A Fistful of Sand

Contemporary Pure Land Buddhism has come under much scholarly critique over the past two to three decades. This is especially true of the Japanese Jōdo and Jōdo Shinshū presentations. In fact, the entirety of the model of populist Buddhism in its many guises has come under question as to whether they can be accurately called “Buddhisms” at all.   While few take such criticisms of Zen to heart there is open criticism of all of the major sects in the Buddhist world.  Western forms of Buddhism have come under especially intense scrutiny even if they are direct transplants from Asia. It is even the case that some sects do not recognize the validity of those ordained in other sects.  Prior to my ordination  in Sōto Zen my Zen teacher, for example, told me the story that that beginning in 2000 the Sōto Zen headquarters in Kyōto Japan formally complaint to the American Sōto Zen lineage of the San Francisco Zen Center and others that they was not actually...

Four Types of Buddhism By Venerable Master Chin Kung 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...