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- Why
are there so many different types of Buddhism?
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- There are many
different types of sugar: brown sugar, white sugar, rock sugar, syrup and
icing sugar but it is all sugar and it all tastes sweet. It is produced
in different forms so that it can be used in different ways. Buddhism is
the same: there is Theravada Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, Pure Land Buddhism,
Yogacara Buddhism and Vajrayana Buddhism but it is all Buddhism and it all
has the same taste - the taste of freedom. Buddhism has evolved into different
forms so that it can be relevant to the different cultures in which it exists.
It has been reinterpreted over the centuries so that it can remain relevant
to each new generation. Outwardly, the types of Buddhism may seem very different
but at the centre of all of them is the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold
Path. All major religions, Buddhism included, have split into schools and
sects. But the different sects of Buddhism have never gone to war with each
other and to this day, they go to each other's temples and worship together.
Such tolerance and understanding is certainly rare.
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