After the Buddha's death at the age of 80, Buddhism eventually split into two main lines, those who strictly followed his teachings, the Theravada or Hinayana school of Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, and those who allowed new interpretations, the Mahayana Buddhists of China, Japan, Korea, Tibet, India, and Nepal.
Buddhism split in two categories of adepts, those who followed Buddha's teachings and those who allowed new interpretations.