The Three Forms Of Buddhism

Theoretical:
Buddhism seeks a “Middle Path” between indulgence and asceticism by exchanging greed, hatred, and delusion for transcendent happiness (p. 196-8). Doing so ends the cycle of arising and passing away as the individual reaches nirvana. While Buddhism is typically seen as a non-theistic religion, one tradition (Mahayana) does parallel Christian theology in that their belief in a previous Buddha’s power allows them access to the “Pure Land” (p. 223).There are three vehicles (traditions) in Buddhism: Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana (p. 187). While there are subtle changes in emphasis between the three main groups they all hold to the three jewels of the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha (p. 186). For the first jewel, they believe
204). There is no caste system. Although there are eight categories of “noble persons” it based solely on a person’s progress toward nirvana and not their origins (p. 205). Women and men have equal abilities to finding nirvana and Buddhists have set themselves apart from many other world religions by never proclaiming woman as “property” (p. 204-5). The Dalai Lama is a title that is commonly misunderstood as being the leader of Buddhism when in fact this title is only used in the Tibetan Vajrayana community (p. 237). Leadership in Buddhism appears to be informal in nature in that there is no central authority, although seniority is carefully noted as people are ordained (p. 205). Within the three vehicles of Buddhism, Theravada is considered the most conservative tradition and can be found mostly in Sri Lanka and South East Asia (p. 210-4). Mahayana is termed the “Greater Vehicle”, because they passed on earlier forms of Buddhism as the “Lesser Vehicle”, and can be found mostly in China, Korea, and Japan (p. 218-9). Vajrayana, meaning either diamond or thunderbolt, can be found in East Asia’s Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, and Mongolia (p.
217), Mahayana a buddha-mind or emptiness (shunyata) meditation (p. 231), and Vajrayana has an emphasis on sound or mantras during meditation (p. 234). Memorial structures called stupas or pagodas became pilgrimage sites as many claim to contain ancient relics or remains of the Buddha (p. 241-2). Wealthy patrons not only paid for the construction of these building but also began to create elaborate temples to house the monks in lieu of thatched huts (p. 242). Artistic expression can be found in the architecture of these buildings (such as each level of a pagoda symbolizing a level of the heavens), relief carvings in ancient stone temples, chronicles of the ancient relics to which each stupa laid claim, and, of course, the many images of Buddha (p. 242-3). The Buddha can be seen with specific hand positions called mudras and each mudra signifies its own meaning such as prayer, meditation, witness, or protection (p. 243-4). There are no rituals for childhood or weddings in Buddhism; however, there are funeral rituals (p. 216). Death rituals can last for days after a person’s burial and consists of practices such as the dana or reading from the book of the dead (p. 216-7, 237). There are also several festivals in Buddhism such as the Buddha Day in the Thervada and the three anniversaries of the Buddha in Mahayana traditions (p. 217,