[Buddha-l] Re: Silence, conservatism and JPII

[Richard P. Hayes]

On Thu, 2005-04-07 at 12:46 -0400, Stanley J. Ziobro II wrote:

> Sure, Richard, I'm always open to greater cognative horizons.

And I'm always open to alternative spellings.

> But note that I asked Timothy if the Pope's advocacy of an economic
> structure or system other than American-style capitalism, one that is
> usually associated with a "liberal" ethos, would not make the Pope a
> liberal, since, on his count, identity is based on action?  OF course
> it would, and of course, it would lend weight to your contention.

I have never known anyone who could not be described as both liberal and
conservative, at least in some respects. So unless these labels are used
with considerable qualification, they communicate little information and
often communicate quite a bit of misinformation. The late pope, like
most people of substance, is an excellent example of someone who was
liberal in some respects by some understandings of liberalism and
conservative in other respects by some understandings of conservatism.
Like most people who are liberal in some respects and conservative in
others, the late pontiff no doubt managed to be liberal in areas in
which many would have preferred him to be more conservative and vice
versa. Many Buddhists, for example, might have liked him to show just a
little more charity in his interpretation of Buddhism, but I suppose
it's really note the pope's job to give reasonably accurate descriptions
of Buddhism.

One of the finest books on Buddhism I have ever had the pleasure of
reading, incidentally, was published by the Vatican a couple of decades
ago. It was written by Monsignor Etienne Lamotte, who was considerably
better than John Paul II and his friend Ratzinger at characterizing
Buddhism in ways that most Buddhists would recognize as their religion.
I guess you could say that Lamotte's depiction was quite conservative
and that it avoided the ridiculously liberal interpretations (such as
the famous "buddhism as auto-eroticism" gambit) offered by some of the
cardinals.

-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico