Yinxu

"Could the great Kumarajiva, or Xuánzàng, or many great Buddhist scholars living in the past devoted their lives, be so ignorant that they took the Sanskrit Sutras to translate or study, which, according to the Pali sect, were not authentic or spoken by the Buddha? Especially Xuánzàng who traveled and lived in the Indian region where Buddha traversing, and studied in Nalanda."

Both Kumarajiva and Xuanzang came to the conclusion after years of studying the materials that the message in Mahayana sutras were superior to Early Buddhist texts.

"First time I heard about the Pali Canon was told by a friend who said "only the Pali Suttas are authentically spoken by the Buddha, those Mahayana Sutras are, craps ('Don't know where were they coming from', in her phrase)." This was exactly what she said, though didn't represent anyone except herself - she was back from a retreat in Nepal/Burma (I forgot the exact but definitely was one of those Theravada Schools retreats). I got the sense that she was re-telling what she was told and of course, added with her own conviction. This was in the beginning days of my learning Buddhism. I didn'…

Also, attributing things you don't understand on local religious and philosophical traditions seems unfair. What if outsiders were to say that the Tibetans mixed in Bon religious thoughts and gods into Tibetan Buddhism. While the Confucian philosophy and Taoism were quite sophisticated in their thinking as far as secular philosophy and religions go, they did not result in the alteration of Chinese Buddhist doctrine although in practice the views are harmonized.

What Zongmi said:
"Since encouraging the myriad practices, admonishing against evil, and promoting good contribute in common to or…

"The point is that there is a period during which the Chinese came up with their own explanations as to the meaning of ekayana. Their explanation is so indigenous that it integrates Confucian and Taoist traits. What is that indigenous explanation? Here are a few quotes to help understand:

In The Relation between Chinese Buddhist History and Soteriology, Yoshizu Yoshihide says: “However, Hsuan-tsang had called many of their presuppositions into question, especially the emphasis on the One-vehicle and the universality of buddha-nature.” Here's my guess: the relation between ekayana and buddh…

"Were one to complete this process, would that be considered to be enlightenment?"

At the most basic level, the goal of Buddhism is to be free from suffering. This is done with the practice of the Noble Eightfold Path of Ethics, Concentration and Wisdom. Upon the purification of mind and detachment from all delusion, craving, aversion and sense of self, one becomes free from all satisfaction and suffering - attaining Nibbana or Nirvana.

However, Mahayana Buddhism posit further goals, including the supreme omniscient of the Buddha which are superior to the wisdom of Arhats by themselves, a…

Ok, let's start simple, meditation is the wrong place to start when we first begin the Buddhist path. The foundation is Ethics, in other words, right speech, right action, right livelihood. Fulfilling the goals of the Five Precepts which boils down to Do No Harm - whether to others or ourselves. Without Ethics our meditation effort will be in vain. In particular the fourth precept no wrong speech - lies, abusive speech, divisive speech and idle chatter is by far the easiest to violate, and the effect on the mind is immediate.