Schools Of Buddhism
Buddhism (Pali/Sanskrit: बौद्ध धर्म Buddha Dharma) is an ancient ideological system that originated in the Iron Age Indian subcontinent, referred to variously throughout history by one or more of a myriad of concepts – including, but not limited to any of the following: a Dharmic religion, a philosophy or quasi-philosophical tradition, a spiritual schema, or a culturally dynamic psychological method of self-improvement. The Buddhist faith was founded by the teacher Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama), known honorifically as the eponymic Buddha, around the 6th or 5th century BCE.
The classification and nature of various doctrinal, philosophical or cultural facets or schools of Buddhism is vague and has been interpreted in many different ways, often due to the sheer number (perhaps thousands) of different sects, subsects, movements, etc. that have or currently make up the whole of Buddhist traditions. The sectarian and conceptual divisions of Buddhic thought are part of the modern framework of Buddhist studies, as well as comparative religion in Asia.
From a largely English language standpoint, and to some extent in most of Western academia, Buddhism is separated into two groups at its foundation: Theravāda literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching" and Mahāyāna. The most common classification among scholars is threefold, with Mahāyāna split into East Asian (also known simply as Mahāyāna) and Vajrayāna, which includes Tibetan Buddhism and the Japanese Shingon school.
Read more about Schools Of Buddhism: Classifications, Terminology, Early Schools, Theravāda Subschools, Mahāyāna Schools, Tantric Schools, New Buddhist Movements
Famous quotes containing the words schools of, schools and/or buddhism:
“In America the taint of sectarianism lies broad upon the land. Not content with acknowledging the supremacy as the Diety, and with erecting temples in his honor, where all can bow down with reverence, the pride and vanity of human reason enter into and pollute our worship, and the houses that should be of God and for God, alone, where he is to be honored with submissive faith, are too often merely schools of metaphysical and useless distinctions. The nation is sectarian, rather than Christian.”
—James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851)
“In America the taint of sectarianism lies broad upon the land. Not content with acknowledging the supremacy as the Diety, and with erecting temples in his honor, where all can bow down with reverence, the pride and vanity of human reason enter into and pollute our worship, and the houses that should be of God and for God, alone, where he is to be honored with submissive faith, are too often merely schools of metaphysical and useless distinctions. The nation is sectarian, rather than Christian.”
—James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851)
“A religion so cheerless, a philosophy so sorrowful, could never have succeeded with the masses of mankind if presented only as a system of metaphysics. Buddhism owed its success to its catholic spirit and its beautiful morality.”
—W. Winwood Reade (1838–1875)