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

[jkirk]

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

Authoritarianism was just about the only game on the planet until
a few centuries ago. There have been a few tiny, short-lived,
largely unsuccessful experiments in non-authoritarian
institutions. They usually fail, because all but a few people
lack the ability to cope with uncertainty and open-endedness.


> Putting it another way--all the polities of ancient Asia (and
still 
> today for most of them) were both patriarchal and
authoritarian.


Every now and then one finds a society that is a refreshing
departure from
that generalization. Mohawk and Cherokee cultures, for example,
are
authoritarian and matriarchal.

-- 
Richard Hayes
==========
You left out the Hopi. ----but they weren't Asian.

JK