[Buddha-l] Re: Of Buddha, Miracles, and Ferry Rides

[Joy Vriens]

Richard wrote:

>>I don't know how one can conclude from a series of essays that someone 
>>lacks "compassion and understanding for one’s fellow humans and their 
>>frailties". And I am astonished, though not excessively, that a well 
>>schooled Westerner, and a practising Buddhist at that, can feel angry 
>>and desperate when reading an essay.

> Perhaps he did not feel angry at all. After all, if he missed the mark
> in attributing anger and lack of compassion to me, you may be missing
> the mark in attributing the same things to him.

I admit I am totally lost.

Your only purpose was to think about things by writing about them and 
you did so and the subtitle of the book is "reflections of a sceptical 
Buddhist". Vladimir expected a different sort of book ("a critique of 
Buddhism's engagement with the West") "from a professor of Buddhist 
studies at a respected tertiary institution".

He writes:
"One of the reasons I question why these essays were published in book 
form is that Hayes himself confirms that his viewpoints have generally 
changed and he goes on to state that “even when my views have remained 
more or less as they were, I would now strive to find different ways of 
expressing them.” (p.2) If this is so, then what is the purpose of 
publishing these essays? Either Hayes believes they are valuable enough 
to the reader to purchase and spend time reading them or they should be 
immortalized in book form for the wisdom they contain."

Richard writes himself in the preface:

"...that the collection of essays chronicle a stage in my own 
development as a Buddhist, and that many other Western Buddhists have 
gone through, or are now going through, a similar stage of development."

and elsewhere:

"The entire collection of twelve essays, then, can be seen as part of a 
work in progress, namely, the work of one Western Buddhist trying to 
come to terms with both being Western and being Buddhist."

Reviewing the book as a "critique of Buddhism's engagement with the West 
from a professor of Buddhist studies at a respected tertiary 
institution" is perhaps to miss the mark.

I myself am a bad Buddhist in that I believe in stages of development 
only. One stage is not necessarily higher or better than another. I 
don't believe I am working my way up to an ultimate truth on whatever 
matter. Therefore I don't see a problem in publishing viewpoints that 
may have changed since they were first thought or written. I have the 
impression that too many books on Buddhism in the West are still written 
with the objective to try and convey whatever is "Buddhism" to a Western 
audience. The risk with books like that is that both those writing and 
reading them think in terms of a well defined and delimited Buddhism. 
Many of hese books, including those written by professors of Buddhist 
studies at respected tertiary institutions, are still very necessary, 
but that shouldn't stop others from already expressing how Western 
Buddhists try to come to terms with Buddhism, fitting it into their 
Western lives or building their Western lifestyle around Buddhism.

And when Vlad writes "In much of the book the critique falls much more 
on Western culture than on Buddhism or its involvement in Western 
society." it doesn't matter on what the critique falls, as long as it is 
about the meeting of the West and Buddhism. One can look at the West 
through Buddhist eyes or at Buddhism through Western eyes.

Richard wrote: "It is hoped that the autobiographical material will not 
be obtrusive but will be heard as just one more indistinguishable voice 
in the choir made up of those who have watched in dismay as the human 
race has accelerated the destruction of an entire planet through 
individual and collective forms of greed, through ideological blindness, 
through national and ethnic arrogance and individualistic complacency, 
and through a genetic and inescapable short-sightedness that predisposes 
all of us to experience the vast problems of life as a series of 
stereotypical images to which we can only react by gluing stickers on 
the bumpers of our cars, croaking shallow slogans, and raising our fists 
against the many demons that we ourselves invent to blame for all that 
goes wrong. (p.10)"

There is not a single sanskrit word in the sentence, but I can see a 
Buddhist critique of the West in it. No more anger and bile than in the 
average good old church sermon :-) This is a general speaking to his 
troops before the battle, a coach boosting his team before a match etc.

I find Vlad's review misses the mark almost completely and that's why I 
wondered why you wrote you were inclined to agree with about much of the 
criticisms expressed in it.

Joy