[Buddha-l] swearing

[John Whalen-Bridge]

Regarding Mike's folk etymology in which "mantra" means "mind protector," I once attended an enjoyable seminar at which Stephen Hayes, the Ninja teacher and Buddhist teacher in the Shingon tradition, defined mantra as "mind protective device."  He then said that non-Buddhists use mantra all the time, such as the much repeated phrase "fuck it," used to protect one from frustration.  "Fuck it,""screw it," and "to hell with it" can function not as attacks on another person but as mind-shields in the face of frustration.  The kids today are saying "Whatever!" as are many Buddha-L readers at this very moment. 
 
Regarding Richard (the non-ninja) Hayes's point that we should now say "humantra"-- that simply won't do.  "Man" is still unfortunately central.  We could try Persontra, but that has "son" in it.  I propose we all sit down and do 111,111 perdaughterntras to o'ercome the karma of our sexist predispositions and all these bad jokes.
 
cheers, jwb