Question asked by Eli Levine
Good evening Pastors,
I'm reading a book on Medicine Buddha practice, and it occurred to me that there is no essential way out of the universe, even if there is a way out of suffering. Hinayana seems to make it more difficult to get out of suffering, Mahayana ultimately leads to the Bodhisattva path, which means the mind voluntarily stays in existence with others, and Vajrayana leads to Buddhahood, which seems to be the ultimate nature of the universe itself. How does one cease being born if all three vehicles ultimately leave you in the universe, even if you're not experiencing suffering through those vehicles? Just as in physics, where matter, energy, and information are all conserved in the universe, neither being created nor destroyed, how can it be said that anyone truly ceases to be reborn? Where does their energy and information go if they truly achieve full Buddhahood and cease to be reborn?
Your clarification on these and other points are extremely helpful! Have a great rest of the year. 🙂
Dear Eli Levine,
I’m glad you asked this questions, its a very good one. The fundamental differences between the three “yanas” is both of motivation and also results. For example:
– Hinayana/Theravada: The motivation here is to escape from cyclic existence, thereby overcoming all forms of suffering. In this case we are “removed” from the universe.
– Mahayana: The motivation here is to progress on the spiritual path towards complete enlightenment but to hold back on the cusp, in order to emanate back into the universe (existence) to benefit others.
– Vajrayana: to achieve enlightenment in the quickest possible time (actually achievable in 3 years, 3 months and 3 days). However this is done from a Mahayana motivation.
In actual fact there are only 2 “yanas” – Hinayana and Mahayana. Vajrayana is actually a branch of Mahayana, therefore is not separate from it.
From the questions you’ve posed, you actually equate cyclic existence with our universe. But the universe and all that it involves, including all forms of energy, etc IS cyclic existence. Therefore logically, when you overcome cyclic existence, you overcome the limitations of the universe.
When you achieve complete Enlightenment or even the 10th (last) Bodhisattva level, you have already completely overcome cyclic existence, therefore everything that is involved in the universe, such as energy etc. I hope this helps. Let me know if my answer is not that clear, its a little hard to explain all of this in a short space such as this.