"Think of Buddhism as ice-cream. There are different flavours of ice-cream, but it all comes from the same root, this milk product, and the basis is vanilla. That's Theravada, the basic, plain, nothing added strand of Buddhism. And then you get Mahayana buddhism, where there are some additives to make it taste better, and you've got neapolitan, with the chocolate and strawberry but still the vanilla too. You start getting into cassata - with cherries and nuts and all sorts - when you get into Tibetan buddhism."

(From my lecture this morning on Buddhist mysticism. Fun eh?)