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TWO WORDS --
Mahayana and Hinayana -- cause much
confusion among Buddhists, I would like to offer
a different way of looking at them. They concern the
Buddhist approach to life.
Mahayana
literally means "Great Vehicle" (of Liberation from
Samsara, or the "Wheel of Change"), somewhat like a
jumbo-jet, that carries many people. Hinayana
is a derogatory term meaning "Small Vehicle" or
"Inferior Vehicle" (like a skateboard, which carries
only one), used by people who claim to follow the
"Mahayana" to refer to followers of the Theravada
school or "Way of the Elders", as if they themselves
have already passed that stage. They say "Hinayanists"
are selfish, thinking only of their own salvation,
instead of -- like them -- the salvation of "all
beings". There is tremendous egoism underlying this
claim, and we can be sure than anyone making it has not
understood much at all! Actually, the word "Hinayana" is
a misnomer and should not be used to refer to people at
all, for both "Mahayana" and "Hinayana", as I will show,
are not schools of Buddhism, but attitudes of mind.
Nowadays,
Buddhism is little more than a thing of tradition in
most parts of Asia, and "Mahayana" has degenerated into
a system of worship and prayer to numerous Buddhas and
Bodhisattvas that hope, fear and superstition have
populated the cosmos with. Ignorant of the Buddha's
Teachings about Karma and the importance of developing
spiritual self-reliance, people weak-mindedly turn for
help and salvation to celestial beings. They imagine
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas as remote from them --
somewhere in the sky, perhaps -- similar to the deities
of other religions. And so, they miss the whole point of
the Buddha"s parting injunction: "Work out your own
salvation with diligence". Enlightenment is an intimate
inner experience, not something that comes to us from
outside.
All
Buddhists -- regardless of the sect or school they might
follow -- acknowledge the Bodhisattva-ideal as being the
highest path, as it is the way of the aspirant to
Buddhahood. Upon reaching his goal and becoming a
Buddha, he then has the capacity to help others become
Enlightened (not to forgive their sins and save them,
but more in the sense of a school-teacher instructing
his pupils and helping them wherever possible, so they
might pass the exams and graduate; he can't pass the
exams for them). Reaching Enlightenment he is a
Bodhisattva no more, but a fully-fledged Buddha. While
he is a Bodhisattva, as in the case of Prince
Siddhartha until he was 35 years old, he is not yet
fully-enlightened; indeed, he doesn't even know that he
is a Bodhisattva. An Arahant is someone who, by
following the Dharma of a Buddha, reaches Enlightenment,
and the Enlightenment he reaches is the same as that of
a Buddha (it being unconditioned and without grades or
divisions). He, too, may assist others, but his capacity
to do so is less than that of a Buddha. A Buddha is an
Arahant, too, but an Arahant is not a Buddha, just as
every doctor is a man (or woman, of course), but not
every man or woman is a doctor. Both Buddha and Arahant
are free from the chains of Samsara (phenomenal
existence); they no longer have a sense of separateness
and selfishness. (All this, of course, is from the
scriptures, and not from my own experience).
Far from
being a way of petition and prayer for help from
superior or celestial beings, Mahayana is a way of
tremendous effort. A person on that Way does not
pray to the Buddha or Bodhisattvas, but, by using the
Dharma, strives to become a Bodhisattva himself. He does
so, not by rejecting the world, but by understanding
that he is the world, and that he does not --
cannot live by and for himself alone. Self-interest
and fear for self decrease in direct proportion as to
how much he sees himself as others, just as a sense of
separateness and ego increase the fear for, and pain of,
the self.
As an
illustration, let us say that there are three kinds of
people in the world: (1) Blind people; (2) Selfish
people; and (3) Selfless people. Blind people --
spiritually blind, that is -- wander aimlessly
through life, knowing and caring nothing about Dharma,
infatuated with themselves, but acting in ways that are
inimical to themselves and that only result in
suffering; they think they love themselves, but actually
they don't. They are not bad, or selfish, but
foolish; selfishness is something above and beyond them,
because selfish people know how to take care of
themselves, at least, while blind and foolish people do
not, and only hurt themselves. There are so many blind
people in the world; the world is sinking beneath their
weight. If they woke up, they would change their ways.
Selfish
people have seen something of Dharma, and try to
live by it, but their insight is not deep, and they are
motivated by self-interest. Though they would try not to
hurt anyone, and do what is right and good, it is either
out of fear of suffering or from desire for gain
materially and/or spiritually. But if the world had more
people of this kind, it would be a much better place,
for real selfish people do not kill, steal, lie,
cheat, start and perpetuate wars, etc.; it is the
foolish people who do such things. Abstention from doing
evil, and the goodness of selfish people, though
motivated by thoughts of self, benefits the world in
many ways, and keeps it afloat. Like the bud of a
flower, however, goodness at this level is not full or
complete, but it is a necessary stage of the Path; we
must begin with self in order to understand and go
beyond it.
Of course,
selfishness here is not as generally understood, as
something negative and anti-social; not at all! This
kind of selfishness recognizes others and feels for
them, even though it puts itself first. It may be called
the Hinayana stage, and it shouldn't be looked
down upon, but respected and praised, as it is already a
high level. Often, we find that people claiming to be
Mahayanists, and who look down on others they
consider Hinayanists, have got little more than
silly and empty names.
Going beyond
self, to the third stage -- that of Mahayana --
is accomplished through seeing, clearly, that we do not
live alone, by and for ourselves. Life is a Whole, with
many parts, like a multi-faceted diamond; we are not
separate and alone, but inter-exist with everything that
is. And whereas, before, we were motivated by thoughts
of self -- fear of suffering, old age, sickness, death,
of not attaining Enlightenment, and of therefore
remaining in Samsara indefinitely -- now, through
insight, we have power over the vicissitudes of
life. We see that most of our suffering comes from
ignorance and stupidity, and so can be avoided -- a
discovery of tremendous importance! Instead of looking
for the causes of our problems outside ourselves, we
find them inside! It is then within our capacity to
communicate this to others who might be ready for it, to
shout it from the rooftops, to proclaim to others that
the only chains that bind us are of our own forging.
This -- and not a Buddhist sect or thinking with a
separatist mind is Mahayana; it is the essence of
Enlightenment, and available to all.
We can
follow the Mahayana, but nobody with any modesty would
say that he does so; indeed, he would probably not be
aware of it, and might even deny it! There are no
outward signs by which a Bodhisattva might be
recognized; certainly, he would not float around on a
lotus-flower, as depicted in popular but misleading
Buddhist art. And if a Bodhisattva can help someone, he
will help; it is not necessary to pray to him, but only
necessary to put oneself in a position where one can be
helped by first helping others. If one does not prepare
oneself in this way, one will have no basis for
receiving help from others. We must first give out
before we can receive, sow the seeds before reaping the
harvest.
Conclusion: Mahayana and
Hinayana are attitudes of mind or levels of
consciousness, not sects or schools
of Buddhism.
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