My advice to someone beginning a Buddhist practice

Someone beginning a Buddhist practice asked me for advice about the differences between Mahayana and Hinayana Buddhism, and about how I thought he should proceed. Here’s an excerpt from my reply, which I thought might be useful to others:

I’d advise against worrying too much about Mahayana v. Hinayana.There’s a false duality (all dualities are false) between Mahayana (“greater vehicle”) and Hinayana (“lesser vehicle”) Buddhism—the terms, of course, wer...