Approximately 100 years after the Buddha's death his followers started separating into sects, which began the age of Sectarian Buddhism; Buddhism before this is referred to as presectarian.
The first two sects were-
Mahasangani- which eventually led to the Mahayana tradition- Zen, Pure Land, Vajrayana.
Sthavira- which laid the foundation for the Theravada tradition.
This is my graduate class at Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, which is comprised of several sects of Buddhism (as well as a Catholic Priest) from all over the world. I am incredibly lucky to be immersed in such a rich diversity of culture.
Top row, left to right: Chinese Chan, Burmese Theravada, American Theravada (me), Bangladesh Theravada, Farther Daniele (Catholic Priest from Rome), Bangladesh Theravada, Vietnamese Mendicant, Myanmar Theravada, Vietnamese Theravada.
Back Bottom Row, left to right: Vietnamese Pure Land, German Theravada, Vietnamese Mendicant, Cambodia Theravada, Vietnamese Mendicant.
Front Bottom Row: Our most venerable professors and meditation masters, all Thai Theravada.
Nuns, left to right: Thai Dhamakaya, Korean Won, Vietnamese Mendicant.
Would Tien Tai Buddhism consider as another sect of Mahayana tradition?
ReplyDeleteYes, Van, it would. Though Tientai arose in China, and not India, they still hold Nagarjuna as the first patriarch; founder of the Madhyamaka school which is one of the fist structured and organized Mahayana schools. They also hold the Lotus Sutra in high regard and consider the Chinese Canon as the main scriptures, these are also characteristics of the Mahayana tradition. One must remember the vastness of Mahayana though, it is not a focused tradition like Theravada, there are hundreds, dare I say thousands, of schools.
DeleteSo...forgive the dumb question: is the university and by extension, the Wat, for men only? Do they have places for just women or are some places co-ed? I ask because I notice all your class pics are exclusively men. I'm not asking because I'm being snotty, I'm genuinely curious about how that works, what kinds of traditions there are.
ReplyDeleteBoth the university and the Wat, at least when I went there years and years ago, have nuns. The classes are co-ed but the living quarters are not. Now we are getting into politics a little bit, sorry. The university is Theravada, and Theravada has much fewer nuns than other Mahayana sects (the reasons for this are extremely expansive and requires another conversation. I will do another blog post explaining it). The university is about 10 percent female, from both the Theravada and Mahayana traditions, and some of its finest work comes from these brilliant ladies.
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