compassion and wisdom necessary for realizing the truth that leads to enlightenment and the liberation of nirvana). Both schools accept the three Yanas or Bodhis and consider Bodhisattvahood the ideal, the highest.

The difference is Mahayana Buddhism has created many mystical Bodhisattvas, while Theravada Buddhism considers a “bodhisattva” a person among us who devotes his or her entire life to the attainment of perfection, ultimately attaining buddhahood [enlightenment] for the benefit, welfare, and happiness of the world.

Types of Buddhahood

There are three types of Buddha:

• Samma Sambuddha (a supremely enlightened one), who gains full enlightenment [by perfecting ten qualities and gaining the magical ability to teach] by one’s own effort alone
• Pacceka Buddha who is fully, independently enlightened but has not developed the Ten Perfections to a lesser degree than the Samma Sambuddha [and therefore is not skilled in showing others the way to enlightenment], and the
• Savaka Buddha who is an arahant-disciple of a perfectly enlightened Buddha.

The nirvana of the three types is exactly the same. The only difference is that the Samma Sambuddha has many more qualities (paramitas, paramis, or perfections) and capacities which are useful in teaching than the other two types.

Emptiness
Some people think that the Voidness (Sunyata) discussed by Nagarjuna is purely a Mahayana teaching. However, it is based on the Buddha’s teaching of Impersonality (anatta) or no-self and Dependent Origination, both found in the original Theravada, Pali language texts.

On one occasion Ananda asked the Buddha, “People say the word Void. What is Void (Sunya)?” The Buddha replied, “Ananda, there is no self, nor anything belonging to a self in the world. Therefore, the world is empty.”

This idea was used by Nagarjuna, who wrote the small remarkable book, Madhyamika Karika.

Apart from the idea of Voidness, the concept of the “store-consciousness” in Mahayana Buddhism also has its seed in Theravada texts. The Mahayanists have simply developed it into a deep psychology and philosophy.

PHOTOS: Map showing distribution of the two Buddhist schools (Feng Shui Times); the Buddha sending out the first Buddhist missionaries (who were arahant-savakas or "enlightened disciples"); modern day Theravada monks on almsround in Sri Lanka; ornate and elaborate golden Bodhisattva (Nepal); Theravada Sangha (Order) living as simply as the Buddha originally set out (Kare Lie); Mahayana-Vajrayana Sangha in front of many Buddhas and Bodhisattvas on an altar (thubtenchodron.com); anthropomorphic depiction of a Bodhisattva of "perfect wisdom."

• Edited by WQ with parenthetical explanations added to original
• Find more details in What Buddhists Believe (see pg. 93)
• The [18] Sects of the Buddhists (Dr. Rhys Davids)