[Buddha-l] women & , er, religion

[Jayarava]

--- On Wed, 29/7/09, Kdorje at aol.com <Kdorje at aol.com> wrote:

> Right, the Hinayana in the Tibetan system is the sine qua non.

So the 'defective vehicle' becomes the 'indispensable condition'. Clearly oxymoron is not in the Tibetan lexicon.
  
> One suspects that perhaps our fellow denizens are applying  
> Judeo-Christian-Islamic or other paradigms of competition
> to a system that is more likely to incorporate and synthesize 
> than to vanquish differing  views.

Of course competition is unknown in the Tibetan world - I have heard both Karmapas say so! I think the Dalai Lama and Kelsang Gyatso have issued a joint statement to this effect, with support from Bon leaders. Differing views are never in competition in the enlightened Tibetan world. 

The myth of the subjugation of Śiva, for instance, highlights that Buddhists were intent on peaceful co-existence with Śaivites, and the way Buddhists repackaged Śiva as Avalokiteśvara just goes to show how well they all got along. 

The Buddha was always keen that his monks take up and incorporate the views of other teachers which is why he praises them so much in the Pāli texts. He never insisted that anyone was wrong, or foolish. Why aren't we more like him?

Yes the Asians certain have got us westerners over a barrel when it comes to enlightened co-existence and religious tolerance. If only we weren't blinded by silly notions like democracy, universal suffrage, equality for women and minorities, and the rest. Historiography has blinded us to the benefits of feudalism. And historical linguistics has only interfered with the traditional interpretation of the scriptures - don't worry about what the text says, just listen to what Rinpoche tells you it means. No wonder we are confused, we have no idea about doing as we are told!

If only we could abandon our foolish western notions, we'd be so much happier! Praise Edward Said, may peace be upon him.

Jayarava