[Buddha-l] Lamas and such

[Blumenthal, James]

The term is considered offensive because its use by colonialists and others in their midst seemed to imply by it that the Buddhism of Tibet was such a degenerate form of Buddhism that it hardly deserved the label "Buddhism".  Thus, the neologism, "lamaism" was conceived.  Lopez discusses this in detail in Prisoners of Shangrila.
Jim


James Blumenthal
Dept. of Philosophy
Oregon State University
102-A Hovland Hall
Corvallis, OR 97331
james.blumenthal at oregonstate.edu