[Buddha-l] Re: How to help the Dharma grow in the USA

[Benito Carral]

On Wednesday, January 3, 2007, Richard wrote:

>> As  far  as  I'm  concerned,  Buddhism doesn't offer
>> anything   valuable  that  can't  be  found  in  the
>> Judeo-Christian tradition

> I  disagree. Buddhism offers a disciplined program of
> practice for people who do not believe in God.

   Traditional (Orthodox) Buddhists believe in rebirth,
hells,  and heavens--do you remember why Hakuin started
his practice? I think that, for Westerners, it's easier
to believe in the Judeo-Christian cosmology. Of course,
liberal  American  Buddhism  doesn't tend to believe in
such things.

>> There  are  still  a  lot  of  people  looking for a
>> downgraded spirituality [...]

> Why be so judgemental?

   Because I analyze society as I find useful to do it.

> There  is  no need to characterize the preferences of
> those who requireless than you as "downgraded".

   Maybe  there  is  not a need in your world, there is
one in mine.

> Why  say  that those who have learned to make do with
> fewer    trappings   are   settling   for   something
> downgraded?

   I have a very good reason.

   One   of   my   spiritual   grandpas,   Ven.   Xuyun
(1840-1959),  said  that  there  is  not  path  without
precepts.  Since liberal American Buddhism doesn't tend
to  believe  in  the  traditional  (orthodox)  Buddhist
cosmology  nor  care  much about precepts, it's rightly
labeled  a  "downgraded spirituality." A Dharma without
Dharma,  so  to speak. And I prefer to rely in the good
master instead of you.

> That would be like characterizing renunciation, which
> is  usually seen as the essence of Buddhist practice,
> as downgraded materialism.

   That's a words play.

   Traditional  (Orthodox) Buddhism is characterized by
renunciation.     Liberal    American    Buddhism    is
characterized by moral relativism and non-renunciation.

>> I  predict  some  raise  of Orthodox Buddhism in the
>> following years.

> The very idea of orthodoxy is pretty foreign to Asian
> Buddhism  [...]

   I think that you're just wrong.

   It  seems  that  the first divison of the Sangha was
originated  by  questions  about  orthodoxy,  or so the
tradition tells us.

   Then,  for  example,  we also have Chinese Patriarch
Zongmi  (780-841)  who  talked  much  about  it when he
described the heresies of his time.

   Best wishes,
   
-- 
   Benito Carral
     Asturias, Sepharad (Spain)