Page 65 - Islam and Buddhism

he erroneous beliefs of Buddhism vary greatly from
country to country, because over the past 2500 years,
this religion has mingled with the various local reli-
gions, customs, and established cultures of countries
into which it has spread. Today, the varieties of
Buddhism practiced in Japan, China, Tibet, Sri Lanka,
Vietnam and America are all quite different from one

another.
As historical sources show, Buddha always chose
to speak about his basic tenets and deliver his way of
worship orally; centuries of research has determined that he left be-
hind no written texts. Buddhists maintain that his sermons were
passed down orally from generation to generation for 400 years, until
they were finally compiled in the Pali canon. However, most
scholars believe that the great majority of these words are
not Buddha's at all, but were added to in the course of

centuries until they attained their present form.
Therefore Buddhism, not relying on any writ-
ten texts, underwent many changes and dis-
tortions over the course of time, being
considerably reshaped by addi-
tions and omissions.

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