28.04.2015 Views

Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

Mahayana teachings on sunyata are the same. In the two<br />

yanas, the purport of sunyata is the same but its power<br />

to penetrate good <strong>and</strong> evil differs. The sunyata of the<br />

Hinayana is like a shallow river upon which only small<br />

boats can sail; but rivers lead down to the sea, which is<br />

like the voidness taught in the Mahayana. It may be<br />

compared to a great ocean upon which even the largest<br />

vessels may float without obstruction.<br />

All these conflicts are settled by our practice of the<br />

Three-ways-in-one system of meditation outlined here.<br />

Before we finish this section, one more nonsensical<br />

dispute should be mentioned.<br />

e. Conflicts in China<br />

In China there have been many schools, <strong>and</strong> each one<br />

has tried to make a division of the Buddha's teaching to<br />

account for the numerous <strong>and</strong> apparently diverse<br />

methods found within it. In southern China, three<br />

schools tried to do this, <strong>and</strong> in the north were seven; all<br />

these arose before Tian Tai. Only one monk, Fa Min of<br />

the Tang dynasty, made a division into two: the exoteric<br />

or Nirmanakaya teachings; <strong>and</strong> the esoteric, originating<br />

from the Sambhogakaya. In general, however, nobody<br />

heeded the Vajrayana <strong>and</strong>, instead of incorporating it,<br />

left it to form a separate sect. All the teachers made their<br />

divisions with only one object: to raise it above the<br />

other schools. This, we can say, is just sectarianism.<br />

Thus, we find each school proclaiming one or two<br />

183

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!