Forbidden Japan

• Shinto (indigenous shamanic animistic kami religion)
• Shapeshifting kami are not demon-monster yōkai
• Mahayana Buddhism in Japan
• Shingon Buddhism (Japanese Vajrayana)
• Nichiren Shōshū: way of devotion to other-power (tiriki)
• Zen Buddhism: the self-powered (jiriki) way

The three or four kinds of Buddhism

(The East Made Simple) Every major school (sect, tradition, yana or "vehicle") of Buddhism explained: What each one actually believes, teaches, and attempts to practice. The division is usually Theravada (10%) keeping as close as possible to the teachings of the historical Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama, Shakyamuni) versus all the others aligning with later interpretations, changes, watering down the message or changing it altogether to build a grand boat that calls itself the "Great Vehicle" or Mahayana (90%). But Vajrayana, a Himalayan (Bhutanese, Nepalese, Tibetan, Mongolian, Russian) school of Esoteric Buddhism, combining many occult Hindu practices (tantra, mantra, yoga, etc.) may also be distinguished or Japanese Zen (a combination of Taoism, Confucianism, Shinto, and Buddhism, but Japan prefers faith-based universalism, Nichiren Shōshū, like most of the rest of the world to pray and receive help from another-power to do all the heavy lifting to deliverance) even though all three are considered Mahayana sects.

• Tariki vs. jiriki: other-power or self-power?