Why is it that when Religion is discussed here it is only Christianity mostly?

[Mr Khan]

M.U.G.E.N said:

Mr Khan said:

Heavens and Hells are a Mahayana contrivance, from what i remember from my college course in the matter. Ascencion to enlightenment otherwise proceeds through a number of phases, from animalistic humanity, through civilized humanity and up to spiritual awareness then spiritual attainment of Nirvana which is neither nothingness nor oneness but something that is neither and both at the same time.

The other Mahayana belief is in the Bodhisatva, who stops just before the attainment of enlignment in order to help others on that path (and their desire to help others is precisely what stops them from taking the last step).

You are right about the enlightment. There are various stages. If you are at least able to reach the first stage you are on your way to enlightment. But it will happen in a certain number of life times where with each time you will edge closer. Hehe I have trouble putting into words what englightenment is. The simplest way I can put it is devoid of desires and attachments. And by desires it means every desire not just in a material sense. It's kind of hard to explain :S man I really should think about this more and think of a way to explain it in English...no one has ever asked me about it before after coming to us :D

Heavens and Hells are in the scripters for Theravada too. Trust me on this. It plays a big part may it be on the Gatha (the poems we recite :S what's a good word for this?) and Buddhist folklore. You can easily see this when you go to a theravada temple. They have paintings and figurines etc depicting what bad deeds can do to you in after life and vice versa.

and The Bothisatva portion of your comment is wrong..at least according to Theravada. Bodhisatva has already attained englightenment before he engages other human in his teachings. Then he will continue his teaching until his demise where his mind will cease to exist, not in earth, hell or heaven, and by doing so he will have broken the chains that binds him to rebirth and sufferings. 

ps: my knowledge of the subject matter comes from teaching from childhood. I'm from Sri Lanka. One of the very few Theravada Buddhist nations. (actually the only one with the Majority lol)

Huh, i assumed it was a Mahayana root, but the class i took was actually in Japanese religions (including Japanese Buddhist divisions), so it only brushed on the Lower Path, as the two major Japanese branches (Tendai and Shingon) are focused on upper path, though Tendai is focused on the Lotus Sutra while Shingon is more esoteric.

Whereabouts in Sri Lanka? Obviously not up north if you're Buddhist, but the Colombo area, or inland closer to Kandy?