[Buddha-l] "Western Self, Asian Other"

[Katherine Masis]

Joanna Kirkpatrick wrote:
 
> Could the process Quli refers
> to--of western scholars dissing western Buddhism--be partly
> viewed as a process and practice of maintaining their control
> over an academic field they long dominated???

Richard Hayes wrote:
 
I think there is something to this. People who have invested countless hours learning Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan, Chinese, Korean and Japanese are probably murderously resentful of those who get away with studying Buddhism by studying texts that were written in English. Spending a thousand hours reading four pages of Dharmak?rti is somehow presented as more legitimate than spending fifty hours reading the complete works of Stephen Batchelor. But why?
 
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Because it’s more difficult, that’s why!  Plus, specialists are closer to the “original” sources—with or without nostalgia for an existent or non-existent archaic, uncontaminated fountain of wisdom.  The same thing happens in western philosophy circles.  For example, specialists in ancient Greek philosophy have spent countless hours learning classical Greek and Latin.  Historians and authors of popular books on ancient western philosophy have their place, but they’re not considered specialists.
 
What puzzles me is that there are western scholars of Buddhism who seem to subtly disdain the entire field of study and practice, western as well as Asian.  I’m thinking of Donald Lopez here.  I’ve only read a couple of his articles plus one-and-a-half of his books (completed *Prisoners of Shangri-La* and am now reading *Buddhism and Science: A Guide for the Perplexed*).  Am I the only one with that impression on this list?  Don’t get me wrong—I think he’s an excellent historian of Buddhism.  I’m just puzzled about what I perceive as an undercurrent of contempt in his writings.
 
Oh, and yes, I do think that Dr. Quli should receive our archived discussions, either after the fact or as we go along, so that she may respond if she so wishes.
 
Katherine Masis
San Jose, Costa Rica