Buddhism, as it is practiced throughout the world
Buddhism, as it is practiced throughout the world, has long included a broad range of such varied religious performances as tree and serpent worship, astrology, divination, thaumaturgy, spell-chanting, exorcism, and later tantric rituals and ceremonies, and the like. Many of these cultic practices appear to be at odds with some of the lofty spiritual ideals described in selected scriptures. Orientalist scholars of the nineteenth century opined that the original teachings of the Buddha had been tarnished by accretions from local cultic observances. Hence, from almost its very inception, the study of Buddhism in the West has been hindered by presuppositions due to reliance upon selected canonical sources. Rather than letting the varied literary and archeological materials speak for themselves, "authentic" Buddhism has been restricted to a narrow, catholic interpretation as a purely atheistic, ascetic religion not interested in the manipulation and propitiation of gods and spirits.