Saturday, November 05, 2011
Work Hard to Gain your own Salvation
Theravadin = "Way of the Elders" - was first to develop around 400 BCE and then Mahayana = "great vehicle" developed (I think around 100 BCE) ... vehicle means a teaching which brings the practitioner across the river of Samsara (10,001 concerns/things) to Nibbana (extinguishment, no further rebirth). The Theravadins taught that only an individual practitioner can work out his "enlightenment" and that there are no Bodhisattvas or lending of merits. The Mahayana "Great Vehicle" means a teaching/practice capable of delivering ALL sentient beings rather than just one lone practitioner. So the Mahayanists called the Theravadins "Lesser Vehicle" or "Hinayana" which Theravadins see as an insult. One Theravadin abbot asked me "can you IMPART to anyone your knowledge of how to ride a bicycle" and of course the answer is NO, each person must learn and practice on his own and fall down many times until, suddenly, the practitioner grasps how to ride a bike, and then they never forget.
Then the Buddha addressed all the monks once more, and these were the very last words he spoke:
"Behold, O monks, this is my last advice to you. All component things in the world are changeable. They are not lasting. Work hard to gain your own salvation."
