Buddhism in the Philippines conducted by Philip Maise has included the discovery of giant sculptures, has also discovered what he believes to be cave paintings within the burial chambers in the caves depicting the Journey to the West. Estimates of the Buddhist population of the Philippines is at 2%. Several schools of Buddhism are present in the Philippines. There are Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhist temples as well as Theravada followers, lay organizations, meditation centers and groups, such as Pure Land Buddhism, Soka Gakkai International which is an international Nichiren Buddhist organization founded in Japan. The Maha Bodhi Society's Zen circle was founded in October
Faith in Buddhism not exist in Buddhism. However, worship of deities has often been considered a form of superstition or a form of skillful means to guide the unenlightened to a better life, and not much more than that. In the history of the diffusion of Buddhism, the relation between Buddhism and local deities was an important aspect of success, but Buddhists have often denied this because of local movements for orthodoxy. Furthermore, scholars have paid little interest to the role of local deities, since it is not covered by any of the standard academic disciplines studying Buddhism, such as Buddhist studies or