[nananonymous]

"If you meet the Buddha on the road..." is a specific Zen teaching.

Any time you see words like Dorje or Rinpoche it's safe to assume your dealing with Tibetan Buddhism which differs significantly from Zen. Zen is like Buddhism that went to China and picked up some Taoism while Tibetan Buddhism is like Buddhism that went to Tibet and picked up some Tantric practices.

This sort of guru worship is common in Tibetan traditions. It's less common elsewhere but if you look into scandals, even in the Zen community, there are abuses of power that rely on this absolute deference to a teacher.

[msbarnett]

Historical side note: tantric practices developed in India as one of the very late stages of its development before it faded away in that country. It was at this time that Buddhism spread from northern India, hotbed of tantra, to Tibet.

So it's a bit more accurate to say that tantric Buddhism went to Tibet (and merged with Bon's animism), and then hung on there while it died off in its country of origin.

(Tantric Buddhism also made its way from India, through China, and to Japan, where it survives as Shingon Buddhism)

[nananonymous]

Well I stand corrected, thank you.

I found this really cool map that agrees with you, even if I kind of wish it had names of particular schools along the arrows.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8e/Bu...

[msbarnett]

Wow, neat map.

And full credit to the prof I had for the couple of electives I took on Buddhism in uni, for getting this stuff to stick in my head.

[spraak]

Very good explanation. Perhaps others in this thread can better relate to and understand the common worship of H.H. the Dalai Lama