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FS - your comment on trying to convince your Theravada friend about the Mahayana has had me thinking.

I can only imagine that if one is raised in the Theravada tradition or deeply believes in the Theravada as it is conventionally understood, one could perceive risks to anything more than a polite tolerance of the Mahayana. Anything more might be seen as being unfaithful to the orthodox tradition, even the simple admission that their might be some level of at least provisional validity to the Mahayana.

I can certainly respect this position - just as I respect the fact that because of the Theravada we have a comprehensive body of work on which to depend and base or practice, but I wonder if all of our perspectives would be different if the Mahayana simply no longer existed. If we were studying it from a historical perspective, there would be no risk to committing a perceived slight to the Therevada.

This however, would be unfortunate and would limit our ability to truly know and appreciate the Mahayana, not to mention negating all of the positive effect it has had on so many followers from so many countries in recent years alone.

I agree so much with everyone, and love the notes of Dr. Peter Della Santina. While I read the notes, I kept thinking what a great merit it was to transcript his lecture and made his word eternal (I know it's impermanent after all ^^).

He did wrote a book, as lecture notes for Singaporean students I suppose, and it was the "Tree of Enlightenment." However, it was not as detail as his note, probably targeting students at more elementary level.

Dr. Santina's passion and discourse on Mulamadhyamakakarika let me understand something about it the first time in my life, and for that I am so grateful. His brief summary on all the schisms and councils was so much more concise and clearer than Prof. Akira Hirakawa (who was probably also too busy trying to convince us that the stupa community was the later Mahayana tradition). Dr. Santina did that by picking Samaya instead of the two Vamsas as the history of schism, and collapsed the 4-7 councils into one. This approach was not accurate but definitely "didactic", as mentioned by our fellow classmate.

I am sure he is now somewhere in this samsara continue his teaching as a bodhisattva, planting the seeds of enlightenment.

Metta,
Paul Sin