Main traditions

The most common way scholars categorize Buddhist schools follows the major languages of the extant Buddhist canons, which exist in Pāli, Tibetan (also found in Mongolian translation) and Chinese collections, along with some texts that still exist in Sanskrit and Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit. This is a useful division for practical purposes, but does not necessarily correspond to philosophical or doctrinal divisions since, despite the differences, there are common threads to almost all Buddhist branches:

• All accept the Buddha as their teacher.
• All accept the Middle Way, Dependent origination, the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, in theory, though in practice these have little or no importance in some traditions.
• All accept that both the members of the laity and of the Sangha can pursue the path toward enlightenment ( bodhi).
• All consider Buddhahood to be the highest attainment; however Theravada consider the Nibbana attained by Arahants as identical to that attained by the Buddha himself, as there is only one type of Nibbana. According to Theravada, a Buddha is someone that had discovered the path all by himself and taught it to others.