Buddhism in Five Minutes - Elizabeth J. Harris
39. What are the Main Contemporary Divisions in Buddhism: Theravāda, Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna?
Buddhism in Five Minutes - Elizabeth J. Harris
Christopher V. Jones [+]
University of Cambridge
Christopher V. Jones is a Bye-Fellow of Selwyn College, and affiliated lecturer and research associate at the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge. A primary focus of his research is the history of Mahayana Buddhist thought in the early centuries of the Common Era, preserved in Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan literature.
Description
It is frequently said that in the world today there are three types of Buddhism: Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana. This is certainly true, although it is wrong to think of these as monolithic entities, or as three “schools” or “sects” that differ from each other in simple matters of belief. Each of these labels has a complex history, and refers to families of still very diverse modes of Buddhist thought and practice across different regions and periods of Asian and, more recently, global religious history.