[Buddha-l] a question

[Dante Rosati]

Let me try to articulate more clearly what I was really asking:

Leaving aside politics for a moment, Whitman represents to me an example of
saying "yes" to life. He celebrates humanity and the human condition,
singing about bodies, sex, work, nature, life in all its panoply. Buddhism,
as far as I can tell, only values human life as an opportunity to hear and
practice the dharma.

So I can imagine Buddha S. saying to Whitman (according to the attitude that
is prevelent in most of indo-tibetan buddhism, perhaps not so much in
far-eastern buddhism) "you think human bodies and human life is so great,
but you're just gonna get old, sick and die, so even though you think its
beautiful and you're happy about it, you're just fooling yourself. Get real
and realize all this is an illusion and suffering."

Perhaps a sambhogakaya Buddha might say "yes, all this is beautiful, but you
can have the good stuff without the old age, sickness and death if you can
attain rainbow body or powa chenpo so you can manifest freely without
limitations."

Perhaps the dharmakaya would say "yes Walt, you're right- its all perfect
just as it is."

Dante