During a comparative world religion class I learned about Mahayana and Hinayana Buddhism — the two distinct branches also referred to as the Big Raft and Little Raft.
In Mahayana Buddhism (Big Raft) everyone is on a raft traveling to the distant shore of Nirvana, when the raft arrives we all make it.
Hinayana (Little Raft) is also referred to as Theravada, The Way of the Elders, is a more solitary experience where the practitioner attains enlightenment through individual effort. Get yourself to Nirvana, that’s what counts.
You can read an interesting account of how these schools came to be by clicking on the link here, or from the reference section and the end of this post where you’ll also find additional resources not linked in the main body.
My personal experience would seem to indicate most people here in the United States would like to be left alone. I suspect this is true for many people across the world. They want to follow their own dreams and not be interrupted.
Unfolding: Awakening gives the reader a first-person perspective of what it’s like to undergo a sudden growth in spiritual or universal awareness. In the instances I’ve heard of, there is always someone like Drew around to assist a person.
I talked with Candice * while writing Chapter 2 Consequences and received a particularly good piece of information from her. She believes Drew has a messiah complex. Drew’s wife, Carol, thinks so too. Drew would not deny he’d willingly give his live to save others if it were necessary, though he doesn’t feel it’s his calling – although a minister, his willingness to become involved with others stems from his core personality not his ministry.
If you asked him he would tell you he died a long time ago. He and knows just how temporary and tenuous our existence is. This attitude gives him the freedom to enjoy life’s everyday little things, his friends and his family … and anything else the universe may require from him.
Death is not a separation, but rather a continuation. He’s had glimpses of his future lives and knows his current life will end some day. He’s been to Nirvana and keeps coming back.
Drew says, if he was a Buddhist, there is no doubt he’d be practicing Mahayana. So would I.
For me and those who I travel with, there’s one raft and we’re all on it.
– Jeffrey A. Limpert
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References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah_complex
http://meditation-balance-posture.knoji.com/buddhism-mahayana-vs-hinayana/
http://www.buddha101.com/h_early.htm
http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=1623&C=1571
https://unfoldingseries.com/awakening/awakening-chapter-2-consequences/
Image Information:
rafting white water 6 nov 2010 with Full On Adventure
By Full On Adventure (john mason)
https://secure.flickr.com/photos/fullonadventure/5164972342/
* As stated in earlier posts, Candice is a pseudonym for one of my friends who read and commented on early drafts of the first two novels in the Unfolding series.
Amazon – Unfolding: Awakening