[Buddha-l] Re: Meditating Buddha

[Richard P. Hayes]

On Fri, 2006-01-20 at 10:39 +0100, Benito Carral wrote:

>    I  don't  think  that  the  Buddha was worried about
> being  socially  active.  He  spent most of his time in
> deep  jhana  and  also spent some time teaching. And it
> seems that he was wise enough to do it.

I don't think we have any reliable evidence about how the Buddha spent
his time. One thing we can be sure of is that he seems to have accepted
a lot of invitations to dinner. But what he was doing when not eating,
not talking to monks, not talking to laity and not talking to elephants,
we'll never know. Nor should we. Even buddhas are entitled to a bit of
privacy.

> Of  course,  Westerners  don't  tend  to  like to be
> remembered  of  this  and  are  trying  to rewrite what
> Buddhism is.

Be fair, Benito. EVERYONE has tried to rewrite what Buddhism is,
beginning with those who compiled the various canons. The Buddha is a
construction, a fabrication in the imaginations of editors and authors.
Everyone who goes for refuge to the Buddha goes to for refuge to a
different Buddha of her own imagining. We are all entitled to construct
the Buddha in whatever way we fancy. There is no reliable means of
saying that Jose's Buddha is any more or less accurate than Guillermo's.
The only vision of the Buddha that is completely wrong is Curt's.

-- 
Richard