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any belief system can be used for personal enlightenment as well as for control and power. In other words, gullible, weak minded people are everywhere as are the unscrupulous who thirst for power.
Buddha insisted that people not "listen" to him and blindly follow what he said. He encouraged people to do the experiment, ask questions, and make their own choices. There isn't any core dogma within Buddhism, just a set of principles that you can use to help guide you life. Enlightenment isn't a destination, it is a journey. The point is not perfection but just to get a little more free from suffering, and in the meantime, hopefully helping your fellow travelers do the same. There is no right or wrong.
The cults are an extraordinary perversion of Buddhism and are that in name only. Christians claim the same about cult associated with their religion. But in the bible there is a lot of killing and destruction to hang your cult hat on. In Buddhism you have to stretch pretty far to go there...but people will do just about anything.
There is extremism everywhere in life. Even some of the non-cult Buddhist go a bit far for my taste (eg the famous Vietnam photo of the monks self-immolating), but that is their path.
And Gaijin, I assume your exposure to Buddhism was in Japan? Well, as you know Japan has some culture issues (especially to a Westerner) so take some of that with a grain of salt. Some sects of Zen I could never do...
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