[Buddha-l] Re: buddha-l Digest, Vol 32, Issue 17

[Joy Vriens]

Richard,
>> >Although I find Ahmadinejad a bit of a crackpot, I quite like him. He's a   
>> >charming crackpot, don't you think? Elihu, you'll probably want to read my   
>> >blog in which I extend an apology on behalf of the American people for the   
>> >unconscionably shoddy treatment the Iranian president received in New York   
>> >and on 60 Minutes.  
 
>> I think he got a proper reception and that all leaders of countries 
>> where people are executed and who talk and act agressively ought to be 
>> received in the same manner. 
 
>I have never seen any situation improved by rudeness and hostility. If 
>Ahmadinejad is aggressive (a claim for which I see no evidence 
>whatsoever, but I'll let that pass), then surely his character is not 
>going to be improved by being treated rudely.

When I was thinking of all leaders of countries  where people are executed and who talk and act agressively, I was actually thinking of Bush in particular. When I watched the interwiew (or the first bit of it), I felt the same as you. The law of hospitality usually is a sacred one in my eyes and it's not pleasant to see it being broken. I don't consider the act of the president of Columbia University as pertinent, unless he would address Bush in a similar manner. Until then he has the benefit of doubt. For me there is not much difference between the two leaders, except that one is more aware of media tactics and image management than the other. I consider the "social movement" spin as an attempt of image management après coup. Rudeness and hostility don't improve situations but one has at least to let the other know that one is aware the situation is not very good  and could do with improvement. E.g. how would you like the president of Columbia University to receive the Birm!
 anese junta leaders? Would you like him to ignore the blood on their hands while shaking them? Any allusion to it would probably be considered very rude by them. Giving the Dalai Lama the highest US decoration? How rude! the Chinese say.

> Someone I once heard of 
>said that hatred is never overcome by hatred; it is overcome only by 
>love.

Yes, of course, but it doesn't need to be done with hatred. It can even be done with love, or at least with good intentions. I am not sure about the motivations of the president of Columbia University though.I would have loved to see him doing the same act in Teheran.

> Suffice it so say that Ahmadinejad's reception at Columbia 
>University and by the boorish twit who interviewed him on the "60 
>Minutes" television tabloid was hardly what one would hope for if one 
>took Buddhist principles at all seriously. 

I am not that sure, the Buddha told his students when they were behaving like jerks and idiots. It is not against Buddhist principles if it's done with good intentions. 

Joy