That was a pain to read. It's like an overview of software written by a psychologist who argues that curly braces cause depression. If you want to understand b

That was a pain to read. It's like an overview of software written by a psychologist who argues that curly braces cause depression. If you want to understand buddhism, learn its history, its relationship with Bon, learn how it advanced from India to Tibet and China, read the debate between Kamalashila and Hashang, and learn about the three branches of buddhism: sutra, tantra and dzogchen. All buddhists have the same goal: understand what the true reality is, but their methods differ. When you hear about ascetic monks - these are mostly caricature western views on the sutra followers, they indeed have many rules that they follow religiously. Tantrics believe that working with energy is a better way, so they have elaborate rituals, they use emotions and other forms of energy, and they aren't shy of sex; quite the opposite: many lose control and slip into black magic. Dzogchen followers take the steepest direct path, and reach the top "within one life within one body"; the famous matrix movie, even though a caricature, captured many dzogchen ideas right: by observing your perception carefully, with utmost attention and presence, you'll notice something, and by completing treg-chod and thod-gal practices, you'll reach direct perception in one life.