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

[jkirk]

Richard Hayes wrote:
>
> What I hear is a continuation of a very old and persistent way of
> characterizing Buddhism as a form of narcissism, a preoccupation with
> nothing but one's own well-being. ........ But
> whether one is a complete secularist or a doctrinaire Christian, one can
> find plenty of references in Western literature to Buddhism as a
> hopeless, pessimistic, narcissistic, weak-minded, hedonistic enterprise.
> That view seems to have prevailed in the 19th century, but it has by no
> means died out.
========================
I'm just trying to think this one over. Having done some, it occurs to me
that
so-called western Buddhism does not make a big play of organizing charities,
women shelters, homeless programs, orphanages, etc. and then raising money
for them, as the other religions do.
The various Asian immigrant groups still do this, far as I can tell, even
though
they are here and not over there. And then there is the Dalai Lama's big
organization always raising funds to save Tibetan culture and monastics
outside
Tibet. In the USA, charitable organizations are one obvious and almost
required
means of justifying membership in a religious group, or one that is
perceived
as such. Perhaps this is why Buddhists continue to attract such charges.
(Unless
I've missed a big bunch of Buddhist charities in these here states. I can't
speak
for the EU.)
Joanna