The Influence of Buddhism on a Nation — Reprinted from an Internet Article

Thailand is a country that believes in Buddhism, but its school differs from those in our country: they follow Theravāda (Hīnayāna) Buddhism. The greatest difference between the Small Vehicle and the Great Vehicle is that the Small Vehicle pursues self-benefit, while the Great Vehicle pursues benefiting others; the Great Vehicle holds that benefiting others is benefiting oneself, because self and others are not two. This core idea is in the same lineage as the Confucian ideal of family, nation, and all-under-Heaven in our traditional culture, and so there is a reason why Mahāyāna Buddhism eventually merged with Confucianism and Daoism here in China.

The Small Vehicle, by contrast, is more akin to Western individualism. Individualism versus collectivism has long been a focal point of contention between Eastern and Western civilizations. Yet facts speak louder than words: collectivism may be a form of choice-memory that made tremendous contributions when different peoples faced great crises of survival. It is always controversial in times of peace and prosperity, but this year, in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, we delivered the finest answer sheet in the human world. All of this has proven that, at the very least, it is not as wretched as Western smears would have it.