[himecthekWiff]

I think that if we examine Mahayana Buddhism through the examples of where it is widely practiced at the popular or common level, in Chinese-speaking countries and in Japan, then we cannot ignore the cultural and historically political influences that suggest that your statement is true. In Taiwan, for example. Taoist temples are everywhere, some as small as tool sheds and some practically the size of cathedrals. It should not be surprising that people would desire to fit dhamma into the framework they already understand. Don't we who are raised in Greek logical thinking styles and western science do the same thing?

There, people consider themselves a little bit Buddhist, a little bit Tao, some Confucius, depending on the function of each philosophy. So, for example, Avalokiteshvara, who may very well been an actual fellow in Gotama's original entourage, is now Ms. Kuan Yin, who is prayed to in the same way that Catholics pray to the Virgin Mary. The fact that Buddha is treated as a god may not really be such a big deal.

In Japan, the most widely practiced form of Mahyana Buddhism is Shin, or Pure Land. This school, and Nichiren Buddhism both gained wide popularity largely due to political reasons. Their founders believed that the message of the Dharma had become obscured and corrupted by the cozy relationship which had developed between the large temples and the government. Despite their outward appearances which seem to bear no similarity to Theravadan teachings at all, they still share the basic tenets of Dhamma, the four noble truths, the foundations of impermanence, no self, dissatisfaction, etc. and they each have developed extremely effective methods for letting go of the ego.

However, if we examine the actual Mahayana teachings and contributions by people such as Nagarjuna, I am not so sure that your conclusion is entirely accurate. Mahayanists do not deny that, ultimately, a 'fake' reality has been established. They would just argue that it is no more real than the one you are experiencing right now. In Vajrayana teachings, these too are dissolved.