@georgia@netzsphaere.xyz Chinese Buddhism is eclectic but it's still intelligible with Hinayana and earlier Mahayana forms. Monastic, discipline over magic (with some exceptions), etc. but once you get to Yogacara the whole project might as well just reintegrate into the Vedic tradition because they're (almost) saying the same thing.

Only in Vajrayana you still have a paradox where your goal is to shed conditionality through renunciation but none of the actual techniques have anything to do with that. The cope is "you're doing all these side quests so you can reach liberation more quickly afterwards" but if that's how it works then you don't really need to make renunciation your aim in the first place.

The whole thing is made better sense of by mainline Aryan thinking. You're liberated by fulfilling your dharma. You do your duty and you do it well. The best, if possible.