[Buddha-l] Western Buddhism

[Richard Hayes]

On Fri, 2007-11-16 at 21:00 +0100, Erik Hoogcarspel wrote:

> Richard Hayes schreef:
> > As is almost always the case when there is a disagreement between me and a 
> > priest of any religion, I'm right.
> >   
> That's what any priest would also say, the difference is only in the 
> eye, sorry 'I'. 

Aye, but when a priest says such a thing, his tongue is not sufficiently
far in his cheek. 

> Another thing about Western Buddhism: if there would be such a thing, it 
> would be the first Buddhism that lives with science.

It would certainly be the first kind of Buddhism did live in a culture
whose intellectual landscape was dominated by scientific method as the
most trusted method of acquiring new insights.

These days I have been getting a great deal of enjoyment (and
inspiration) from Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry's "The Universe Story,"
an ambitious attempt to tell the story of the the creation of the
universe and the evolution of human beings in a way that is
simultaneously close to how contemporary science tells the story and
supportive of a responsible and compassionate way of living in the
world. I heard Thomas Berry talking about the book shortly after it was
written, and I have listened to many of Briane Swimme's recorded
lectures. If I may borrow a Quaker expression, their way of telling the
story speaks to my condition. While I have become quite wary of labels,
if I were to allow myself to wear the label "Buddhist", I would say that
Swimme and Berry's telling of the story has deepened my Buddhist
practice.

-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico