仏教 bukkyō Buddhism

仏教 is Buddhism, the teaching of the Buddha. 仏 is the everyday shape of the character 佛, so 仏教 is the word as Japan writes it today.

The Japanese word 仏教 meaning "Buddhism" is composed of the kanji 仏 (read butsu) meaning "Buddha" and 教 (read kyō) meaning "teaching; doctrine". Together they are read bukkyō, because the sounds change where the characters meet: 仏 butsu shortens to a doubled k before 教.

佛 is the form of the sutras and of the Kangxi dictionary, the form printed in Japan until 1949 and the only form written across the Chinese-reading world; 佛教大学 and 本門佛立宗 keep it in their names. A piece in 佛教 says this is the word as the canon writes it, and it reads to every Buddhist who reads Chinese. Neither form is an error. The choice is register: the canon's form here, the living Japanese form above.

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