[Buddha-l] Western Buddhism

[Richard Hayes]

On Fri, 2007-11-16 at 14:03 +0600, Christopher Fynn wrote:

> Is the "emotional/devotional" side of Buddhism necessarily "childish"?

I think so.

> To me that sounds a little like saying ideas and emotions expressed through 
> means like art, poetry or music are somehow inferior to those expressed through 
> books on logic and philosophy.

I don't think the form of expression has anything to do with it. My
favorite poets are not particularly devotional. I think of devotion as a
fawning sentimentality over someone perceived to be outside oneself.
Seeing the source of one's strength as outside oneself strikes me as
immature thinking. Mature practice consists in seeing that all of one's
strength comes from within, and that all objects of worship or devotion
are just projections of strength one either has or wishes one had. I
think one can get this latter idea across in poetry and art. I don't
think one can express much of anything through music alone, so let me
leave that out of the discussion for the time being.

Thanks for the opportunity to clarify my thoughts on the matter.

-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico