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

[Jim Peavler]

On Jan 27, 2006, at 6:11 AM, Erik Hoogcarspel wrote:


> There may be different ways of preserving texts. The Asian way is  
> to learn everything by heart and not change anyhting. This is the  
> model of the direct quote. The model of the indirect quote was  
> followed by Western philosophy. Almost every philosopher read the  
> old Greeks and tried to figure out what they really meant. The  
> consequence was a stream of interpretations and reinventions that  
> kept the old texts much more alive then many classical Buddhist texts.
> So the question is: what do we mean with the preservation of a  
> text? What is a text? An ordered collection of words or a lived  
> meaning? Or, as Chuang Zu would say, does a text flourish in a  
> golden box or in a muddy pool?
>

I like this paragraph. I agree with what it suggests.

I'll bet everybody is thrilled to lean that!




Jim Peavler

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little
temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

     -- Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), reply of the Pennsylvania
     Assembly to the Governor, November 11, 1755