A men's Shangri-La Buddhism originated in India and later divided into three strands: One traveled south to southern India, Sri Lanka, Burma and Thailand where it became Theravadin Buddhism; another strand went northward to Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan where it became Tibetan Buddhism; that strand which ventured northeast to China, and thence to Japan, Korea and Taiwan became Chinese Buddhism.
佛教發源於印度，之後分成三路；一路向南走，包括印度南方、斯里蘭卡、緬甸、泰國等，稱為南傳佛教。一路往北走，到了西藏、尼泊爾、不丹，稱為藏傳佛教。另一路則是向東傳到中國，再到日本、韓國、台灣的漢傳佛教。