Hinayana

A much lesser practiced and almost dropped type of Buddhism would be Hinayana. Hinayana Buddhism is alike of Therevada in the terms it is a non-Mahayana type Buddhism. That means its goal were to attain the state of Arhat, or achieved Nirvana, unlike Mahayana Buddhism’s goal of becoming a bodhisattvas and help those who are suffering. Hinayana was sometimes used to refer to those who only practiced Buddhism to acquire personal liberation instead of helping other people as well. Therefore, Hinayana was almost a negative term to those who do not follow Mahayana. Today, there is no existence of actual Hinayana practice anywhere.

Zen

Ch’an Buddhism, of China, and Zen Buddhism, of Japan, are like no other type of Buddhism. They are without question, the two most mysterious types of Buddhism available today. The words Zen and Ch’an can be traced back to Sanskrit of India, meaning “meditation.” As “meditation” being their names, they focus on none other than meditation itself. This rare focus of Buddhism was started by a monk who emphasized more on meditation than the others did. His name was Bodhidharma. He traveled to China to in the sixth century and carried this tradition with him. It became known as Ch’an in China and Zen in Japan. Zen even became popular in the Western world because of its versatility on everyday life. To practice Zen is not just to meditate as many assume, but you can achieve enlightenment during your everyday life. In order to do this, you must bring the same clearly focused attention during meditation into your everyday tasks.