Differences and similarities of Theravada and Mahayana Tradition

Locations of Theravada are Sri Lanka, Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, parts of Southeast Asia. For Mahayana Tibet, China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, parts of Southeast Asia. Theravada doesn’t talk about Buddha nature but Mahayana especially in practice-based schools.

 For Theravada rituals are few but Mahayana are owing to local cultural influences. Theravada follows pali canon but Mahayana follows Books of the Theravada Tripitaka plus many other sutras. For the case of Buddha Theravada proclaims only one Historical Buddha but Mahayana has many Gautama Buddha plus Amitabha, Medicine Buddhas, and others. Even the case of bodhisatta Theravada has only maitreya Buddha but Mahayana has Maitreya plus Avalokitesvara, Mansjuri, Ksitigarbha and Samanthabadra. Theravada’s original language is pali and Sanskrit is theirs. When we go to talk about mantra and mudras then Some equivalent in the use of Parittas are being followed in Theravada but in Mahayana they Emphasized in Vajrayana; sometimes incorporated in other schools.  From Theravada side Mainly pre-Buddhist Indian influences like concepts of karma, sangha, etc but in their side Heavily influenced by local religious ideas as transmitted to new cultures.