Question asked by Thu
I was reading a book my Geshe Sonam Rinchen, and in one of the pages it talked about the 4 white acts or something like that from what I remembered. And one of those virtuous acts is keeping people within the greater vehicle and out of the lesser vehicle. I was 2 problems; what about Theravada Buddhism seems so "bad"? My second issue is that one of my friends switched from Tibetan Buddhism to Theravada Buddhism because they found the daily sadhana, guru devotion, etc etc as too strict and just too much. They appreciated the simplicity found in Theravada. But then, now what?
Hello Thu,
Thanks for your question. You’ve brought up a topic that is often misunderstood by most people. Actually there is nothing wrong with or bad about Theravada Buddhism. In fact, we are taught that from a Tibetan Buddhist perspective to even think or say that it is bad creates tremendous negative karma. In our particular lineage, we divide the teachings into three ‘scopes’ or levels in terms of practice. The first two of these are actually the same teachings as the Theravada tradition, however in terms of meditation, we follow slightly different sources. So there is actually nothing bad. Also, at the higher stages of practice within in our tradition, we even take vows at ensuring that we don’t belittle or think about the Theravada tradition, as it is actually the core of Buddhist practice.
Now we come to the acts that you are talking about. The reason why this is there is that according to the great vehicle (Mahayana tradition) those who practice the great vehicle will attain enlightenment faster in terms of how many lifetimes it takes. This is due to the development of Bodhicitta, which in essence is the mindset not to achieve enlightenment for just ourselves, but for others. This mind set comes about through loving-kindness and compassion meditations which are extremely detailed. So we are taught not to discourage those who are practising the great vehicle, from giving up their practice and either practising the Theravada tradition or giving up Buddhist practice altogether. That is what the act you refer to is all about. That is from our side, not to discourage someone from their practice.
However, if a person themselves chooses to stop practising the great vehicle and practise the Theravada instead, that is of course their choice. Is this a negative thing from their side, no not at all. We believe that the Buddha taught 84,000 methods to gain enlightenment. So they will still gain liberation when following the Theravada tradition, it will still benefit them tremendously. However, it is the belief of those who practice the Mahayana, that it will take them a longer time in terms of lifetimes to reach that goal. I hope what I have explained makes sense.
All of this is discussed in great length within the Lamrim teachings. In our centre we focus on the text known as Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand (https://www.vajrasecrets.com/lamrim-liberation-in-the-palm-of-your-hand). This text forms the core of our education programme in Kechara. If you are interested in the Lamrim, you will notice that in terms of practice, we differ than the Theravada tradition, but in terms of the teachings themselves, especially of the first two ‘scopes’ of the Lamrim, the teachings are exactly the same. I hope this helps to answer your question.