[Buddha-l] Re: H.H. The Dalai Lama vs Geshe Michael

[Richard Hayes]

On Sunday 20 August 2006 03:22, Nichts wrote:

> When teaching turns
> into preaching even the proclamation of right speech, right
> action etc. can be an act of aggression.

This is something that Western Buddhists, most of whom come from 
cultures in which fault-finding is highly prized (or at least 
routinely practiced), would do well to think about on a daily 
basis. 

Western Buddhists seem to be very eager to quote the Buddha's 
observation that one can dismantle the raft when one gets to the 
further shore. I suspect the reason we are so fond of this quote is 
that we take it to mean that we can take apart the rafts and use 
the wood to make clubs with which to beat others who do not meet 
our expectations. And why wait until we get to the further shore? 
We can start beating each other up right now!

-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico