[Buddha-l] A tribute to Ven. Sheng-yen

[Erik Hoogcarspel]

Ben schreef:
> On Friday, February 6, 2009, 18:52, Richard wrote,
>
>   
>> Most  of  us are not honest enough to call the quirky
>> and idiosyncratic religion we inconsistently practice
>> by our own names.
>>     
>
>    I  would like to share what I feel as an interesting
> finding.
>
>    When  I was a Buddhist, I didn't understand what our
> goal in life was supposed to be--to be born in order to
> stop  being born still seems quite weird to me--, but I
> thought "salvation" was something I could achieve by my
> own.
>
>    Now  that  I'm  a  Benist, I think that I understand
> what  our  goal  in life is, namely, to become one with
> our  other  half.  The  interesting thing is that now I
> can't  attain  salvation  by  my  own--it  is  a shared
> responsability with my not-yet-discovered other half.
>
>    Warner asked some days ago if we think that Buddhism
> is  a  selfish religion. I think so. In Buddhism--along
> with  Judaism,  Christianty,  and Islam among others--,
> salvation  can  be procured by own self. That's not the
> case with Benism.
>
>   
>> Phaedo  calls.  I  have  to go teach that bewildering
>> text in about an hour, and I am completely baffled by
>> it.
>>     
>
>    I  have  never  read  it. Maybe I should give me the
> chance to be baffeld by it.
>
>    Best wishes,
>
>   
I support all free religious choices off course within the bovious 
ethical boundaries, but Ben's choices made me think of Wittgensteins 
crusade against an individual language. W says that a personal language 
is impossible because language is a game played with others. You cannot 
have the Olympics with just one person participating. I wonder if a one 
person religion is possible. Anyone?

-- 
Groet

Erik

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