[Buddha-l] Victimized Vegans?

[Joy Vriens]

>However, since we don’t know what went on during the Buddha’s lifetime other 
>than what’s in the texts, and what’s in those is open to critique as well, 
>how do we know that “everything went wrong” after his death?

We don't know. I don't even know whether there was such a person as the Buddha. Personally I am convinced that things weren't better nor worse in the early days of Buddhism. But there seems to be a sort of legend of an (almost) golden age in Buddhist chronicles itself. After the Buddha's death we have the schisms. Then we have mahayana, which according to many protestant Buddhist historians is considered a sort of regression, the Sutta Nipata being pure gold and as close as one can get to the real buddha. And let's not mention esoteric Buddhism or Buddhist tantrism. There is an improvement nowadays, but when you read the classic "A Short Historiy of Buddhism" books or somesuch, the teachings are purest during the Buddha's lifetime and then there is a steady line of regression and decline. There is even a Buddhist theory about its own decline...    

> Maybe the world 
>as lived by the people before, during, and after him was just as bad.  I 
>suspect that it was. The world historical record of moral improvement 
>doesn’t offer much consolation, does it?   

You're absolutely right.