[Buddha-l] women & , er, religion

[Richard Hayes]

On Jul 27, 2009, at 5:37 PM, Piya Tan wrote:

> Of course, like the word jesuit, hinayana goes both ways. A Jesuit  
> is a
> jesuit by any other name.

There is, however, one important difference. Members of the Society of  
Jesus happily call themselves Jesuits, while no Buddhist ever calls  
herself a hīnayānin.

> I often meet the princes of the Mahayana church today who are very
> apologetic about the term hinayana, and suggest that we stop using it.

That seems quite extreme and betrays a lack of understanding. The term  
is very useful as a warning. The warning is: do not let your own  
practice become hīnayāna. (As someone once suggested, one's practice  
becomes hīnayāna the moment one calls someone else a hīnayāna.)

> Unlike the concerned Burmese to Bielefieldt, I would answer: Too late!

It is never too late to start being careful with how one speaks.

> Honi soit mal y pense.

That phrase is very useful if you need something to hold up your  
stockings. (Monks, of course, have no stockings to hold up. And if  
they ARE wearing stockings, be sure Schnipp Schnupp will turn them in  
to the Vinaya Gestapo.)


Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico
http://www.unm.edu/~rhayes
rhayes at unm.edu