[Buddha-l] Aung San Suu Kyi and the latest Burmese prosecutions

[jkirk]

>
> It is rather depressing that several countries with a
predominantly 
> Buddhist population and culture produce such authoritarian 
> governments.
>

As is the case with so many depressing things, it is not at all
surprising. The Buddha, after all, was an authoritarian teacher,
and almost all Buddhist traditions have a deeply authoritarian
structure.  
One can hardly expect to get much of anything but lemon juice out
of lemons.

Richard Hayes
rhayes at unm.edu

=================
Weren't all the ancient Asian teachers authoritarian? 

Putting it another way--all the polities of ancient Asia (and
still today for most of them) were both patriarchal and
authoritarian.  India sort of has a democracy so far as voting
goes, but after the votes are told, the
patron-client/caste/kinship and fictive kinship relations resume;
and the dalits are still lowest on the social totem pole.
Not very clear what converting to Buddhism under Ambedkar did for
them, either.

Joanna