[Buddha-l] what wld buddha buy

[Richard Hayes]

On December 11, 2008 Stephen Hopkins wrote:

> Maybe he should get acquainted with David Loy's work.  Both 'A  
> Buddhist History of the West' and 'The Great Awakening' contain much  
> of use at this time.

This semester I taught an upper-level undergraduate course on Indian
Buddhist philosophy. The focus this year was dependent origination, so
we studied the usual suspects. We ended the course with some reflections
on the socio-political dimensions of dependent origination and so turned
to some modern authors (none of whom were Indian). I had them read some
of Bhikkhu Buddhadasa's essays; one student, a Vipassanā-practicing lady
somewhere around my age, observed he sounded to her like a Southern
Baptist in orange robes. I also had them read some of Loy's 'The Great
Awakening.' On the whole, the students loved it; even the Vipassanā lady
approved of how little Loy comes across as a Southern Baptist.

I had the students write reflection papers on the modern material. One
paper that really caught my attention was written by an earnest young
lady who said that she was offended by Bhikkhu Buddhadasa's claim that
all the great religions warn against the dangers of materialism and
encourage practitioners to care for the poor and downtrodden. It sounded
to her as if Buddhadasa was coming dangerously close to saying all
religions teach the same thing. But not all religions do teach the same
thing, she pointed out. Christianity teaches that there is no way to God
except through Jesus Christ, and Buddhism fails to mention that and
therefore is no better than Judaism, Islam and secular humanism. In her
appraisal of Loy the same young lady said that Loy had failed to notice
that the wealthy are wealthy because God approves of them, and the poor
and poor because God is punishing them for being evil. (Come to think of
it, Loy DID fail to mention that.) She ended by confessing that she is
very wealthy, because God loves her for her goodness, and she just loves
to thank God for her prosperity by shopping. (I could be wrong, but my
guess is that a woman of 21 is probably wealthy because he parents are
wealthy and that her parents have steered her to one of those
mega-churches in the northeast heights of Albuquerque, where people live
in earth-sucking houses big enough to provide adequate shelter for a
small Bengali village.) 

Normally, I would have thought the student was writing a brilliant
parody of consumerist thinking to please my obvious sense of irony. But
I know from previous conversations with her that she was in agony during
the elections because she was having a hard time voting for John McCain
on account of his being such a raving liberal. His choice of Palin as a
running mate made it just possible for her to vote Republican. I have
heard rumors of such people, but I encounter very few of them in my
circles. What amazes me is that she somehow survived my course with her
faith in the Gospel of Prosperity not only intact but reinforced. It all
makes me think it's time to consider retiring so that I can live a
sheltered life.
													
-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico