Douglas, I understand a bit about Buddhism and its different forms because I majored in Religious Studies at university but would never be so arrogant as to claim anywhere near the knowledge of it that you possess. But the sentence I highlighted is in direct conflict with your 'lumping' together those various forms of Buddhism as being one and the same.

I admire Buddhism, especially the Mahayana branch and truly believe that we, if this current physical form, are indeed illusion from the vantage point of ourselves in any higher dimension. And, with you, that thoughts are part of what create our lives, the individual world we each live in. Just because we are illusions to our higher selves does not make our temporary presence here, including the thoughts we have as that "illusion" any less real. They help define us, the illusion we may be (to our higher, permanent Self).