[Buddha-l] RE: The Body in Buddhist Practice

[Mitchell Ginsberg]

Hello Bhante and all, 

Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2006 10:03:00 -0800 (PST)
From: "Phra Achan Dhammarato, Buikkh"
<dhammarato2 at yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: The Body in Buddhist Practice
To: buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com
My Dear Mr. Hopkins
  I completely agree with you. In fact it has been
stated before on 
this list that the Buddha's path to the end of
suffering does not exist 
and that the interest of this list is purely academic
(read useless in 
the elimination of suffering).  This is why I do not
often post; I fear 
that my post will not be well received because I am
only interested in 
the actual practice that leads to the end of
suffering, and not in 
complaining about every stone found on the path.  The
only exception to this would be when someone claims
that the Suttas contain (even filled with) something
(caricatures) without substantiating these claims.  I
do so at my peril of ad holmium attacks but would do
so in the defense of the suttas as being a practical
guide to the end of suffering and not a listing of
jokes and cariatures.
Phra Achan Dhammarato
Wat LAo Buddharam, Charlotte, NC 28214

I wish you great success in passing on the actual
practices of 
the Buddhist bhavana tradition in your work. While I
am surprised
that you state that there have been claims that there
is no Buddhist
path etc. (as above), I can imagine someone hear
pulling someone's 
leg (or yanking on someone's chain), just being
playful and 
provocative, in saying such a thing. I would not be so
bold as 
to say that something academic has no value in the
actual traveling of the path. I have found most
Buddhist scholars to be quite engaged in what they are
studying and teaching; well, not 100% but still, much
more than in most academic disciplines about which I
am familiar. 
So your judgment seems a bit harsh and dismissive.
Perhaps you do not see value in the scholarly approach
to the Buddhist teachings, then? Do you not find value
in the Commentarial work on the Tipitaka (the
atthakatha writings, I mean)? I would take that to be
early scholarly and intellectual approaches to trying
to figure out what was actually being said in the
texts, all quite important for later generations of
teachers who then can go out and teach to the many,
taking advantage of those who have clarified the
teachings in these ways. Does any of this make sense
to you? 
Did you want to add anything about the body in
Buddhist practice, from the vantage point of your
teaching at the wat and elsewhere? 

On a superficial level of the body of the text here, I
am guessing
that the words meant are 'Bhikkhu' (and not 
'Buikkh'), in your name as given in the From: line of
the message above, and 'ad homimen' (and not 'ad
holmium') in the attacks passage.  
with metta, 
Mitchell/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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