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

[Vicente Gonzalez]

Malcolm wrote:

MS> The only thing I feel compelled to remind people of is that the Buddha did
MS> teach rebirth and so on. And as far as Richard goes, he hasn't accepted
MS> rebirth for years, if ever, and if no one is going to change his mind in the
MS> 12 years I have known him on the net, no one ever will. And Richard does
MS> know that Buddha taught rebirth, at least in the texts that some religious
MS> fiction writers [according to Richard] attributed to the Buddha.

I agree with all your message except in this point.
If we are seeing a hole in the street and a blind man is walking in
the same direction, we should warn him. If this person know it but
he wants to continue, then we can insist only a pair of times.
Although definitely it will be his own problem.

The point is that Buddha never teached non-rebirth as the extinction
of the -self because death. This belief is the same belief in a -self
but using a deceptive, retroactive thought in front death.
Not just by philosophical reasons, but because probably it is one of
our last thoughts, it is an important subject. Death is not the end of
the self but this self always was non-existent. Not the same thing!!.

The disagreement is not specially with rebirth idea because Buddha
don't teach rebirth as one -self passing among different beings.
Our rejection arises when we read things inside Sutras strange things
to our rational mind. In example, Buddha explained the memory of
previous lifes. However, he never explained the continuity of the
-self in that process. Just he teach the ability to  cross a causality
thread among different beings. Not other thing.

In short. I agree with R.Hayes and other people in a first level but
not in depth. Of course, I'm not in possession of truth. My strident
tone is only proportional to the false security in what I'm reading.
Maybe I fall in some hard speech but there is not a flame intention
behind this.
You anglo tradition provide to yours of a rational mind, and today
we have a nice Buddhist patrimony of analysis, books, etc..  Useful
for everybody. Unfortunately, my southern mind is learned with some
irrational patterns. Frequently I see quickly the depth and unable to
conceive those endless turns in the surface. I know that I lack of the
necessary calm to structure this in a more gentle way. Beside these
typical topics, we are another victim of this Globalization. Always
it's better if we are able to read meanings instead forms.


MS> So there is nothing to defend...

it is not a discussion list?. If one writes in an open list, receiving
answers is the logical thing. Then I write.

That's all. Now I shut up again to respect the western Buddhist
clonation. 


best wishes,