[Buddha-l] Swearing

[Richard Hayes]

On Tuesday 26 September 2006 02:23, Mike Austin wrote:

> For example, I most often use the f word and sometime Christ.  I have no
> idea what religion the f word could relate to but as I was brought up as
> a Christian, one could suggest some link there. 

What people call swear words actually fall into several categories. One 
category is using holy language in unholy ways. So using names of fictitious 
entities, such as God, or of historical people whose contribution to world 
culture has been exaggerated, such as Jesus Christ, constitutes a linguistic 
taboo. It always amused me that the most atrocious swear words in French in 
Quebec were words for sacred objects, such as tabernacles, chalises and host 
(or whatever you call those crackers that Christians eat with their wine 
during a mass).

Another kind of swearing comes from taboos having to do with race and social 
class. When the ruling class in England were all speaking French, then using 
English words for unpleasant subjects such as sex and the elimination of 
bodily wastes was deemed lower class. To this day that class taboo persists, 
even in places like the United States that falsely prides itself on being a 
classless society.

In Buddhist cultures, probably nothing is considered sacred enough to create a 
linguistic taboo that would be the equivalent of blasphemy. Can you imagine 
something hitting his nail with a hammer and saying "Four Noble Truths!" (Or 
was that the f-word you were referring to, Mike?) Or "Oh, for arhant's sake!"

When I was living in Japan I was told repeatedly that there are no swear words 
in Japanese. People speak openly about sex and other bodily functions. Maybe 
someone who knows Japanese culture better than I could comment on whether 
using indigenous Japanese words instead of Chinese-based euphemisms is 
considered vulgar. The closes thing I can think of to swearing in Japan would 
be to use the wrong level of politeness when speaking to someone. But is it 
swearing to tutoyer someone, or just a social gaffe?

> There could be another sort of exclamation, similar to swearing, that is
> a cry for help.  This could be associated with concepts or a faith. When
> one is overwhelmed by a situation,  a frustrated call for help may sound
> like swearing. 

Good observation. There may be a much closer affinity between cussing and 
praying than meets the ear.

> One example that comes to mind was when I spoke with Prof. Paul Williams
> shortly after his return to Roman Catholicism. He looked at such moments
> and he asked himself who he really turns to - and it was not the Buddha,
> Dharma and Sangha - but Jesus Christ / God.

I have just the opposite tendency. Although I attend Quaker meetings and have 
become accustomed to people using God-talk, I myself can never use it in any 
kind of sincerity. I even find it difficult to "hold someone in the Light" as 
Quakers are wont to do. When in distress, I invariably go for refuge to the 
three gems. God knows I wasn't taught to do that as a child. I certainly 
don't regard going for refuge as the equivalent of prayer. I'm pretty sure I 
have never done anything that is the equivalent of prayer. It would just feel 
too unnatural to me.

Interestingly enough, I was at a Quaker discussion group last week, and 
someone asked how many people there regarded themselves as Christians. 
Exactly half the Quakers there said they were Christian. The other half said 
they were not Christian. One person claimed to be a Christian sometimes but 
usually was not. And one person claimed to be a non-Christian sometimes but 
usually was a Christian. Among the non-Christian Quakers, one was Jewish, 
several claimed to be pagans, and a few identified themselves as Buddhist.

> Richard's attempts to create Buddhist swear words, if used as a means of
> appeal for help,  would be rather empty and pointless if he were to hold
> the same view as I do about praise to the Buddha.

My only motivation for using Buddhist swear words was to try to accommodate 
the theory of the Indian filmmaker who told me that one's ways of swearing 
indicate one's true religion. In practice, I tend to disdain all kinds of 
swearing, because it sounds like shit.

> That is, one would be 
> appealing to oneself to change, wake up, get wise etc. rather that to an
> external being. So what one is left with is, perhaps, calling oneself an
> idiot in the present moment, 

I'm all for calling oneself an idiot. For one thing, it's usually true. For 
another thing, it's healthy to laugh at one's own folly. 

-- 
Richard P. Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico
http://www.unm.edu/~rhayes