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To: talk.religion.buddhism From: jneatrou@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (John Neatrour) Subject: Re: Mahayana vs Hinayana Date: 13 Jan 1996 06:07:19 GMT In article <30f73479.3160518@nntp.ix.netcom.com>, Larry Cooperwrote: >Rick wrote: > >>>Larry Cooper wrote: >>>>As one whose Buddhist knowledge and ideas are still very much in >>>>the formative stages, I'm a bit confused and concerned about the >>>>descriptions of "Hinayana" traditions which I've read in "Mahayana" >>>>texts. Note: I am aware that some consider "Hinayana" a >>>>perjorative term and I am using it here because that's what the >>>>texts I'm referring to use. >> >>Larry, I think another word for 'hinayana' is 'theravada', though I >>don't know what theravada means. Maybe it's a more 'spiritually >>correct' (like PC) word, sort of like "negro" and "african-american". >>I dunno. > >Rick, > >I don't speak/read Sanskrit, but I understand that Mahayana means >"great vehicle" while Hinayana means "small vehicle." The terms were >coined by the Mahayanists who used them to contrast Mahayana Buddhism >which is a large vehicle which takes everyone to the other side >(Buddhahood) with Hinayana which is a small vehicle which serves only >to take a select few to enlightenment. it is true that the emphasis in Mahayana is characterized as enlightenment for everyone while Hinayana is characterized by individual practice. but these need not be mutually exclusive! especially not in considering having a practice, both aspects are present. there probably was some ancient difficulty that became unbridgeable which led to the adoption of Hinayana as a sectarian and pejorative term. do we need to keep using it in that sense? it _does_ make sense to use it as a critique of a too self absorbed practice though. >Theravada, on the other hand >was coined by members of that tradition to describe themselves and >translates to something like "Religion of the Elders", indicating that >theirs is the practice as handed down by the Buddhas direct disciples. note that as you have defined Theravada, it _too_ is pejorative to non Theravadins. it implies that they are not practicing something handed down from the Buddhas direct disciples. i don't think this is acceptable either. Mahayana may be more liberal, but there is a chain of ordination reaching back to the Buddha that i don't think you wish to disparage. although the outward forms are rather different and preliminaries may also differ, it would be very hard to find a substantial difference in the practice of vipassana, Mahamudra, Dzogs Chen, and zazen (without koans). jn
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