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.