They would certainly function as one . <| sep |> The historicity of anything Mahayana actually being from the Buddha is tenuous at best . What makes up the Pali cannon of today wasn ' t written down until 450 years after the Buddha died , then the Mahayana sutras appear years after that . I don ' t like some of the concepts and ideas introduced because they add on extra woo I find completely unnecessary . Enlightenment should be possible through rationalization and to add on oh you ' ve also got to save every being in every dimension is just silly . This is why I like the Theravada tradition much more . Meditate , detach from the world , be constantly mindful , guarding the senses , and eventually you ' ll chip away at delusion and reach enlightenment . Instead you have the Mahayana saying lets be free of delusion by completely steeping our mind it . It reminds me of the paradox of communism let ' s get to a completely anarchic stateless society by building an all powerful authoritarian state ! It doesn ' t make much sense .