Various Schools of Buddhism: Commonalities and Differences
For anyone interested in the historical and doctrinal aspects of Buddhism, this video and others by the same monk, are a great resource. He simplifies the information without diluting it. He readily admits when definite conclusions can not be drawn.
In this talk there is a nice description of the formation of the various schools in Buddhism. In particular, the one school which modern day Mahayana has its roots, adopted the belief in the 3 kayas (bodies) of the Buddha and includes deities, heavens and so on, ultimately denying that Gautama Buddha was ever an actual human being who attained nibbana after aeons of practice. However, all the schools have retained the viniya code of conduct established by Buddha and they all use the Pali Canon suttas as fundamental teachings. However, as the monk says in the video talk, some later doctrinal differences that emerged are irreconcilable.
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If at all possible and to be fair to history, one should leave a yogaGuru’s thesis as is. Then if one discovers something else, one can begin a fresh lineage stating what one did and why there was a necessity to do so.
In the time of Buddha, it is reported that Devadatta, one of his contentious disciples wanted to first take over the lineage and then proposed that it be split in two parts, one for him and one for Buddha. Buddha rejected the ideas and did not allow it, but Devadatta was very disagreeable and was determined to cause something to happen.
I feel that people who ride on the back of a great ascetic, do so because of feeling a sense of insecurity and feeling a lack of charisma. After all, if one has charisma, one can begin something on one’s own and one will attract the required audience.
The other fair method would be to begin an affiliated society, and to explain what one found to be useful in the parent lineage, and also what one decided to add to it.
To avoid having disciples piggyback on my efforts, I made my presentation as complicated, absurd and outlandish as possible. But time will tell if I was successful or not.
