[Buddha-l] Nirvana
Joy Vriens
joy.vriens at nerim.net
Wed Sep 28 10:18:17 MDT 2005
curt wrote:
> Has anyone besides modern western scholars ever "discovered"
> the "primitive" versus "systematised" distinction asserted here?
> Although one might detect an obvious implication by my question -
> it is nevertheless intended as a serious question - not merely to
> make a point.
I expect it is easier for outsiders to discover a family myth than for
the members of that specific family. I personally love reading books by
dead western catholic scholars on Buddhism (Sénart, La Vallée Poussin,
Lamotte), because they look at with a distance, sometimes with a little
condescension, but often with great integrity, which I appreciate
(Sénart's writing style is excellent, LVP is deliciously ironic and
sarcastic at wish and Lamotte is very rigourous).
François Jullien, a French specialist in Chinese philosphy, declared he
first started studying Chinese langage and philosophy in order to gain
another perspective, because it was so different and he expected it
would give him new ways of looking at western philosophy, which he said
it did. It quite often happens that westerners who convert to an exotic
religion, later gain new interest in their original religion, because
they can see it with different eyes.
So I wouldn't consider these "discoveries" as a threat but rather as an
opportunity for personal enrichment.
Joy
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