[Buddha-l] Protestant Buddhists

[Richard Hayes]

On Monday 29 January 2007 11:43, James A Stroble wrote:

> > If
> > someone else also had a dream that a person was ordained by the Buddha,
> > then the ordination was considered valid, provided the person lived as a
> > monk and followed all the vinaya rules.
>
> Hmm, sounds more Shamanistic than Protestant!  Many Japanese new religions
> (some quasi-buddhist) seem to get their start this way.

Perhaps we should follow Joy Vriens' terminology. He reminds us that mysticism 
often involves an unmediated spirituality. A preacher who "gathers a 
congregation" is said to have a direct infusion of grace (charisma) that 
requires no sacrament as a mediating agent. So if one could acquire the grace 
of authority without the mediation of a dream, that would be mystical in the 
sense that Joy uses the word. Even more mystical, of course, would be the 
congregation that worships together without any preacher at all. The very 
idea of such a congregation makes me quake.

> And much preferable to claiming authority through nocturnal emissions.
> (Sorry, can't help myself)

If you had managed to resist the temptation to articulate that association, I 
would have regarded your restraint as an example of nocturnal omission.

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