[Buddha-l] What's wrong with a little Dharma?

[Richard P Hayes]

Bernie Simon wrote:

 
> I 
>remember when I was in the hospital with appendicitis. I had declared 
>myself a Buddhist on check in and the Baptist minister who came in to 
>minister to my room mate gave me the strangest look, half way between 
>revulsion and incomprehension. 

The only time I have encountered such a reaction was when I tried to 
indicate my religion as Buddhism on a form being submitted to the 
Japanese government. The official who read the form erased my answer 
and replaced it with "Christian". The explanation given to me was that 
in Japan it is better to be what people expect one to be. Gaijin are 
Christians. It's really pretty simple when you get the hang of the 
logic.

Now that I think of it, I also got a pretty suspicious response when I 
entered Israel as Buddhist.

I've just given two explanations for why I hate to travel. I don't even 
like going to Texas or Arizona much.