[Buddha-l] Zizek: expert on Buddhism and what "we" think

[curt]

Richard Nance wrote:
> On 10/11/07, curt <curt at cola.iges.org> wrote:
>
>   
>> Also, the Tibetan Buddhist "theocracy" never forcibly imposed a
>> monolithic form of Buddhism - but always explicitly accepted rival
>> "schools" of Buddhism.
>>     
>
> Hi Curt --
>
> The situation on the ground was arguably considerably more complex
> than the remark above suggests. For more information, you might want
> to have a look at Matthew Kapstein's _The Tibetans_, particularly
> Chapter 5 (and, even more particularly, pp. 137-138).
>
>
>   

I am sure that you are right about the greater complexity. But if we 
want to talk about "theocracy" the bar has been set pretty high by 
Christians and Muslims. I am aware, for example, that many Tibetan 
Monasteries maintained their own units of "fighting monks", and that 
failure to pay proper respect to religious notables could result in 
death, and so forth. But was there ever anything like putting people to 
death for disagreements over abstruse theological issues (such as the 
Trinity or Creation Ex Nihilo)? This was a well established practiced 
throughout most of the history of Christianity. Or, even more to the 
point, is there one single example of a competing religion that was ever 
wiped off the face of the earth by the Tibetan Buddhist "theocracy"? 
Hundreds of religious traditions came to such an end as the result of 
the violent "spread" of Christianity and Islam. Buddhism, in contrast, 
spread from one end of Asia to the other - without any of the already 
existing religions being "extirpated". That is a distinction that makes 
a difference - and one that should be prominently noted.

I would say that any religion that fails to pass the "wiping out other 
religions on a massive scale for several centuries" test should not be 
placed in the same category as Christianity and Islam - and terminology 
(such as "theocracy") should be used in a way to reflect such 
differences - rather than papering over them.

Curt Steinmetz