[Buddha-l] Will this be on the final exam?

[Clough, Bradley]

-----Original Message-----
From:  Jackhat1 at aol.com

The answers to which questions on this exam would distinguish between a  
Thera. and Mahayana Buddhist?
 
Jack
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To try to answer this initial question of yours, Jack, it is my guess that one of the things is belief in God or gods versus atheism or agnosticism. I think if you affirm God/gods, Belief.Net thinks you are more of a Mahayanist (see their definition of the Mahayana concept of Buddha that someone recently posted). If you check either atheism or agnosticism, they think you're more Theravadin. Of course, these are false assumptions, but ones that pop up all the time in popular notions about Theravada and Mahayana. Most traditional Asian Theravadins actually believe in all sorts of spirits and gods, and the assertion that Mahayanists believe in an omnipotent Buddha of complete saving grace is mostly off base, with the possible but certainly notable exception of Pure Land beliefs.

Again, I'm just guessing that this is one way Belief.Net distinguishes between the two. I certainly don't know for sure.

Brad Clough