CHAPTER TWO THE FOUR KINDS OF BUDDHISM TODAY In our world today, there are at least four different types of Buddhism. The first is the authentic Buddhism, the education of understanding the true reality of life and the universe originally taught by Buddha Shakyamuni. Unfortunately, the authentic education is rare and difficult to encounter nowadays. The remaining types of Buddhism are more or less distortions of the original teachings.
The second type 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, especially in Asia, it 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 making offerings 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 offer courses on the study of Buddhist Sutras, considering the teaching 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 a university as a single course, it is also inappropriate to think of and limit the Buddha's education to 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 profound 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 distortion, which only came to be in the past thirty to forty years. Religious Buddhism persuades people to be decent and philosophical Buddhism pursues truth, neither cause much harm to society. However, if Buddhism is changed into a deviant and externalist path, using the weakness of human nature to cheat and harm living beings, disturbing the peace and safety of society, then this conversion has gone too far. The speech and actions of these deviant and external paths can be very attractive and enticing. One should be very careful as not to be misled 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 for what they are and think carefully as to which way is most beneficial to us and the one we will ultimately follow.
