What accounts for the remarkable range of practices described as "Buddhist"?

The diversity and range of Buddhist practices and rituals that exists among the members of different Buddhist communities are quite remarkable. This diversity can have two main reasons. One is the flexibility of the Buddha's teachings. The Buddha had the ability to adapt his message to the situation in order to teach what was appropriate for a particular disciple. He also left his teachings (dharma) as his successor. One cannot help but wonder how his flexible style of teaching could be transmitted from one generation to the other. If adopted by the Buddha's followers, could this flexible style of teaching gradually change the true content of the Buddha's teachings? The Lotus Sutra was the first original Buddhist text that I read. I have studied Buddhism in my other courses but I just scratched my head after each story without knowing what exactly its point was. These short stories are related by the Buddha's disciples and can have many different meanings. TheBuddha's teachings were written down by his disciples centuries after he passed away. These texts, however, were accepted by the devoted Buddhists as sutras (as teachings attributed to the Buddha). But, how much of these sutras are actual teachings of the Buddha? And do we have a way of verifying this?

The other thing that can account for the remarkable range of practices described as "Buddhist" is the fact that Buddhism spread beyond the boundaries of its native culture (India). Buddhism was introduced to China via the Silk Road. It also spread to Japan, Korea, Tibet, Mongolia and many other countries. Each of these countries then adapted Buddhism to their own culture and made it distinctively their own. During this period of adaptation, not only local deities were incorporated into the Buddhist pantheon but also they were influenced by the Buddhist pantheon. As a result of this interchange of cultures, new Buddhist schools, practices, and rituals developed that differed from the Indian Buddhism. Despite all this, however, there is evidence of often surprising similarities between practices of these Buddhist cultures widely separated by topography and history. How can this be? How can the Buddha's teachings not be affected first by the oral transmission and then by the customs of the new communities that adopted Buddhism. One cannot help but wonder is it possible that the Buddha did not aim to teach a fixed set of ideas but a way of life (an aspiration to seek and discover liberation) that could survive the influence of time and other cultures. One thing is clear and that is Buddhism has changed and evolved according to the needs and demands of the communities that adopted it but its essence seems to be unaffected.