[Buddha-l] Fw: [RISA-L] Buddhist Story: Source?

[Richard Hayes]

On Mon, 2006-12-04 at 16:49 +0000, Stephen Hodge wrote:

> > I'm afraid this may well remain an "unsolved mystery" [snip]  but nowhere
> > is the primary source given. Recent posts to the experts on both Buddha-L 
> > and H-Buddhism have also turned up nothing.
> It is/was a ferquent and, apparently, favourite quote here by Richard 
> Hayes -- perhaps he can come out of lurk-mode and tell us whee he got it 
> from.

I don't recall ever knowing that story, let alone quoting it, although
it sounds like the sort of story I would quote. More to the point, it
sounds like the sort of story I would fabricate and just SAY I was
quoting. I do that sort of thing quite a lot. 

I really doubt very seriously that the provenience of the story is much
earlier than the 1950s. It has all the earmarks of the "nobody here but
us secular rationalistists" approach to Buddhism. Someone on another
list says it appears in one of Conze's writings.

Has anyone explored the possibility that Dan Lusthaus is the author of
the story? I once heard him say "It's no wonder the Buddha didn't want
to allow women into the sangha. The person who asked him was his
step-mother. How many of you want your mom hanging around the zendo?"

That ranks as just about the funniest wisecrack ever uttered by an
American Buddhologist. The story Brad recited is also very funny. So I
suspect the story had the same author as the wisecrack.

-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico
http://www.unm.edu/~rhayes