[Buddha-l] Victimized vegans?

[Jim Peavler]

On May 11, 2007, at 3:24 PM, Richard Hayes wrote:


>
> So is the Buddhist jihad on or off? I'm eager to become as  
> indignant as
> possible about something or other, but I want to make sure not to  
> waste a
> good snit of indignation on a bad cause. (In other words, I don't want
> Georgia to become for Buddhist jihadis what Iraq has become for
> neo-conservative Republicans.)

I have been giving your jihad idea a lot of thought, and I think,  
that for now at least, I will opt out.

First, careful study of the jihad ideal, as practiced in Iraq, seems  
to have some definite downside. First of all, apparently, jihad, like  
charity, begins at home. One seems to be required to begin by blowing  
up those closest to home: family, friends (if any), fellow believers  
(albeit there seems to be some detailed differences not readily  
apparent to outsiders).

Next, it would seem that the motivation, at least for a man of my  
age, is not as appealing as it might have been thirty or so years  
ago. I mean, I don't really have any idea what I would do with 72  
virgins, or 150 virgins, or however many virgins successful jehadian  
activity is awarded. And unless Buddhist virgins are qualitatively  
different from Islamic ones, I don't know but what even one might be  
more that I would want to deal with.

So unless we can form a jihad study group, or a jihad congress, to  
define a tenable business plan for the jihad, with carefully  
specified costs and benefits of a Buddhist jihad, I think I will just  
sit this one out.

I would be willing to serve on a study group or committee to  
determine whether such a jijad is actually feasible or desirable if  
we met at a vegan restaurant (that served Wild Turkey).