[Buddha-l] angels

[Gad Horowitz]

perhaps God COMMANDEDthe Buddha to teach and the Buddha accepted this as his
OBLIGATION.  This is the burden of a Levinasian critique/contribution to
Buddhism that I wrote a few years ago titled "Emmanuel, Robert".  (Robert is
Robert Magliola, author of Derrida on the Mend, an exCatholic Buddhist
deconstructionist who teaches in Hong Kong.)



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "r.g.morrison" <sgrmti at hotmail.com>
To: "Buddhist discussion forum" <buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 2:58 AM
Subject: Re: [Buddha-l] angels


> Piya writes:
>
>
> >
> Brahma Sahampati has been somewhat maligned due to lack of focussed study.
> Actually he is a non-returner from the time of Kassapa Buddha. In other
> words,
> he is a arya (saint of the path).
>
> As such, his invitation to get the Buddha to teach is not suprising. Even
if
> this is only Buddhist mythology.
> <
>
> Can you point me to where this 'focussed study' is to be focussed.  There
is
> no mention in the Pali suttas of old Brahma Sahampati being a
non-returner.
> It seems more likely to me that it is this 'fact' that belongs to (later)
> Buddhist mythology, the sort created by later commentators.  Just as the
> later brahmanical Puranic tradition tried to incorporate the Buddha into
> their fold, making him an avatara of Visnu, so these later Buddhists try
and
> incorporate Brahma Sahampati into their fold by making him a Buddhist!
Just
> the usual Indian eclectism.  If I had to give a lecture where there were
> some Christian fundamentalists present, I used to tell them that to get
the
> full import of this episide they have to imagine their god going down on
one
> knee, with hands raised in supplication, pleading with the Buddha to
teach,
> otherwise the light of wisdom will vanish from the world.  I think that
this
> is more the message of this sutta.
>
> Maitrti,
>
> Robert Morrison
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