[Buddha-l] caste-ist term ?

[Mike Austin]

Jayarava <jayarava at yahoo.com> writes

  but one still sees many publications and websites which, for example, 
equate the Therav
da school with "The H
nay
na".

I used to hear this quite often, but I rarely hear it now. I have always 
challenged it.  Behind the misapplication of this term can lie the pride 
of that which has not been achieved.


I think we must reject this view of history as fallacious and see the 
later teachings as having been developed some centuries after the Buddha 
in response to local needs

We just don't know.


Sadly I think the whole notion of h
nay
na as the teachings which do not 
lead to liberation (h
na meaning 'defective')

I was not aware of this meaning. I thought it was liberation but without 
the capacity to help others by not having overcome the obstructions that 
hinder that.


There really is nothing mah
 about mah
y
na at least in terms of a 
useful comparison with other forms of Buddhism - it's pure sectarianism.

Giving something a name in order to distinguish its characteristics does 
not amount to sectarianism. It could provide a useful label like, dare I 
say, the word 'ordained'.


Hawk it up and spit it out I say.

In a phlegmatic sort of way, maybe.

-- 
Metta
Mike Austin