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Is it not only possible, but true, that the transmission of Enlightenment
begun by Gautama Buddha came to have many branches. Different types of
individuals were attracted to different kinds of teachings. Efforts have been
made since the first Great Council, after Gautama's passing away, to classify
and categorize the teachings. The followers of a particular branch of the
teaching gradually formed into "schools."
By the time Buddhism was consolidated in Tibet,
most of these differences had been identified and worked out.
Certain basic divisions came to be taken as basic to Buddhism. All Buddhist
traditions were respected in Tibet, and even those places that specialized in
the highest esoterica, would never deny the importance of other paths. A basic
division is now common which divides what is called the Hinayana, the "lesser
vehicle"—lesser because one strives only for personal liberation, the Mahayana,
or "Great Vehicle"—great because one strives for universal liberation, and the
Vajrayana, the "Vehicle of Power"—the esoteric pathways involving yoga.
These three levels of the path are made clear upon seeing the three kinds of
commitment involved.
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