From: William (williamweb@hotmail.com)
Date: Sat Jul 20 2002 - 07:35:22 MDT
To Dickey and potential extroBuddhists:
>From a university course I had in "Zen Buddhist Poetry", I learned that
there are 3 major schools of Buddhism and 3 main meditation traditions.
Vajrayana - Tibetan Buddhism - Dalai Lama is the head of this one -
Mahamudra is the meditation tradition. Vajra is
Sanskrit for "lightening bolt". Tantra comes from
Vajrayana and is very yogic, much Hinduism influence.
Tibet is adjacent to India, the birthplace of both
Hinduism and Buddhism. A lama is a monk in the
Tibetan tradition.
Mahayana - This is a blend of Buddhism and Taoism. Zen is called
Chan in Chinese. (Zen is a Japanese word for Chan.)
Here the ultimate goal is the Bodhisattva.
Literally translates as "Greater Vehicle".
Theravada - Literally means "School of the Elders", it is sometimes
called Hinayana or "Lesser Vehicle" by others. Many
scholars think this is the "purist" form of Buddhism.
The meditation tradition is called Vispassana. This is
most popular in Southeast Asia such as in Thailand.
I know the least about this one but I think the Siddha
is the ultimate goal in Theravada.
In the US, Mahayana is by far the most popular because Zen come
from this school. Vajrayana has become a fairly close second due
to the popularity of the Dalai Lama who heads this Tibetan version
and the Naropa Institute which is the only privately-run fully
accredited college/university that is Buddhist and is Vajrayana.
The Naropa Institute is in Boulder, Colorado: http://www.naropa.edu/.
Peace, - Bill.
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