Who is the leader of Buddhism today?

Answer 1

Buddhism does not have a particular leader as such. Some sects, such as the Gelugpa, recognize the Dalai Lama as the spiritual leader of their lineage. Sects can recognize certain individuals as reincarnations of significant people in the lineage and therefore show them the respect and accept the guidance of the person, however, they are not required to do so.

When the Buddha was dying, he was asked who would lead after he died. The Buddha said that no single person would lead; that the teachings and training that he provided to his students would serve them, and that no single individual would be the source of leadership. This is thought to have been to ensure that no single interpretation or viewpoint would allowed to dominate, and it is believed it was intended to avoid Buddhism becoming too rigid, since the whole point of Buddhism is lack of rigidity and attachment to ideas. Correction The leader of the Gelugpa sect is not the Dalai Lama, but the holder of a different office called the Ganden Tripa, who is the lineage holder of the throne of Ganden Monastery, the reincarnation of Je Tsongkhapa in his aspect as the founder of the Gelugpa and of Ganden itself. However, most Tibetans recognise the Dalai Lama as an even higher being. Although he has no formal authority within the other Tibetan sects, since the "Dalai Lama" reincarnation is traced back only to Gedrubje, one of Je Tsongkhapa's direct disciples, he is widely regarded not only as the spiritual and political ruler of Tibet but as the supreme living incarnation of Buddha Avalokiteshvara (a.k.a. Chenrezig). In general, each Buddhist's highest authority is his or her own personal choice of Guru or Gurus.

Answer 2

Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) was the founder of Buddhism. He is not, however, holy. He was just a man who succeeded in finding the path to enlightenment. Holy implies a divine nature, Siddhartha the Buddha indicates that there is no need to believe in gods, accept "miracles, or any of the other trappings of religion.here is no single leader of Buddhism any more than there is a single leader of Christianity. Each sect and division has its own leader(s) who maintain the teachings of that particular group. Some, like the Dalai Lama who is the leader of religious officials of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism are well known. Others like Thích Nhất Hạnh a Buddhist monk, teacher, author, poet and peace activist now based in France are less well known.

Answer 3

In the same way that there are several sects in the Christian faith, each represented by their own leader, and each ignoring the leadership o other sects top representative (e.g. Baptists do no give any obedience to the Roman Catholic pope). Buddhists are divided into different sects each with their own leadership structure. There is no overall leader.

Answer 4

There is no single leader or central authority for Buddhism. Every sect or branch may have different leaders. It is very federated. Every monk who has been given transmission (they have received and understood enough of the religion to be able to speak authoritatively on Buddhism) can go off to somewhere else and start a temple and gather students. So, for example, The Dalia Lama is the head of one branch of Tibetan Buddhism.

Answer 5

Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha, was the originator of Buddhism, but he didn't start out to make a religion. He wanted to show people how to be happy and be content.

Here and now, there is no one leader of Buddhism. Unlike many Christian churches, in which there is a hierarchy of responsibility and control, Buddhism has no overall structure or central church. There are different Buddhist traditions, called lineages, such as Tibetan Buddhism, or Theravada Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, etc, but each lineage might or might not have a Lineage Master (like the Dalai Lama, who is the Lineage Master for the Gelug tradition of Tibetan Buddhism). To explain this you need to understand how Buddhism is taught.

Buddhist masters are monks who have learned the teachings sufficiently and has the ability to speak authoritatively about the teachings. They have received permission to do this from their master. This permission is called being given transmission. The monk could then go to another area, open a monastery and then teach others. If one of his monks then learns the teachings sufficiently, the new master could give transmission to his student, and the cycle continues. Please note that learning the teachings of the Buddha is not memorization, these masters must completely understand and be able to explain the teachings in their own words.

So, in conculsion, Buddhism has a very diffuse structure.

Answer 6

there is not one leader there is more then one there are a few of them

Answer 7

Buddhists have no leader

We all have Buddha nature within us

No leading, No following

Just being :-)

Answer 8

The Dalai Lama is the spiritual and political leader of Tibet. There are other sects of Buddhism...

Answer 9

will aitken