Nuns lining up during the Taiping Insight Meditation Society(TIMS) 20th Anniversary Celebration up at Sasanarakha Buddhist Sanctuary(SBS)
Answer 12 :
There are many different types of sugar; brown sugar, white sugar, granulated sugar, rock sugar, syrup and icing sugar but it is all sugar and it all taste 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 state 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 expressed hostility towards each other and to this day, they go to each other's temples and worship together. Such tolerance and understanding in certainly rare
0 metta:
Post a Comment