Having trouble

[Amandameko]

Hello. I am having a lot of trouble finding somewhere that I can find a simple explaination on the difference of the schools. I would like some SIMPLIFIED help on determainating the difference so I can finally choose what school I want to follow. Please help?:help:

 

[dyanaprajna2011]

A good place to start would be Wikipedia. And here's a few more sites where you might be able to find some concise definitions:
Buddhist Sects and Schools - ReligionFacts
BBC - Religion: Buddhism
History & Major Schools of Buddhism - Buddhist History and Major Buddhist Schools

After checking these out, also try Inspiration, Spirituality, Faith, Religion. - Beliefnet.com. Then hopefully you can go on to sites that are more school specific. And you can just ask the Buddhists here, we're more than happy to help.

 

[DreadFish]

Yep, that about covers it. I definitely learned a lot from wikipedia.


Incidentally, most of the Buddhist here are Zen Buddhists I think; I just noticed that. I think there is a Nichiren Buddhist as well and probably a couple plain Mahayana Buddhists along with maybe one Theravada...


Best wishes in your learning!

 

[dyanaprajna2011]

The last Theravada Buddhist here that I can think of got banned. There's 3 or 4 Zen, a Nichiren, and a Tibetan, and probably a few others who don't particularly subscribe to any particular school. And there are a few syncretists here, who combine Buddhism generally with Hinduism.

 

[wmjbyatt]

Hello. I am having a lot of trouble finding somewhere that I can find a simple explaination on the difference of the schools. I would like some SIMPLIFIED help on determainating the difference so I can finally choose what school I want to follow. Please help?:help:

Don't try to choose. At all. Just study and practice. Mostly practice. But definitely study. Study is practice, if you do it right. Practice is study, if you do it right. There is no right way, and it's literally impossible to understand the various schools (kind of at all) without practice, study, and understanding. You're making a mistake right off the bat when you try to select. They're all the same. They're all just different sides of the same die. The Buddha's dying words were something to the effect of "Don't listen to anything just because someone with a shiny gold star said it, only accept that which accords with your own experience."

And, honestly, (this is my sectarianism speaking) the best place to start is probably with Taoism anyway. I recommend the Tao Te Ching. It's the simplest expression of the Way, makes the least sense, and starts off by telling you it's all a pack of lies, which is a healthy thing to keep in mind when trying to understand crap other people have said about the Way or the Dharma or the Truth or whatever.

 

[DreadFish]

And, honestly, (this is my sectarianism speaking) the best place to start is probably with Taoism anyway. I recommend the Tao Te Ching. It's the simplest expression of the Way, makes the least sense, and starts off by telling you it's all a pack of lies, which is a healthy thing to keep in mind when trying to understand crap other people have said about the Way or the Dharma or the Truth or whatever.

Yes, I can second this suggestion without taking any sectarian positions

The point is, reality does not have distinctions, and it is not religious, only our thoughts make distinctions or are of a religious nature, and you cant see through the clouds to the sun (that's always there) if you keep making more clouds to fill your sky.