[Buddha-l] Re: there he goes again (sam harris)

[Mitchell Ginsberg]

Hello Joy and all, 
If I understand you, then the point of your question
is to search 
out dogmatic statements, to question them. If so, I
take that 
either we can come with certainty that ekaayano means 
the only path (as you seemed to do in reply to the
posting
by Lance Cousins) or we can examine whether this term 
that in one putative gloss into English renders it as
"the 
only way" ... The point that in Buddhaghosa's time
Buddhism
was widely accepted (in that society) vs. not so when
the 
Buddha was first talking to other people, of course
makes
sense. And perhaps the Buddha was trying to do a good
job
of showing how he had something worth listening to.
Makes
sense. That does not change the specific passage in
question, 
though, as far as I can see. If ekaayano (< eka +
ayana) has 
the sense of going to one terminus, and not meaning
the only
way to get to that end-point, then "the only way"
would just
be a distorted rendering into English. Which is
apparently 
the situation here. But I will let others substantiate
this if 
that is called for..... 
best wishes, 
Mitchell G./Jinavamsa

====================
See http://www.geocities.com/jinavamsa/mentalhealth.html with links 
to my home page, to info on The Inner Palace (4th ed.) & on The Far 
Shore (3rd ed.), & with further links to psychotherapy, to my current 
teaching, & to the Insight Practice (Vipassana), Chishtiyya (Sufi), 
Creative Solutions for Peace, & Nasrudin discussion groups.


 
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