[Buddha-l] A ltter concerning toleration

[Richard Hayes]

Denizens of buddha-l,

The following letter has been sent to the chair of my 
department. Perhaps others of you would like to join our 
friend in discussing my qualifications. Otherwise, enjoy 
the letter as an interesting sign of our times.

Cordinally (and moderately) yours,
Richard Hayes

\begin{letter}
Mr../Prof Goodman,
  
    My name is Mr. Lane and I am a member of of list 
called Buddha-L. I am writing about the outrageous 
behavior of Richard Hayes. He constantly posts rabidly 
anti-American posts, anti-Christian and if you believe Dan 
Lusthaus anti-Jewish. He has called Dan Lusthaus a war 
mongering pinhead. His anti-Americanism is not loyal 
opposition but outright treason. He blamed the U.S. for 
Sept 11 justifying the attacks as the result justifiable 
anger. He has said it is the U.S. that is the cause of all 
the trouble in the world "as we are the oppressors". He 
seemed to anticipate happily the fall of the U.S. yet we 
never hear a peep out of him about the evils that occur in 
the P.R.C or the Islamic counties.

    Mr.. Hayes constantly belittles Buddhist sutras he 
does not agree with (the Lotus Sutra) and feels it is O.K. 
He has ridiculed the Hua-Yen and T'ien T'ai which many 
people feel are the highest level of Buddhist thought. Mr. 
Hayes feels it is totally appropriate to slander any 
religious doctrine he does not agree with or understand 
but when somebody posts something contrary to his beliefs 
he either blocks it or responds with a personal attack.
  
    Mr. Hayes is a translator but fancies himself a 
Buddhist scholar. From what I have seen he has yet to 
understand one Mahayana doctrine which in and of itself is 
no crime, however given the Mahayana and its non-dualist 
doctrines are religious beliefs of millions I do not not 
see any difference between his mocking non-dualism and 
anybody slandering Christianity. Judaism or Islam. Mr. 
Hayes has no clue of the difference between monism and 
non-dualism but I understand that you will be letting him 
teach a course on Hui-Neng and the Platform Sutra, is that 
true? If so you might as well let him teach a course in 
quantum mechanics as his understanding of the two is about 
the same. (Incidentally Hayes went through a whole tirade 
about relating quantum mechanics and Buddhism only later 
to admit he knows nothing about QM at all). This of course 
is classic Hayes M.O. try and ridicule anything he is 
incapable of understanding. Yes I have personally attacked 
him on Buddha-L as he has attacked me. Apparently he 
thinks the latter is fine but not the former.
  
   Mr. Hayes is a self professed former Communist (I have 
grave doubts about the former part - I believe in one of 
his recent e-mails he described himself as a Marxist 
Quaker). I don't believe Communists or former Communists 
should be teaching young people in this country any more 
than I would accept a Nazi or former Nazi teaching 
teaching them. After all we are talking about a party that 
has slaughtered over 100 million people in the twentieth 
century. I wonder who his role model is Stalin, Mao or Pol 
Pot.
  
     Despite all of this I still would not be writing 
about Hayes if he believed in free speech but of course 
what (former) Communist does. To that end I am asking for 
the names of all of your superiors in the university, the 
state government and any persons important in private 
funding of the university so that I may forward them his 
outrageous e-mails. I think we should see if these people 
agree with my opinion that (former) Communists should not 
be teaching young people. Mr. Hayes will of course deny 
all of the above but remind him that I have all Buddha-L 
e-mails going back to 1998 backed up in three different 
places.
  
  Sincerely yours,
  Mr. Lane
\end{letter}