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This turned out a lot longer than I anticipated, but it’s still rushed. I’ll edit the stuff later, I’m sure.

Theravada, Sanskrit for "Way of the Elders" I think.

The first form of Buddhism. They stick to the fundamentals, straight tripitika and dhammapada as previously mentioned, but I’m pretty sure they also have a few post-canonical sutras. Their goal is to reach a state of perfect peace where both aversion and desire are extinguished and they escape the cycle of death and rebirth. A person in such a state becomes an "Arhat".

Mahayana, Sanskrit for "Greater Vehicle".

Again as previously mentioned, where the defining characteristic of Theravada is one of wisdom, the mission statement of Mahayana is one of compassion. The goal is not just to become enlightened, but to be your own full and complete Buddha, to stay involved in the world and help others achieve enlightenment as a Bodhisattva. Many Mahayana practitioners point to the Buddha's dying words of (paraphrasing, maybe) "Become a lamp unto yourself" as a message to advance beyond the core teachings.

Theravada practitioners don't consider this heresy. They even consider the goal of becoming a Bodhisattva more noble than simple self-enlightenemt and that it could be achieveable. However, they state that only a few need to take this route. Also, the best way to lead others to peace is through example more than anything else.

A very important concept of Mahayana Buddhism is "upaya". A sanskrit word often translated as "skillful means", sometimes "liberative technique". Basically, it means that the five basic precepts, depending on the situation, can be broken if it's done in the name of compassion or with aim to create Bodhicitta, a state of mind where the target can develop thought conducive to enlightenment.

I think one of the key Sutras in Mahayana might be found in a section of the Lotus Sutra. A Bodhisattva (or was it the Buddha? I forget) was passing a burning house and saw children inside, playing, oblivious to the flames. He knew that if he told them there was a fire, there was a chance they wouldn't believe him. Instead, he said he had wonderful toys for them to play with. They immediately rushed out before the flames took the house down.

Clearly it's False Speech, but the ends justified the means. Theravada would probably excuse this breach of conduct, but are in general much less lenient. There’s a parable about a monk who, for some reason, had to break one precept. He chose to get drunk. When he was sleeping in a barn a goat woke him up, so he killed it, breaking the precept of ahimsa, or non-violence, then went and had sex with the daughter of his lodger, breaking the third precept concerning improper sexual relations, and so on.

Zen Buddhism.

Off-shoot of Mahayana, way I understand the origins in China with Ch'an Buddhism was a mix of Mahayana Buddhism and Taoism. The difference between Zen and standard Mahayana lies in what might be understood as, to draw a analogy to Christianity, Original Sin.

Most Buddhists believe that as they practice the doctrines of Buddhism and generate fruitful karma they build themselves up, spiritually, until they achieve nirvana. In their natural state, human beings are entirely entwined in samsara, the illusiory world.

In Zen Buddhism, you are already a Buddha underneath all the programming the world's wrapped you up in. You just don't know it yet. Practicing Buddhism through Zen is about revealing yourself (or lack of self, rather). This comes from the idea of the Tao, of inherent naturalness that gets smothered by societal norms, ideologies, language, and even senses and feelings.

Comes from Ch'an, or "Meditation" Buddhism in China, brought there from India by a prince named Bodhidharma. They focus less on Sutras and scriptures and more on, yep, meditation and what they call "mind-to-mind transmission" of doctrine from teacher to student.

Now, I'm not too sure if the two forms of Ch'an Buddhism, Northern and Southern, correlate respectively to Soto and Rinzai Zen Buddhism in Japan or if Soto and Rinzai Zen both come from Southern Ch'an Buddhism exclusively (I know Southern Ch'an became dominant over time since the split of Ch'an around the 730's), but I'll go ahead and see if I can talk about the different groups regardless of their origins.

Northern Ch'an Buddhism's a gradual enlightenment bunch. Slowly over time through self-reflection you achieve the goal of enlightenment. This is similar to Soto Zen, where Meditation or "Zazen" is a key practice.

Southern Ch'an Buddhism's about sudden enlightenment, or satori (Japanese term, dunno the Chinese for it). It focuses on mental and physical strain and discomfort to dislodge the ego or reveal the paradox and dependent causation of the physical world. This is where “kung-an” or, in Japanese, “koan” comes from. They serve as a verbal exercise that reveals the limitations of language and thought.

(I’m not sure if the Samurai were more based in Rinzai Zen or in Tendai Buddhism, the latter of which is a form of Mahayana Buddhism based almost solely on the Lotus Sutra and various interpretations of it by the founders and teachers. Lotus Sutra has a lot to do with the concept of Dependent Causation, which has to deal with how things, in being completely dependent and interconnected, are inherently empty and without essence. Very similar to Zen, actually.)

Pure Land (Ching-t’u)Buddhism

Where Ch’an and Zen was the form of Buddhism that intellectuals and monks took up, the lay people by and large followed this form. Not too dissimilar from Christianity, it talks about enlightenment only being attainable through complete surrender to the Buddha of Salvation or Light, known as Amitabha or Amita Buddha. Core sutra’s the Pure Land Scripture, but one can go to Heaven, the Buddha-world to the far west, simply by reciting the name of the Amita Buddha over and over. Reason why things are so simple in this religion has to do with the belief that teachings degenerate over time. Pure Land Buddhists believe humans and the teachings of the Buddha have degenerated so much by now that enlightenment is only attainable through grace and surrender.

Vajrayana Buddhism, Sanskrit for “Diamond Vehicle” or “Vehicle of the Thunderbolt”
Also Tantric Buddhism.

Imagine the three different big schools of Buddhism as three different plans for a person on one tall building’s rooftop to get on the rooftop of an adjacent tall building.

The Theravada Buddhist would say the best thing to do is take the stairs down, walk across the street, and climb the stairs up.

The Mahayana Buddhist would say the best thing to do is take the elevator down, walk across the street, and take the elevator up.

The Vajrayana Buddhist would say the best thing to do is back up, get a good running start, and jump from one rooftop to the other. Just make sure not to miss…

Basically, Vajrayana Buddhism considers itself the quickest and most dangerous path to nirvana. It places a very, very high value in the relationship between the teacher and the student. The student offers the teacher “body, speech and mind” in exchange for tutelage. After that, the student has to do whatever the teacher says. If the teacher says to eat fish guts, live in a hole, or even to chop off a finger, the student has to do it. The Story of Milarepa is a good book to read concerning this kind of relationship.

Tantra’s part of both Hindu and Buddhist teachings, but I’m not sure if the terminology of Right-handed and Left-handed or White and Red Tantra apply to Buddhism, or just to Hinduism. I’ll talk about them anyway.

Right-handed or White Tantra is the more mainstream of the two. Idea behind it boils down to viewing all things as unification between male and female, light and dark, that everything is a symbolic act of achieving a sort of monistic universality. In Hindu Tantric practices this relates to the kundaleen, where perfect posture and breathing opens up the charkas along your spine to allow Siva to move up your body to your mind, where Sakti waits. When they meet, it’s symbolic of the cosmos, in male and female form, entwining in your body and your being an internalization of all that is.

Left-handed or Red Tantra takes things a bit further. Their credo is “Turn and Face the Monster”. That means do inappropriate things and face the horrible side of yourself to see that there is, in fact, no duality between good and bad, there is only what is. (Or what isn’t. The largest difference between Hindu and Buddhist thought has to deal with whether the world is all secretly one-thing, “Atman”, or no-thing, “Sunyasa”) This is why the Tantric holy man will go into the graveyard and eat the left-over bones of cremated people to sanctify it. Other people would be ostracized for defiling himself and the procession during a funeral, but the Tantric lies outside of pure and impure, so he gets away with it. This idea of the illusiory seperate parts coming together to form the true union and oneness is also where all that sex-stuff comes into play.

(Most Tantric teachers don’t let Westerners practice this form of Tantra, mainly because we’ve been raised in a society that focuses on the form of the person, rather than the person him or herself, thereby not allowing us to connect with anything beyond the aggregates or gunas.)

Offshoot of this in Japan’s called Shingon. Don’t know too much about it. Was a rival of the Tendai school. The Tendai school was very austere and very ascetic where the Shingon school's very esoteric. Mostly appealed to artists and court nobility.

Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Vajrayana Buddhism that has at its root the Sand Mandala, where they symbolically create the Kalachakra (translated as both “Wheel of Time” and “Wheel of Death”) and then destroy it.

The reason why Vajrayana Buddhism is viewed as dangerous has to deal with the concern that you’ll mistake the means for the end. When you cross a river with a boat, you don’t then try to carry the boat on your back. This can become very destructive when the means involve sex, violence, anger, dazzling idols, and the like, and those things can be a big part of this school.

I’m burnt out. Hope this is helpful.

Edited a little.

Some folks asked about Nichiren Buddhism. I'll let Wikipedia explain it:

"Nichiren Buddhism is a branch of Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th century Buddhist monk named Nichiren.

In his priestly studies, Nichiren discovered that the highest teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha (563?-483?BC) were to be found in the Lotus Sutra. The mantra he expounded, "Namu Myoho Renge Kyo," expresses his devotion to that body of teachings, and is chanted by his followers to this day.

In his life he stridently believed that the contemporary teachings of Buddhism taught by other sects (such as Zen) were mistaken in their interpretations of the correct path to enlightenment and therefore refuted them publicly and vociferously. In doing so, he provoked the ire of the ruling Japanese feudal lords, and was subjected to exiles and persecutions for his propagation efforts.

His personal communications and writings to his followers (called "Honorable Writings," or "Gosho") detail his view of the correct form of practice for the "Latter Day of the Law" (mappo), and many are preserved to this day.

In marked contrast to other Buddhist schools, Nichiren Buddhists believe that personal enlightenment can be reached in a single lifetime. Central to their practice of "Daimoku" is the repeated recitation of the phrase, "Namu Myoho Renge Kyo", often transliterated as "Nam Myoho Renge Kyo."

Today, Nichiren Buddhism is not a single school or sect. It is manifested in several different branches. Some of the larger examples of schools based on Nichiren's teachings are the Nichiren Shu, Nichiren Shoshu and Soka Gakkai schools."

source: Wikipedia's article on Nichiren Buddhism

In general (and to my understanding), the Theravada relies solely on the Pali Canon and closely related scriptures. Emphasis is on analytic (Insight) meditation, study of the scriptures, and personal conduct based on the monastic precepts; the ultimate goal is to become an Arhat who is no longer subject to the afflicted emotions (kleshas). Whether or not an Arhat is equivalent to an actual Buddha seems to vary according to the authority, but apparently the old Theravadans thought that complete enlightenment like that of Buddha Gautama was beyond them.

The many Mahayana sects rely on the Pali Canon fundamentals along with a wide selection of further scriptures that often have a stronger supernaturalistic (though generally metaphorical) feel than the Theravada texts. Unique characteristics of the Mahayana include greater emphasis in the role of Compassion in one's quest for Complete Enlightenment, the central role of Bodhisattvas (Enlightenment Beings or Buddhas-to-Be) in helping countless sentient beings advance in Buddhism, and a greater spiritual role given to the laity (everyday people) in Buddhist society. The term Mahayana ("Greater Vehicle") is contrasted with Hinayana ("Lesser Vehicle" of the Theravada and similar sects) because individual Mahayana practice is said to carry many beings to enlightenment while the Hinayanists only practice for themselves. Everyday living, if practiced mindfully and with the ultimate goal of Buddhahood, is not seen as a great obstacle to religious practice as it is to the more-monkish Hinayana/Southern School sects.

The Mahayana sects also tend to ascribe to comparatively-advanced philosophical schools such as Middle Way (Madyhamika) and Consciousness-Only (Cittamatra and Yogacara). The texts I've read say that the non-Mahayana practitioners gravitate toward the philosophical views that "real indivisible particles/atoms exist," which is refuted by the later schools.

That's hard to say. While there certainly isn't any reason to conform doctrinally to a sect if one hasn't been ordained, it is generally thought that it is best to keep to a single system of thought and practice for consistency.

Keep in mind that many of the major sects are defined in broad terms to begin with, so aligning with most of them shouldn't be difficult even if you have different views on some subjects. For instance, Tibetan Buddhism includes a wide variety of practices and philosophies in its scope and, in its totality, Zen Buddhism has a greater diversity of sects than often acknowledged (probably due to the current prestige of the main Japanese Zen sects over the Chinese and Korean ones).

The "big question" is probably whether you gravitate towards "Hinayana" or "Mahayana" views, with issues of exact agreement of views with those of the other sects being secondary. Reading a variety of books from different Buddhist traditions should help develop your views, but keep in mind that the many Mahayana sources will argue against the practice of Hinayana/Theravada (though the general argument is that the Hinayana views are of value but don't "go all the way" like the Mahayana teachings).

Oh, yes. Yes there are. Let's see...

Perhaps the simplest way I can do a really quick outline of the different common schools is through Wiki. Try this. It's well sourced, for the most part, and will give you a pretty good idea of the different schools of Zen.

"This was in Japan, and I was not trying to be harsh or mean, this is just what I was taught, I never really looked at Zen Buddhism, But I trust what the Sanga told me, I am sorry if it is not what you wanted to know".