In
our world today, there are at least four different types of Buddhism. The first
type is the authentic Buddhism, the education of understanding the true face of
life and the universe originally intended by Shakyamuni Buddha. Unfortunately,
the authentic Buddha's education is rare nowadays, and difficult to encounter.
The remaining types of Buddhism are more or less distortions of the original teachings.
The second type of Buddhism is the religious Buddhism. Originally, Buddhism
was not a religion, but now it has become one. We can no longer deny that there
is a 'Buddhist religion' because everywhere we look, Buddhism is displayed as
a religion. Unlike the monasteries in the past which held eight-hour classes per
day and provided another eight hours for self-cultivation, today's Buddhist 'temples'
no longer uphold such a perseverance of the Buddha's Teachings. Today we mainly
see people offering to the Buddha statues and praying for blessings and fortune.
In this way, Buddhism has been wrongly changed into a religion.
The third
type of Buddhism is the philosophical study of the Buddha's teachings. Many universities
today open courses on the study of Buddhist Sutras, considering the teachings
as a philosophy. The content of the Buddha's education is actually a complete
university of knowledge and wisdom. Philosophy is only one of its courses. Just
as it is wrong to recognize an university as a single course, it is also inappropriate
to think of and limit the Buddha's education as only a philosophy. The Buddha's
education can help us resolve our problems - from family difficulties to the great
issue of life and death. The Buddha's teachings are deep and vast, and teach us
the truths of life and the universe. It should not be mistaken as only a philosophy.
The fourth type of Buddhism we see in our world today is the deviant and
externalist Buddhism. This is an extremely unfortunate affair which only came
to be in the past 30-40 years. We must know that the religious Buddhism persuades
people to be decent, and the philosophical Buddhism pursues truth, neither cause
much harm to the society. If Buddhism is changed into a deviant and externalist
path, using the weakness of the human nature to cheat and harm living beings;
disturbing the peace and safety of the society, then this conversion of Buddhism
has gone too far. The speech and actions of these deviant and externalist paths
can be very attractive and enticing. One should be very careful as not to be mislead
by these deviant ways, or regretting it would be too late.
These four types
of Buddhism exist in our society today, we should recognize them as they are and
think carefully as to which way is most beneficial to us, and the one we will
ultimately follow.