Word: mahayana
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Greater & Lesser Vehicles. The two great Buddhist traditions are Hinayana and Mahayana. Hinayana, the so-called Lesser Vehicle, is generally more austere and uncompromising; it holds that only monks and nuns have hope of reaching nirvana. Mahayana, the Greater Vehicle, offers hope of enlightenment to laymen as well, and stresses the compassionate concern of the Buddha for humanity. The highest Mahayana ideal is the bodhisattva, or enlightened one, who sacrifices himself for others, and Mahayana mythology contains numerous examples of sacrifices as an act of love as well as a means of liberation. Zen Buddhism, one of the subdivisions...
Viet Nam's Buddhism, like China's and Japan's, is predominantly Mahayana, and the suicide monks and nuns knew the numerous legends of bodhisattvas' physical sacrifices, such as that of the holy man who gave his body to a famished tigress to keep her from eating her cubs. Some Mahayana monks still aid their liberation from the body by burning the fingers off their left hands, and in the 6th century-before gasoline-monks who decided to immolate themselves completely would eat waxy and fatty foods for a couple of years so they would burn...
Feasts & Magic. The grass-roots Mahayana Buddhism in the Viet Nam villages is a long way from such grim practices. It usually takes the form of the easygoing Amidism, in which a paradise called "Pure Land" awaits the intense faithful who repeats a simple prayer. It is strongly influenced by the magical practices of corrupted Taoism, imported from China around the 7th century, and by Confucianism, which stresses ethical behavior...
...century B.C. to grab control for a thousand years, labeling the area Annam (pacified south), exacting tributes of pearls, precious stones, elephant tusks and valuable woods for the Emperor. Cleverly, the Annamese took the best China had to offer?the Chinese classics, the ethics of Confucius, and Mahayana Buddhism. But they fought fiercely and persistently to regain their independence...
Tibetan Buddhism, called Lamaism, is a variant of Mahayana, basing a large part of its practice on the revelatory Tantric texts. It absorbed much of the dark, animistic Bon Po religion of primitive Tibet and swarms with demons and fiercely copulating gods. The world is haunted by such specters as the ro-langs, or standing dead. They walk with their eyes closed, never change direction, and their touch is fatal to human beings. There are mountain demons who suck the life from unwary travelers, demons who cause hailstorms and earthquakes and eclipses. The Tibetan Buddhist contemplates an intricate pantheon, from...