[Buddha-l] Buddhism in Israel

[Franz Metcalf]

Dan et al.,

Had to step in, since the quick escalation of rhetoric in this  
conversation made me reflective.

I'm with Dan in not understanding any connection between large numbers  
of Israeli tourists or even residents in Dharamsala and some kind of  
Israeli "occupation." As I read that word I said, out loud, "wow,"  
being confused and a bit creeped out. But then I thought, hey, this is  
Erik writing, I will assume he's expressing wisdom poorly (in English)  
rather than expressing papanca well. And Erik's follow-up confirms  
this in its very first sentence: "Sorry Dan, I didn't mean to be a  
bigot." Nevertheless, Erik's use of the word "occupiers" worries me,  
not so much about Erik, but about a world in which such usage might go  
unremarked but for prickly whistle-blowers like Dan.

On the other hand, I'm not with Dan in worrying about Erik's comments  
on the use of the word "friend" in Dharamsala and possible Israeli  
reaction to it. I think if I came from a country with the history of  
modern Israel--whether I was a Jew or a Palestinian--I'd have an  
instant dislike to strangers calling me "friend." Heck, I went to  
India from the hippy-dippy culture of Berkeley and it *still* pissed  
me off to be called friend by people who really only wanted to get  
permanently close to my money. (Luckily, I was an ugly American and  
could tell 'em all to just get outta my friggin way.) I don't  
*understand* what Erik was saying, but I'm not worried about it, since  
it puts me emotionally in the Israeli camp--this is my papanca.

Here's where I return to Buddhism, more or less, because I think this  
all comes back to the notion of "Israel"--the very word or concept-- 
being a papanca. I submit that the notion of "Israel," from its  
etymological origin ("wrestling with God"--Dan, is that close  
enough?), through its eschatological extension (and this applies to  
Christians as well as Jews), across a millennia long experience of  
otherness and oppression, to the simultaneous rise of Zionism and  
proto-Israeli political efforts and gargantuan modern anti-Semitism,  
to Israel's current and embattled geographic existence as a state, is  
and has always been a papanca. That is, there is something about the  
root idea of Israel that results from or at least sets in motion a  
series of mental events tied to desires and views and notions of the  
self that culminate in activating the kilesas. I feel it in myself,  
though like Dan I feel inversely from most folks in the world. It's  
the same process whichever side of the two-way mirror you look at it  
from.

Perhaps everything we love or hate is like this?

Franz

===========================================
Franz Metcalf, PhD.  323.467.3267  http://mind2mind.net
Buddhist Author, Teacher, Scholar, Husband, Dad, Beginner