I think that The Buddha is an ordinary person because he has many human-like characteristics such as looking like a person, being born like a person, living like a person besides if he was a God he would have already known about old-aged people, diseased people and dead people. So Siddhartha Gautama is an ordinary person who devoted most of his life to finding the truth of life, to reach enlightenment. Also the fact that Siddhartha Gautama didn’t know how to meditate before reaching the Meditation Masters suggests that Siddhartha Gautama didn’t know how to meditate and so couldn’t have been a God.
There is also another difference between Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism this is that Mahayana Buddhism followers think that it is better to help others reach Nirvana before you do. But Hinayana Buddhism followers think that everyone needs to gain Nirvana by their own.
Mahayana Buddhists all help others to reach Nirvana before they do because they think it is better to help other people reach Nirvana than to reach Nirvana for yourself.
However, Hinayana Buddhists think that reaching Nirvana is the ultimate goal of all Buddhists and that you should gain Nirvana for yourself.
I think it is better to help others reach Nirvana than to gain it for yourself. Because it is not worth it if you have gained Nirvana for yourself and you haven’t helped others gain it.
One other difference between Mahayana and Hinayana Buddhism is that Mahayana Buddhism followers think that all who trust in the Buddha will reach Nirvana. On other hand, Hinayana Buddhism followers think that only Hinayana Buddhists will reach Nirvana.
Mahayana Buddhists believe that all who put faith and trust in the Buddha will reach Nirvana. So they are basically saying that any form of Buddhism will reach Nirvana even if they are going to Nirvana in different ways. But Mahayana Buddhists believe it is faster to reach Nirvana the Mahayana way (big vehicle) than any other way.
Hinayana Buddhists believe that only the people who go to Nirvana the Hinayana way (small vehicle) will reach Nirvana all the other ways of reaching Nirvana are wrong and won’t reach Nirvana.
I think that all the forms of Buddhism will reach Nirvana if they put all their faith and trust in The Buddha, because all the forms of Buddhism started of in one person Siddhartha Gautama.
These were all the Major Differences now going onto the Minor Differences:
In conclusion, Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism both started of with one goal, Nirvana. But both took different ways to get there.