[Buddha-l] Shamatha book--clarification

[curt]

Christopher Fynn wrote:
 
>
> IMO *deliberately* trying to create a "Western Buddhism", "American 
> Buddhism", "Agnostic Buddhism" or whatever (and especially thinking or 
> claiming that this is somehow "superior" or more rational) is just as 
> delusional as dressing up "in all of the appropriate regalia" and 
> trying to become a "mock Tibetan or pseudo-Japanese".
>
>
The key word (already emphasized by Chris) is "deliberately". Often 
people who are interested in such deliberations are fond of 
"evolutionary" metaphors ("Buddhism must evolve" - or some such 
nonsense). And usually people who are fond of evolutionary metaphors are 
blissfully unaware of the fact that random mutations are the raw 
material of evolution - and that 99.9% of these mutations result in one 
of the following: (1) no visible change whatsoever (the best case) (2) 
horrible fatal deformities, or (3) cancer.

Besides, the Buddha wasn't raised Buddhist - and T.H. Huxley wasn't 
raised Agnostic. That tells you all you need to know about the logic 
behind the supposed "unsustainability" of moving beyond "our own culture."

But back to the original subject of the thread. Here is a very 
interesting review by Jack Petranker of Alan Wallace's "The Taboo of 
Subjectivity". One fascinating thing about this review is that it deals 
with the whole question of whether or not true introspection is possible 
- and the fact that Wallace takes the orthodox Gelugpa position of the 
supposed impossibility of true mental self-reflection, as opposed to the 
far more reasonable Nyingma position (at least as espoused by Mipham) - 
which I prefer if only because it fits in better with my Platonic 
tendencies. If I follow what Petranker is saying, Wallace stakes out 
(or, in Petranker's words "is forced into") the position that 
"retrospection" allows for a kind of "virtual" mental self-reflection. I 
believe some Stoics found themselves forced into a similar position, and 
for similar reasons. This link is directly to the pdf of the article:
http://www.imprint.co.uk/pdf/taboo.pdf

- Curt