In the Years Following the Death of Siddhartha Gautama, How

question 10

Essay

In the years following the death of Siddhartha Gautama, how was Buddhism transformed? What were the catalysts that spurred these transformations? How did the beliefs of followers of the Theravada and Mahayana branches of Buddhism differ? How did their positions reflect differing ideas about the likelihood of their followers achieving nirvana? Do you think the term Hinayana was originally used as an expression of contempt?

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Definitions:

Content Bias

A condition which occurs when testing materials are more familiar to one group than another.

Epistemology

The branch of philosophy concerned with the theory of knowledge, its nature, sources, and limitations.

World View

The fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the entirety of the individual or society's knowledge and point of view.

Axiology

The branch of philosophy that studies values, including aesthetics and ethics.