[Buddha-l] Historical vs Psychological Religious Narratives

[Franz Metcalf]

Gang,

Leigh Goldstein wrote,

> My experience with Buddhists raised in Buddhist cultures, rather than
> Western converts, is that the truth of historical narratives can be 
> more
> important to them.

So I've experienced as well. Come to think of it, this parallels what I 
asserted about "marginal" Christians. So you are right that Buddhists 
raised in Buddhist cultures (a good definition of the term "mainstream 
Buddhists") hold to the historical narratives. And Buddhists raised in 
non-Buddhist cultures (that's us "marginal Buddhists," and rightly so) 
let them go.

Their comparably eccentric or marginalized cultural positions are yet 
another reason we see such overlap (and not just on this list) among 
Quakers and Universalists and Western convert Buddhists.

Franz