[Buddha-l] Questions

[Richard Hayes]

On Wed, 2008-06-25 at 08:46 -0600, Perennial Favorites wrote:

> But how about Hindus who followed Buddha and became Buddhists?  If they had 
> stayed with their traditions, Buddhism would've died with Buddha.

As far as I can tell, throughout most of the history of Buddhism most
people who have become Buddhist anywhere have added Buddhism to what
they were already doing. Few people felt compelled to abandon their
earlier beliefs and practices to become Buddhist. Throughout East Asia
it is almost impossible to tell where Confucianism and Daoism leave off
and Buddhism begins. They have become so interwoven that the result has
transcended all the separate components that have gone into making the
tapestry. The same is true in India (except among former Untouchables,
who have tended to reject Hinduism rather forcefully). Indian Buddhism
and what people now call Hinduism are hardly distinguishable.

As I understand what I was saying (which reflects my understanding of
what Jung and the Dalai Lama were saying), the point is not that one
should never acquire anything new, but that one should be careful not to
abandon what one had as a child.

One of the aspects of the FWBO about which I have been vociferously
critical is their (our, since I'm in that organization) prevalent
culture of antipathy toward Jewish and Christian faith and practice. The
belief seems to be that one brought up in a Christian household can't
possibly be a Buddhist until one has renounced Christianity. That
strikes me as profoundly unhealthy.

It is not just the anti-Christian attitude of the Western Buddhist Order
that I observe as slightly unhealthy. It seems to me that one is
regarded as not quite fully Buddhist if one holds on to one's
orientation to scientific method, humanism, depth psychology or any
number of other aspects of Western civilization. 

Asians seem to feel comfortable with going for refuge to the Buddha
among other refuges. Westerners are more inclined, it seems to me, to
see going for refuge to the Buddha as fleeing from everything else.

Mind you, I think these attitudes are changing as Western people become
more secure in their going for refuge to the three jewels. I am
encouraged to see some Unitarian-Universalists and a few Quakers working
out the implications of their commitments to both Buddhism and a
tradition with Christian roots. Sadly, the result so far has been a
largely ABC (Anything But Christianity) form of Unitarianism or
Quakerism, rather than a healthy mixture of traditions of the sort that
one sees in East Asia. 

> I'm behind with email, so forgive me if others have raised these questions.

There's nothing wrong with questions being revisited many times. On the
contrary, I think we all become wiser as we mull over the subtle
differences in the ways questions are raised and reflected upon.

-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico