Spending 5 years in Thailand I've learned that Buddhism while funamentally different from other religions in the best ways operates just the same in practical reality. It's almost like classification and status is inherit to any group activity and not in a good way unfortunately.

To give perspective on the "dark" side of Buddhism I highly recommend "Come and See" documentary on Netflix which is hard to explain without spoilers but it's a great illustration of how everything evolves into a crab eventually.