[Buddha-l] Human conventions

[Richard Hayes]

Beloved denizens,

The artificial construct of celebrating a new year on an arbitrary date 
demonstrates how powerful social conventions can be. It makes no sense to me 
at all that if the world were to explode at this very minute, then the world 
would have ended in 2007 in Japan and New Zealand but in 2006 in California. 
This is the sort of thing I worry about. Why should New Zealanders get to 
live an extra year?

Whenever this socially constructed convention of a new year rolls around, we 
are all treated to retrospectives of the year gone by. For instance, even 
though it happened only a few days ago, we are reminded by TV commentators 
that 2006 was the year in which James Brown died. (Oddly, I have not yet 
heard an earnest news analyst remind us that 2006 was the year in which 
Saddam Hussein was subjected to the cruel and unusual punishment of being 
hanged. Maybe yesterday's events are a little too recent to deserve 
reminders. It has to have happened at least a week ago to belong to history.)

As the photos of this year's deceased celebrities rolls by (Lou Rawls, Coretta 
Scott King, Betty Friedan, Gerald Ford) I find myself thinking about one of 
our own buddha-l denizens who left us to cope without him. 

Peter Junger was involved from the very beginning with the BUDDHIST and 
BUDDHA-L lists (which were eventually merged into a single list). In recent 
years he served as one of our moderators, and in this context both Jim 
Peavler and I had the pleasure of corresponding with him privately. He was a 
delightful correspondent, as I'm sure many of you also discovered. He 
practiced Buddhism in a nominally Pure Land temple under the guidance of the 
imaginative, energetic and unclassifiable Reverend Ogui. Peter practiced 
Buddhism, and life itself, with a pure heart and a keen and curious 
intellect. His messages to buddha-l invariably revealed the insight and 
kindness of their author. We miss him.

One of the things people in the thrall of human conventions do is to make 
resolutions for the new year. Even I do that sort of thing about once every 
five years or so. My buddha-l resolution for 2007 is to try to be ironic from 
time to time. It really is time I stopped being so straightforward and 
serious.

Whether you are already experiencing the delights of 2007 or have a few more 
hours in which to savor the bitter dregs of 2006, on behalf of the team of 
uncountable bodhisattvas, apsarases and mahoragas here at buddha-l 
headquarters in snowbound Albuquerque, I wish you all a happy and healthy new 
year. Please write if you become enlightened.

-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico