[Buddha-l] Where does authority for "true" Buddhism come from?

[Vicente Gonzalez]

RPH> Emerson makes the observation that for those who cannot escape the
RPH> prison of the self, astronomy becomes astrology, mathematics becomes
RPH> numerology, physiology becomes phrenology and palmistry, and physics
RPH> becomes technology.

yes, and Buddhism becomes Buddhology.

There are many astonishing things in this thread from many people.
If somebody thinks that reducing dukkha is the goal in Buddhism, for
sure it's better injecting morphine injections time after time, until
death. For such purposes, it is more effective and easy than
meditations and difficult readings. 

As very well suggest Benito (I celebrate if now he is victim of some
satori) the goal of Buddhism is the end of ignorance, not dukkha.
Dukkha is the first noble truth because while we are ignoring dukkha.
there is not possibility to eradicate it. Dukkha is the first
noble truth of the existence, never its same explanation. Review
patticasamuppada because you are misunderstanding (forgetting?) it.

When somebody doesn't know that ignoring the nature of existence
(sunyata) also it's dukkha, then the ignorance about life and death
cannot be recognized as dukkha. In this way, this person will be not
aware that Buddhism is not a drug, However, Buddhism is not a tool
to improve this dream but a to be awakened.

The attempts to insert those ideas of Nicea Concillium forgetting
Hume and many others thinkers in this subject, it only shows a
surprising ignorance for any scholar. I inform you that most of
early Christians they were believers in rebirth. Even in Gospels we
find passages quite revelatory. For this reason, fathers of
Christendom likes Origen, they talk about rebirth in an open way.

The bizarre theory of non-rebirth is strange to human kind. It arises
in western History as another excuse to exterminate Gnostics,
Basilidians, Bogomils, Valdenses and many others, A main reason was
that they wanted to live without posessions among the lay people.
(Btw, as today still we can check in the East). Precisely, your schema
and social projections for a new Buddhism sounds similar of this
ancient social engineering. Today we can the results when seeing the
state of that religion in the lay people; singing and looking the
stratosphere and preaching God for for their own benefits. Eckhart
becomes a complete extraterrestrial when we see this.

The interpretation of your nihilistic non-rebirth as the central
point in patticasamuppada using Buddhadhasa, this only shows that
also you don't know Buddhadhasa thought. Buddhadasa wanted to
extirpate the false notion of the transmigration of the self by
explaining its non-existence. Never because he was a defender of
your simplistic non-rebirth. Buddhadhasa said:

"There have been rebellious traitors acting as destructive agents
inside Buddhism who deliberately and maliciously explained
patticasamuppada, the foundation of Buddhism, incorrectly. That is, so
that it would become the eternalist doctrine found in Hinduism, or in
other words change into Brahmanism... If there such warmful intentions
it would mean that someone must have made up an explanation of
patticcasamuppada in order to create a channel for the atta doctrine
come to into Buddhism.. ("Buddhadasa, Theravada Buddhism and Modernist
Reform in Thailand", p.109.)

It was the real concern of Buddhadhasa in this matter. In his Eastern
context Buddhadhasa talk about masking the Brahmanic transmigration
of -self inside Buddhism.
In the West  we have our own western version, masking our theist
non-rebirth inside the Buddhist anatta by denying rebirth.

In both cases, the problem never remains in claiming rebirth or
non-rebirth. But the central point is the inoculation of the atman
idea taking profit of  the subtile meaning of patticasamuppada.

However, you and more people are not able to understand how that
nihilistic non-rebirth drive to the affirmation of the -self.
And it is not strange, when also you are ignoring that it was an
irrational and illogical idea even for the greater western
philosophers. The attempts to perform this inoculation in the West 
are very old. Starting in the first Christian missionaries in Asia and
passing by books and bad translations with obvious goals.

There are many points of a total confusion very long to explain.
However, the central point it's simple indeed. I think that you and
other people are victims of conscious and unconscious efforts in
helping politics to maintain the actual religious borders in this
world. Because it is not part of the Buddhist way. one can read them
just as another source to remember what is not useful in a spiritual
way. 

I will love reading some day an honest effort to demonstrate a new
view in Buddhism, in any matter. It is always profitable, even needed.
As we can read the personalist controversy or whatever. From the
honest effort always there is something useful to learn.

However, until now the possibility in reading even two phrases of
value in the fit of such nihilistic theory inside Buddhism is null.
One only can check wishful thinking and a coarse contamination of the
times inside learned brains.
br,