EkayÄna
Ekayana ( Skt. eka - yana; Chinese一 乘, Pinyin Yisheng, W.-G. i- sheng; hg 일승, seung il; Jap.一 乘, ichi jo; viet nhat Thua; Tib. . Theg pa gcig pa; German: " the vehicle " ) is used in some schools of Mahayana Buddhism as the highest or actual vehicle - also called Buddha - yana - seen.
The remaining currents or doctrine (vehicles, eg Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna or the Triyana from different lessons for Sravakas, Pratyeka Buddhas and Bodhisattvas ) announce no ultimate truth according to this view. The teachings of the other vehicles are thus only " skillful means " ( upaya ) to lead to liberation and have as conventional truths thus only relative validity. The differences between the various Buddhist vehicles result from the fact that they are meant for people with different starting conditions. Although there are many methods and ways, there is ultimately only one way of Buddha - " the vehicle a ".
Schools and traditions
Examples of mentions of Ekayana found in almost all the major scriptures of Mahayana, including the Srimala Sutra, Lankavatara Sutra, Avatamsaka Sutra and the Lotus Sutra. The ideas presented therein and in related comments later authors provide a doctrinal basis of the Hua-yen or Kegon school and the Tiantai or Tendai school.
In contrast to the Tendai school claimed the Hosso school that the Hinayana and other vehicles could be subsumed not automatically covered by the Ekayana.
The teaching in the west Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh sees the various Buddhist traditions in the light of Ekayana: The Buddha, which means benutzend full of skill, says, here is one way as another, and this is a third way - people can Select one - but in reality there is only one way ( Ekayana ). [ ..] Today practice the people in the West Theravada, Zen, Pure Land, Vajrayana and many other Buddhist traditions, and we know that they all follow the true path of the Buddha. Through the Lotus Sutra peace and reconciliation among the practitioners have become possible.
The Ekayana in Buddhist literature
In the Lankavatara Sutra says: " As long as there is an understanding that makes intellectually efforts, there is no peak point with respect to the vehicles; but if a reversal has taken place in the mind, then there is neither a car nor anyone who uses it. Indeed, there is no formation of vehicles and why I speak of a vehicle; but for the purpose of transportation of the ignorant I speak of the variety of vehicles "
In the third chapter of the Lotus Sutra is " A car " explained using the metaphor of the world as a burning house. But the father of (Buddha) attracts its depth in the game children from the burning house, saying to them that he had out different cars, each with goats, deer or large oxen covered (these are for the different vehicles) and for them to play specially prepared. The children run out of the house and her life is saved. After leaving the house, the children ask for the promised them three cars. The father then gives each of them a magnificently decorated, large and white ox-carts ( which stands for the Ekayana ).
In the Avatamsaka Sutra Ekayana is not explicitly mentioned. However, an important basis for the view of Ekayana in the Hua -yen school was delivered by the method described in the Sutra concept of mutual penetration.
Word origin and delimitation
The term Ekayana originally from Vedic times and already does in the Upanishads Brihadaranyaka a " spiritual journey ".
Ekayana - - In the Pali Canon ( Satipatthana Sutta ), a similar term is used, which is typically translated as " Direct path " or " The only way ". Here the term is used by various meditation techniques ( mindfulness meditation) to describe. Ekayana but EKA from the words and ayana composed while Ekayana ( the vehicle ) is composed of the words eka and Yana.