[Buddha-l] Anomalous doctrines [Lusthaus III]

[Dan Lusthaus]

Dear Stephen (sorry for mis-typing your name previously),

Let me throw one more ingredient into the mix. Zalman Schachter once told a
parable, possibly derived from a Hasidic story, but I don't remember him
offering a source for it. It bears on this discussion.

Imagine I work hard and am very successful, amassing a great deal of wealth
and possessions. Now I know I am nearing death, and I also know that at a
certain time, in a certain future century, I will be reborn as so-and-so.
I've worked hard this life, and don't want to have to do that all over
again, so I'd like to make everything I've amassed this time available to
myself that time. What would be the best way to guarantee that it will be
there waiting for me when I return? Place it in a trust for so-and-so and
find the most conservative bankers to guard and preserve it. Since they are
conservative, they won't play with it, get too clever, change too much, etc.
Hence, when I come back, it will all be there. Once I'm back, it's all mine
to play with, invest, and use any new way I see fit.

That's how traditions work. The conservatives preserve the elements -- they
may not be innovative with it, or even understand it, but they keep the
pieces in place. When a reformer comes along, he has all the stuff preserved
and ready for some serious new directions.

The Theravadas were the conservatives of the early period. Were they saving
the teachings for Nagarjuna or some marginal group that introduced the MPNS?

Dan Lusthaus