[Buddha-l] Silence ?

[Richard P. Hayes]

On Tue, 2005-04-05 at 02:43 +0100, Stephen Hodge wrote:

> I have not had any msgs from Buddha-L for the past couple of days -- does 
> this indicate that the entire group is observing total silence out of 
> respect for the Pontiff's death ?

No, we were just waiting to here from you, Stephen.

Recent events provoked a memory of a Buddhist conference I attended in
1986 at which Ven. Mahaghosananda was one of the many speakers. The
person who introduced this distinguished monk told of the time when he
had headed a delegation of Cambodian bhikkhus who had gained audience
with Pope John-Paul II. The bhikkus were instructed to walk very slowly
toward the Pope and to stop at a respectful distance and then to kiss
his papal ring when it was offered. Ven. Mahaghosananda listed carefully
to the instructions and was then taken into the room to meet the Pope.
The bhikkhu took a couple of slow steps, and then he ran across the
stage and gave the Pope a big hug. Witnesses saw tears came to the eyes
of both men.

The audience at the conference where this story was told burst into
laughter as everyone imagined this diminutive Asian monk in the
capacious embrace of the Polish pontiff. And then Ven. Mahaghosananda
beamed at us and said "Yes! I gave the Pope a hug, and then the Pope
gave us $50,000."

That story has always warmed my heart, because it shows two men great
enough to ignore the stifling protocols governing their meeting, and
because it shows a Pope magnanimous enough to make the gesture of giving
Church money to the bhikkhu-sangha.

My fear (a realistic one, I suspect) is that the next pope will be just
as relentlessly conservative as Pope John-Paul II but with only a
fraction of the charm and humanity. The Kali yuga moves apace.

-- 
Richard Hayes
***
"Books are useless to us until our inner book opens; then all other
books are good so far as they confirm our book."
        (Swami Vivekananda)