[Buddha-l] Will new the pope verify Buddhist doctrine?

[Mike Austin]

In message <1114099888.6635.36.camel at localhost.localdomain>, Richard P. 
Hayes <rhayes at unm.edu> writes

>During the past several days I have been reading all manner of
>interesting quotes gleaned from the writings and talks of Cardinal
>Ratzinger. A few years back he entertained all of us here on buddha-l
>with his famous caricature of Buddhism as a form of autoeroticism.

When he referred to meditation as 'spiritual autoeroticism', a colleague 
of mine thought he was being called a Buddhist wanker. Ratzinger's words 
were humorous, but I also heard a useful warning. It is so easy to enjoy 
myself in my meditation - and do nothing else. It is also so easy for me 
to convince myself that I am doing something else - something worthwhile 
and meritorious - and simply wallow in the nice feeling the idea brings. 
Ratzinger has certainly encouraged me to check this a bit more avidly.

-- 
Metta
Mike Austin