The Mahayana sect claimed that their course of life was large enough to bear all mankind to salvation. They regard the Thervada sect to be simply as an incomplete or superficial form of the teachings of Buddha.
By Buddha Theravadins mean the human Siddhartha who first achieved enlightenment and has shown the way to Nirvana. According to them the ultimate reality is one and changeless.
The Mahayana Buddhism is a form of absolute idealism. They regard the Buddha as an incarnation of the one absolute reality which may also be called the eternal Buddha. The Mahayana doctrine believes that the fate of each individual is linked with the fate of all.
The Theravada sect regards the Mahayana as a corruption of the original Buddhism. The Theravada Buddhists believe that the universe generally and all forms of life in particular have three characteristics in common (The three signs of being): impermanence, suffering and an absence of personal soul which separates each from the other forms of life.
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They feel that there is’ no unity in or behind the universe. They deny the existence of God. According to them man is made up of impermanent and ever changing qualities which are illusory, being born of desire.