Question:
I read a book or two on Buddhism a few years ago, and drifted away from reading, but let things kind of bang around in my head since then. While I was at work the other day, one of my students (I teach adult education--GED) had a newspaper from some place called SGI international or something like that. He said it was a Buddhist organization with meeting places, and a temple in Baltimore, MD (USA). That it had a temple, and some local meeting places interested me because, the lack of community was a large factor in my drifting away from the study.
I took a look at the paper and wasn't really impressed. However, I did do some research online to see if I could ferret some information. I found some newsgroups, and spent some time reading posts, and so on. I determined that this group seemed to be my best bet for making some inquiries. I based the decision on 1. the amount of traffic (there is a smaller amount of traffic on this group. My rule of thumb is that the more popular a thing is, in general, the less reliable/valuable it is.) and on 2. the seeming seriousness of some of the responses.
At any rate, my interest in studying Buddhism is rekindled. My question is--which tradition, or doesn't it really matter?
Answer:
There are many styles and sects, but they are all pretty much the same. Tibetan is really popular. Zen is by far the most direct form but it is generally abused more because of it's "anything goes" philosophy.
It's probably best to get one good book on general Buddhism such as : What the Buddha Taught.
Zen is primarily interested in the unspoken transmission of enlightenment, and sees no real need for sutras and so forth, but it's a good thing to have a working knowledge of Buddhist tradition.
