[Buddha-l] Re: Diversions, distractions and off-topic discussions

[jkirk]

> Maybe I am wrong, but the following quote is one of many on the subject. I 
> make the assumption that the essence of this applies to lay people:
>
> From AN X69 Kathavatthu Sutta (Topics of Conversation)
>
> "It isn't right, monks, that sons of good families, on having gone forth 
> out of faith from home to the homeless life, should get engaged in such 
> topics of conversation, i.e., conversation about kings, robbers, & 
> ministers of state... talk of whether things exist or not.
>
> "There are these ten topics of [proper] conversation. Which ten? Talk on 
> modesty, on contentment, on seclusion, on non-entanglement, on arousing 
> persistence, on virtue, on concentration, on discernment, on release, and 
> on the knowledge & vision of release. These are the ten topics of 
> conversation. If you were to engage repeatedly in these ten topics of 
> conversation, you would outshine even the sun & moon, so mighty, so 
> powerful -- to say nothing of the wanderers of other sects."
>
> -- 
> Metta
> Mike Austin
======================
Like much found in ancient scriptures, what is said can be contextualized 
and then a slightly different reading appears. The Buddha and his sangha did 
not live in democratic societies with civil rights, they lived in kingships 
and were dependent on kings from time to time for protection, alms, public 
support, donations of land for monasteries, and so on. Kings in those days 
maintained spies, and my guess is that it was dangerous to criticize the 
monarch, even as today in Thailand, in a sort of democratic kingdom where 
the King's public persona and roles are modeled on Brahmanic patterns of 
yore,  if one criticizes the King, one is subject to the death penalty. 
Thus, it behooved the monks and their leaders to mind their own business and 
concentrate on the vinaya. In those days, the idea that public comment and 
or participation (demonstrations?) could affect politics was unthinkable. 
Times have changed, and to my mind the sutta quoted here is mainly 
applicable to monastics, although it is also good advice in some 
contemporary contexts as well.
Joanna