| Diamondway |
 You can divide Buddha’s teachings very differently. This chapter deals with the most often used division into Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana, since it refers to different levels of practice. During his about 45 years of teaching, Buddha gave explanations and advice to very different people about how they could use their lives to remove obstacles and gain lasting happiness. Since his statements always referred to a given situation and took into consideration the personal attitude, foundations and abilities of his disciples, they resulted in a multifaceted and comprehensive collection of Buddhist teachings. Though never categorized by Buddha himself, there developed different ways or “vehicles” (skt.: yana) for spiritual development, each with emphasis on different ways of access and different methods. There are various divisions into two, three or nine ways in use. The division into the three parts of Diamondway (skt.: Vajrayana), Great Way (skt.: Mahayana), and Way of the Elders (skt.: Theravada), as discussed here, mainly refers to the priorities set in meditation practice. Regardless what categories are used, it is important to understand, that the different ways are never in opposition to each other but they are different ways of getting access, which complement and are built upon each other. What sometimes is called the Lesser Way from the perspective of the Great Way, is named Theravada (skt. for “The Way of the Community’s Elders”) by its own practitioners. This is important to know, in order to prevent the misunderstanding that this access was of lesser importance. Here, the key practice most of all is positive behaviour and avoiding difficult situations, often combined with monastic life. In the long view, there arise more and more pleasant experiences in response to that. Supported by pacifying meditations combined with the insight that the source of all difficulties – the “ego” or “self” – has no independent existence, practitioners of this way reach the goal of liberation from all suffering. Therefore, an Arhat (skt.) or “destroyer of the foe” is someone who has realized this state of peacefulness by overcoming all mental tendencies that made him or her cling to the idea of an independent self.
For those who practice the Great Way, development of wisdom and active love and compassion are essential. Here, the point is to make life more meaningful and worthwhile for others and oneself. Often adopted by lay people, this way does not emphasize outer behaviour but the underlying motivation. Its methods aim at perfecting one’s own abilities to become able to help all beings in the best of possible manners. The final result of this way is buddhahood, where all qualities of the mind have been fully developed. The Diamondway especially attracts people with fundamental trust in their own Buddha nature and every sentient being’s. Here, it is of highest importance to develop the view that every sentient being already possesses all enlightened qualities (fearlessness, joy, active compassion) and that the different kinds of wisdom have always been inherent in the mind. You just have to remove the veils that keep you from experiencing this. As a realizer (in earlier days often described with the exotic word Yogi) you practice to experience everything on the highest and purest of possible levels. Thus, you experience the abundance inherent in every situation in life. Eventually, by identifying with one’s own Buddha nature all mental veils disappear und you reach the goal – buddhahood or enlightenment. Before Buddhism spread over various parts of the world during the last decades, Diamondway in its complete form was only practiced in Tibet and the neighboring countries, parts of it also in Chan-Buddhism in China and in the Japanese Zen. The Great Way was practiced in the northern Buddhist countries, which are the Himalayan countries including Tibet, Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, and Mongolia, China, Japan, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Korea. The tradition of Theravada or the Way of the Elders, was mainly followed in the southern Buddhist countries, as for example Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. |