[Buddha-l] Lamas and such

[James Ward]

Dear Dan and Richard,

Maybe Richard is onto something here: we could use a term like 
"Suttaagamaabhidhamma Buddhism!"  Ha ha!

This reminds me of that wonderful term of Chinese historical 
periodization, "San guo wei jin nan bei chao" (and its variations), 
"Three Kingdoms-Wei-Jin-Northern and Southern Dynasties."  Just pick 
the terms you want to include and string them all together -- problem 
solved!

We haven't touched upon an earlier usage, "Northern Buddhism" and 
"Southern Buddhism."  There are certainly good historical reasons for 
this terminology to fall from favor, but you can see why it was ever 
adopted in the first place -- it did give a kind of "cartographical 
snapshot" of the distribution of the two perceived main currents of 
Buddhism at the time these terms were contemporary.  And they are not 
particularly value-laden in terms of emotional attitude, just in what 
they choose to group together as the two main currents.  Of course they 
are purely modern, and break down completely when trying to capture 
historical developments with a word or phrase.

Dan, with regard to the "eighteen schools," yes, of course the number 
is pretty arbitrary :-)  "Approximately-Eighteen-School Buddhism" or 
"Traditionally-Numbered-as-Eighteen-School Buddhism" are definitely 
cumbersome.  And "~Eighteen-School," "Eighteen (+/-) -School" and " 
'Eighteen'-School" rely on typography that is hard to capture verbally. 
  So that one's out!  (No "air-quotes" at the lecture podium, please!)

(Richard, is "gospel" really out of favor in secular teaching circles?  
That seems like kind of a necessary term to keep.  Maybe you are 
referring to the phrase "the gospel" as an umbrella term for the 
canonical Christian writings?  When used to refer to the synoptic 
gospels, or the four canonical gospels, or the Gospel of Thomas (etc.), 
I have an [unexamined] feeling that it serves a useful purpose.)

I guess we could just pick the terms we fancy and put "so-called" in 
front of them.  Or "formerly-known-as!" :-)

James Ward