[Buddha-l] Jinapanjaram

[Bankei]

hi Joy

I have been thinking the same thing lately. Theravada Buddhism as practiced
in Asia is totally different to what the average "westerner" imagines it to
be. There is the praying to the Buddha as a god, the many rituals, the role
of the monk as a priest, the dominance of 'transfer of merit' type thinking
etc etc.

Is this a corruption of the 'pure' Buddhism, or has it always been this
way?

regards

Bankei