[caption id="attachment_359501" align="aligncenter" width="259" caption="Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana"][/caption]
Buddha has 3 dominant sects, namely Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana. Theravada Buddha prevalent in the South East Asia countries such as Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. Mahayana spreads in China, Tibet, Nepal, Korea, Mongolia, Vietnam and Japan. Then, Mahayana developed branches, one of them called Vajrayana. This sect is mainly practiced in Tibet, but also found in the countries such as Nepal, Bhutan and Mongolia.
Theravada and Mahayana have similar perceptions in terms of Four Noble Truth, the Noble of Eightfold Path, go for refuge in the Triple Gem, and teachings about karma, samsara, and nirvana. We have elaborated with these words, but Triple Gem at previous assignments. Triple Gem also known as the Three Treasures or the Three Refuges, namely are Buddha, Dhamma (Dharma), and Sangha.
To become officially Buddhist or when publicly professing conversion to the Buddha faith, one goes for refuge in the Three Gem by chanting Pali formula: Buddham saranam gacchāmi (I go for refuge in the Buddha), Dhammam saranam gacchāmi (I go for refuge in the Dharma), and Sangham saranam gacchāmi (I go for refuge in the Sangha). This Pali pronunciation is slightly differs between one country to other countries in order to suit their own language phonology.
There are different between Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism, some of them are about the Buddha, scriptures, teaching of enlightenment and local cultural influenced. Theravada only believes in Shakyamuni Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) and the previous Buddhas, while Mahayana believes to Shakyamuni Buddha and other contemporary Buddhas such as Amitabha and Medicine Buddha. Moreover, Theravada considers Siddhartha Gautama is a man who devotes his entire life for the attainment of perfection, ultimately becoming a fully enlightened Buddha for the welfare of the world, for the happiness of the world. Mahayana regards Buddha as a universal principle. Deity belief is present in the Mahayana doctrine of The Three Bodies (forms) of Buddha: body of enlightened wisdom which is formless, body of bliss, and body of transformation or emanation.
In term of scriptures, the different between Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism that Theravada Buddha studies the early scriptures in Pali. The Pali Canon is divided into 3 baskets (Tipitaka): Vinaya Pitaka of 5 books, Sutta Pitaka of 5 collections (many suttas) and Abhidhamma Pitaka of 7 books.The development beyond the Pali scriptures is called Mahayana. The Mahayana Buddha Canon contains virtually all the Theravada Tipikata plus many other sutras (suttas) such as Lotus Sutra. These Mahayana sutras were written between the 1st century BCE and the 5th century CE, and a few even later than, and authorship of these texts are unknown.
In respect to enlightenment, Theravada tradition teaches enlightenment that for the most part is dependent on the individual. Mahayana teaches that enlightenment is possible with and for all sentient beings through the assistance of Bodhisattva. The word of Bodhisattva could be translated as a being set upon enlightenment, one whose essence is perfect knowledge or a being whose essence is enlightenment.
In sense of local cultural influenced, Theravada is the oldest and most orthodox school or Buddha tradition. It has also remained conservative as it was not influenced as much by indigenous beliefs of the countries it traveled to.On the other hand, the Mahayana is very much influenced by local cultural and philosophical beliefs in countries such as China, Korea and Japan. In this context, the Mahayana has a different view leading to a slightly different goal than Theravada.
I myself feel compatible to Theravada with some reasons. First, this sect is quite pure without bias towards any one tradition. Second, the Theravada path does stick to the basics with fewer rituals and with an unbroken lineage going back to the historical Buddha himself. The last and the most important for me that Theravada has no hierarchical authority structure, thus there is no difference between the nirvana attained by the Buddha and that of the practitioner like myself.
