There are two strikingly different schools of Buddhism thriving today. There is the older Thera-vada, the "Teaching of the Enlightened Elders," and the broader Maha-yana, the "Larger Vehicle." Who were the "elders"? These were the immediate arhat disciples of the Buddha -- such as Ananda, Sariputra, MahaMoggallana, Khema, Uppalavanna, MahaKassapa, and so on. What is the "vehicle"? This is a term of art referring to a theory of salvation that developed two hundred years after the Buddha's parinirvana, his passing into final nirvana.
There were once 18 schools of Buddhism. And Mahayana arose distinguishing itself from a rival school known as the Sarvastivada, which it argued was selfish and focused on personal liberation. Mahayana advocated saving others, so rather than the arhat-ideal, it proclaimed the bodhisattva-ideal. This is the idea that a messiah (like Maitreya) and countless individuals will take vows not to achieve liberation until every single being is saved first. There are many Christian elements to this teaching, and indeed Christianity was certainly influenced by various Mahayana tenets. (See the Missing Years of Jesus or simply compare the doctrines side by side).
While Tibetan Buddhism is generally regarded as a Mahayana school, many practitioners prefer the term Vajra-yana, the "Lightning Vehicle." Its unique mix of elements with the indigenous Bon tradition of Tibet -- with an emphasis on magic, ceremony, ritual, and esoteric doctrines -- make it different enough to justify the distinction. It claims to be the path that "cuts through" like a lightning strike. There is still adherence to the bodhisattva-ideal, but nirvana (or some unique reinterpretation of it) is said to be available in an instant.
Other schools, other paths, other interpretations and divisions arise from time to time. While it is a great calamity and a karma (deed) with fixed result (akin to matricide) to cause a schism in the Sangha, nevertheless some practitioners risk the potential karmic hazards and speak of new monastic rules (or the easing of old ones) to form new schools and interpretations. British and American societies, in particular, are giving birth to a more synthesized less Eastern form of the Dharma.
One such Dutch candidate may be emerging in the West. It simply takes the name of its Western promoter (John Willemsens). The following is an encapsulation with links that give an opportunity to ask questions and seek further clarification.
Advaya-vada Buddhism
Buddhism is a collective name for the diverse philosophical, esoteric, and religious beliefs that are derived from the way of liberation taught, in the 6th century B.C.E., by the north-Indian prince Siddhartha Gautama. He was called the "Buddha," which means the Awakened or Enlightened One.
Advayavada Buddhism was formally established in 1995 as a new, secular branch of Mahayana Buddhism (see map). It was set up by the Dutch lay Buddhist author and translator Advayavadananda (John Willemsens, b. 1934). It is a non-dual and life-affirming philosophy and way of life derived in turn from Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka, or Philosophy of the Middle Way.
The purpose of Advayavada Buddhism is to help us to become a true part of the whole. Because of its open character and structure and, above all, its autonomous and non-prescriptive nature, it is difficult to determine how many Buddhists share the views of Advayavada Buddhism worldwide at this time.
According to Advayavada Buddhism, it is indisputable that the Buddha did not believe in Brahman (God, transcendent Absolute) or in the atman or atta (soul, immortal self). He taught that one suffers because one does not understand and accept that all things in life are instead utterly changeable and transitory. If the Buddha had ever expressed belief in Brahman and the atman or atta, such a fact would have been unequivocally recorded in history.
Humans are prone to suffering (duhkha, dukkha) quite simply because they wrongly strive after and try to hold onto things, concepts, and situations. They do so because they believe them to be permanent when they are not.
This mistaken view of things is produced by a thirst or craving (called trishna in Sanskrit and tanha in Pali). This in turn is caused by humankind's fundamental ignorance (avidya, avijja) of the true nature of reality.
This thirst or craving can easily take on a more unwholesome form. But even as sensuous desire, ill-will, laziness, impatience, or distrust will it seriously hinder any efforts to better its circumstances.
A person's adherence, however, with the Five Precepts that apply to all followers of the Buddha allows one to arrest this thirst or craving and to commence with removing the root cause of suffering -- that is, one's fundamental ignorance of the true nature of reality.
The five fundamental precepts are to avoid killing and stealing, sexual restraint, being honest, and abstinence from alcohol and drugs.
A human's observance of these precepts in daily life gives one the moral and ethical strength required to embark upon the Buddha's Middle Way. This path avoids the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification. In due course it brings one to the blessed state of Nirvana.
Nirvana is the complete extinction (nirodha) of all suffering (duhkha, dukkha) as a result of one's full reconciliation with reality as it truly is.
Nirvana and Samsara are neither two different realities nor two different conditions of reality. Nirvana is to experience the phenomenal world at the level of ultimate truth (paramartha-satya), that is, truth divested of all preconceptions, even including those expressed here.
Samsara is to experience the same phenomenal world at the level of conventional everyday truth (samvriti-satya). It is as a result of the purification of one's perception of the phenomenal world at the level of conventional truth, by following the Buddha's Middle Way, that one shall come to understand the significance of ultimate truth.
Please address your remarks and questions to: Advayavada Buddhism Infocenter, P.O. Box 10502, 1001 EM Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Phone/fax: +31-20-6269602, email: advaya@euronet.nl
Individuals and local groups are invited to join the Advayavada Network. Please indicate clearly when your remarks and questions may not be edited and added anonymously to the Questions & Answers page of this website. © 1997-2009. Contents subject to change.
