Ahamed recently asked a double question,
“What’s the difference between
Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism?”
And, “Which is the true message of Buddha,
Mahayana and Theravada?”
Let us begin by addressing
the banthas in the room:
FIRST are we certain that either
Mahayana or Theravada
is the, so called,
True message of the Buddha?
And SECOND,
and a trifle more sobering,
could the true message of the Buddha
ever be known?
When we consider
the vast collection of discourses
that claim to have been
uttered by the Buddha
scholars typically think of them in terms
of the three baskets
(or Pi-ta-kas, if you prefer the ancient language of Pali).
But the very great irony
was that at first
there were only two Pitakas,
the Sutta Pitaka containing discourses
and the Vina Pitaka
chiefly containing monastic rules
and also some discourses.
But for more than a thousand years
we have also had a third basket:
the Abhidhamma Pitaka (or super dhamma)
dealing largely with metaphysics.
Where did that third basket
come from?
We began with the original teachings
of Siddhartha Gautama
who was known as the Enlightened One,
or Buddha if you prefer Pali.
After his death
the FIRST wave of Hindu influence upon his teachings
was the addition of ritual,
something the Buddha expressly taught against.
The SECOND wave of Hindu influence upon the teachings
was the addition of mythology
to the body of the Buddha’s teachings
which inferred that enlightenment was only for the special,
and not the lowly riff raff like me and you.
The THIRD wave of Hindu influence upon the teachings
was the addition of metaphysics,
which is a clear deviation
from the earthy and trenchant teachings of the Buddha.
Over the centuries there have been many sects,
but these days they are collectively known
as the way of the elders
or Theravada if you prefer Pali.
If the Hindu waves of influence
upon the Buddha’s teachings
gave us the Theravada,
then it could be argued
that the Chinese waves of influence
upon the Buddha’s teachings
gave us the Mahayana.
The FIRST wave of Chinese influence
upon the Buddha’s teachings
was the introduction of additional metaphors
such as emptiness and voidness.
The SECOND wave of Chinese influence
upon the Buddha’s teachings
was the modification of mythology
to the scale of the epic
influencing our perception of the Buddha
and his disciples.
The THIRD wave of Chinese influence
was an additional layer of metaphysics.
Line up all the children
in a first grade class,
whisper a short message
in the ear of the first child.
The first child whispers to the second,
the second child whispers to the third,
and so on,
until the thirty-fifth child recites the message aloud…
and we discover it now bears little resemblance
to the original one.
Given the unreliable nature
of verbal transmission
and the fact that they were not written down
for about five hundred years
how are we to know
what the Buddha taught?
FIRST, when we read English translations
of both the Sutta of the Kalamas’ Dilemma
as well as the Parinibbana Sutta…
we learn that according to the Buddha
the test of a teacher and his teachings
is NOT their age, beauty, prestige, nor wealth,
NOR our intellectual NOR intuitive reaction to them
NOR even their credentials NOR letters of reference,
BUT, rather, the test of the teacher and his teachings
are merely the results that we generate
from practice the teachings we receive
for as little as seven consecutive days.
If, after a week of twice daily practice,
your anxiety, aggression, and sorrow have failed to improve
then it’s time to find a new teacher.
But, if after a week of twice daily practice,
your peace, love, and resiliency have increased
then it could be wise to persist with that teacher.
SECONDLY, let’s return to first principals;
specifically, the Buddha’s first discourse
where he taught the four noble truths.
From a certain point of view:
FIRST life has no shortage of stress
SECOND humans have the strange ability
to take whatever stress life throws at them
and make it much worse
by neurotically indulging our tendencies
to strive to push some things away
and strain to pull other things closer.
THIRD there is a state, a way of being,
wherein although we might NOT be free from the presence
of the push and pull of dread and desire
we are at least liberated from their tyranny.
FOURTH the path to that state,
depends NOT upon the caprice
of a real or imagined celestial entity,
but is simply a path,
consisting of eight sets of techniques.
In conclusion, the ONLY test of whether or not
a set of teachings are the true message of the Buddha
is whether they free us from the tyranny
of dread or desire, or not.
You are welcome to stay for tonight’s guided meditation.
Perhaps you could find it helpful on your journey.
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with a simple
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