What is the difference between mahayana and hinayana buddhism

One of the main Buddhism branches is termed as Mahayana and the other is Theravada. It has been stressed within the Mahayana teaching that an individual is most likely unable to attain such a state while he still lives. Nevertheless, the state can still be attained in the future. The Mahayana is further subdivided into various specific teachings, but in the general sense it teaches the people many principles about purification so that they or the society as a whole can be elevated to the highest level.

Hinayana teachings are more self-serving. It is practiced for the enlightenment of the sole practitioner at the individual level. According to some interpretations, the teachings of Hinayana include a plethora of rules, commentaries, sutras, and the three branches of Tripitaka Buddhist canon. However, they only seek personal emancipation and self-perfection.

Some scholars to this date argue that the Theravada is synonymous to Hinayana. In fact, they refrain from comparing Hinayana to Theravada because the former has a slight, derogatory connotation. At the same time, however, there are those who, without even having attained the three stages of worthiness and the four good roots expounded in the Hinayana teachings, or without even having practiced the type of meditation still tainted by outflows , go about gazing at the moon and composing poems on the blossoms but never become pratyekabuddhas; or others who, although they excel in filial duty to their parents, are not reborn in the Brahma or other heavens in the world of form.

Similarly, there are those who, never having received the seeds of the Lotus Sutra in their past existences, joined in the assembly of the preaching of the Flower Garland Sutra but could never reach even the first stage of development or the first stage of security ; who were present when the Buddha preached his sermon at Deer Park but were unable to cut off the illusions of thought and desire ; or who could not gain rebirth in any of the nine categories even through the Meditation Sutra.

They succeeded only in advancing to the stage of worthies 20 as expounded in the Mahayana and Hinayana teachings, but were never able to reach the stage of sages. But when they encountered the Lotus Sutra and for the first time received the seeds of Buddhahood in the field of the mind, they were able in the space of a single lifetime to advance to the first stage of development or the first stage of security. And from this we may surmise that such persons could profit in a similar manner from the Correct and Equal and the Wisdom sutras as well.

But in all such cases, these results were not due to the power of the various sutras that provided the impetus; they were due entirely to the power of the Lotus Sutra. It is like the case of a daughter of a commoner who has become pregnant with the seed of a king, or a daughter of a family of officials who has become pregnant by a king. Others are unaware of the truth and suppose that the sons born to these women are the offspring of a commoner or a man of the official class, but when the king looks at them, he knows that they are all in fact the offspring of a king.

Similarly, some persons appear to have gained release from the threefold world through the sutras preached prior to the Lotus, but seen from the point of view of the Lotus Sutra , they have in all cases in fact gained the way through the Lotus Sutra.

Again, among those who received the seeds of the Lotus Sutra in the past, there are some persons of dull capacity who were not able, like those mentioned above, to advance in their understanding through the sutras preached prior to the Lotus, but were able to gain the way when they heard Shakyamuni preach the Lotus Sutra.

Or again, although the situation was not the same as when Shakyamuni Buddha was present in the world, there were persons in the thousand years of the Former Day of the Law who, having received the seeds of the Lotus Sutra in the past, were at that time able to gain enlightenment through the Lotus and Nirvana sutras.

And there were many others at that time who had received the seeds of the Lotus Sutra from Shakyamuni Buddha when he was in the world. In addition, although the Buddha was no longer in the world, the Lotus Sutra remained in existence, and there were countless persons who were able for that reason to convert from the doctrines of the non-Buddhists to the teachings of the Hinayana sutras, from the Hinayana sutras to the provisional Mahayana teachings, or from the provisional Mahayana teachings to the Lotus Sutra.

By the end of the Middle Day of the Law , contention and dispute over the Buddhist teachings had broken out on every side, battles over questions of doctrine never ceased, and the number of persons who fell into the hell of incessant suffering because of misinterpretations of the Buddhist teachings surpassed that of those who did so because of worldly offenses. In addition, though there appear to be a small number of persons who have received the seeds of the Lotus, there are countless others who commit great evil in the secular world or slander the Law in the religious world, such persons veritably filling the whole land.

Those who do good have become as rare as water in the midst of a great fire, fire in the midst of a great body of water, fresh water in the midst of the ocean, or gold in the midst of the earth.

Evil deeds abound, and there is no trace of good deeds done in the past or evidence of good deeds done now. Some persons use the practice of reciting the name of Amida Buddha to mislead others and persuade them to abandon the Lotus Sutra , committing the error of turning their backs on what is superior and following what is inferior.

In this way, some persons go astray in doctrinal matters of their own accord, others do so because of the teachers they rely upon. Some propound mistaken doctrines handed down from the founder of the school or its scholars and teachers, propagating them over the long years and claiming that these are the true doctrine. Others, possessed by evil spirits or by the heavenly devil , spread evil doctrines, believing them to be the correct teaching.

Some, having become familiar with some petty doctrine of Hinayana , arrogantly claim that the doctrines practiced by Mahayana believers are in error, and in their eagerness to spread their little doctrine attempt to suppress or take over the mountain temples where great doctrines and secret doctrines are taught.

With evil opinions such as this, these men proceed to deceive the rulers of the nation, leading them woefully astray and causing them to lose faith in the correct teaching. Such men do nothing but bring about the destruction of the nation and the destruction of Buddhism. But because the rulers in their foolishness became infatuated with them, these women brought about the downfall of the nation. Nichiren Daishonin wrote it at Ichinosawa, on Sado Island, during his exile there in Because the final portion of the letter has been lost, the text ends abruptly.

The topic, as is clear from the title The Differences between Hinayana and Mahayana , is a comparison of the Buddhist teachings known as Hinayana , or the lesser vehicle, with those classified as Mahayana , the great vehicle. Historically, Hinayana lesser vehicle was a term employed by the early Mahayana great vehicle movement in India.

It was applied to the established, monastic Buddhist schools. In this writing, however, the Daishonin redefines these terms in a broader sense than the historical one, asserting that they are relative in nature.

What is large or great is only considered so in contrast with what is small or lesser. First, all the Buddhist teachings are considered a great vehicle, or Mahayana , when compared with non-Buddhist teachings. Third, among the various sutras commonly defined as Mahayana , those that consist of relatively inferior teachings are called lesser vehicle, or Hinayana , in contrast with the others.

Fourth, once the theoretical teaching of the Lotus Sutra , the first fourteen chapters of the sutra, had been expounded, all other sutras taught by the Buddha in the preceding forty-two years came to be called lesser vehicle, or Hinayana. Fifth, with the expounding of the essential teaching , or latter fourteen chapters, of the Lotus Sutra , and its revelation that the Buddha in fact attained enlightenment countless kalpas in the past, all teachings that do not recognize this fact—the pre-Lotus sutras and the theoretical teaching of the Lotus Sutra —came to be classified as lesser vehicle, or Hinayana.

Next the Daishonin makes clear that only in the Lotus Sutra are found the doctrines that persons of the two vehicles — voice-hearers and cause-awakened ones —are capable of attaining Buddhahood ; that the Buddha actually attained enlightenment in the remote past; and the doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of life.

These teachings reveal the way to actualize the Buddhahood innate in each person. The Lotus Sutra therefore is to be considered the true Mahayana sutra, and all the other sutras are to be viewed as Hinayana , or lesser vehicle, incapable of providing the way to Buddhahood.

He then explains that cases can be cited of persons who appear to have attained enlightenment through other sutras, but that they are individuals who formed a connection with the Lotus Sutra in the past. Their exposure to those other sutras nurtured their capacity, so that the seeds of Buddhahood already planted by the Lotus Sutra could blossom.

Therefore, these are not cases in which Buddhahood was attained through the power of the other sutras. Mahayana says that everyone can become a Buddha. This is because of the fact that everyone is blessed with the Buddha-nature factor that can propel the attainment of the status of Buddha. Mahayana believes that Bodhisattvas alone practiced the ten far-reaching attitudes. According to Mahayana Buddhism, the ten far-reaching attitudes are generosity, skill in means, patience, ethical self-discipline, mental stability, joyful perseverance, strengthening, deep awareness, aspiration-filled prayer and discriminating awareness.

Mahayana Buddhism differs in the treatment of the four immeasurable attitudes, as well. It is indeed true that it teaches the practice of the four immeasurable attitudes of love, compassion , joy and equanimity. At the same time, it has difference in the definitions of these attitudes. Although, there is an agreement between Mahayana and Hinayana Buddhism in terms of the definitions of love and compassion, there is some difference in the treatment of immeasurable joy and equanimity.

Mahayana defines immeasurable joy as the wish that others have the experience of joy or happiness of continuous enlightenment. According Mahayana Buddhism, equanimity is the state of mind that is bereft of attachment, indifference and repulsion.

Hinayana Buddhism believes that Lord Buddha was an ordinary human being like everyone else. They did not attribute any godly characteristics to Lord Buddha. Hinayana follows the underlying principles of the Pali canon.