When I still lived in Sweden, I heard about the two “wagons” of Buddhism, the big one and the small one. I never paid it much heed, just assumed—based on what, I have really no idea—that the big one had to be “better” since it was bigger.
Ah, the bliss of youthful ignorance.
But there are two branches or schools of Buddhism, and every aspiring Buddhist will encounter this sooner rather than later in his or her studies.
There is Theravada, and there is Mahayana.
Once I became aware of this, I could not help but sense some sort of friction, especially when my daughter—who at the time was taking a “History of Religion” class in college—asked me if those who practice Theravada were not a little selfish in that they only looked after their own interests, while those practicing the Mahayana version would not leave the world to its own devices for Nirvana until every other single soul had left, too.
I didn’t know what to answer her, after all, it’s a fair enough question. All I could offer up in my Theravada defense was that my sole aim was to come as close to the historical Buddha as possible, as close to the original—and unalloyed—teaching as possible. Whether that makes me selfish, I’m not sure.
Two Schools
The truth, though, is that the two major schools of Buddhism, Theravada and Mahayana, should be seen less as different schools than as different expressions of the same teaching of the historical Buddha, for they do, in fact, agree upon and practice the core teachings of the Buddha’s Dhamma (Dharma).
Yes, there was a schism shortly after the first council after the death of the Buddha, but it was largely over the monastic rules and academic points such as whether an enlightened person could lapse or not.
In fact, time, culture and customs in the Asian countries which adopted the Buddha-Dhamma have more to do with the apparent differences between the schools, and, ideally, you should never encounter any animosity between these two major branches, other than that perhaps created by healthy debate on the expression and implementation of the Buddha’s Teachings.
For when all is said and done, there can only be one Truth, don’t you agree?
Ulf Wolf