[Buddha-l] authoritarianism, totalitarianism, religions

[jkirk]

Dear Piya

Please do us a favor and tell us what you object to in Schopen's
lecture--I ask because I don't have time to listen to video
online, especially as I rarely watch TV anyway. 

If he is pointing out that the Buddha knew merchants and so
forth, and practiced diplomacy with kings and rich people,
well--why not? The sangha had to beg for a living and they were
his responsibility. 
People keep anachronistically discussing what the Buddha did or
didn't, as if he's wandering around the place today, totally
ignoring that the cultural conditions when he was alive are not
the same today. 

Joanna 
=============

There are also those who see Buddhism in mostly a negative way,
maybe this would consolidate their tenure (wrong livelihood,
actually), esp when their facts are convenient hypotheses and
oversimplifications, as shown by Schopen recently:

http://blog.beliefnet.com/onecity/2009/05/buddha-as-businessman.h
tml

May the light not blind us too long.

Piya Tan




On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 2:36 PM, Dan Lusthaus
<vasubandhu at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> I have no desire to wade into this any more than to note the
following.
> Religions generally -- not just Asian religions, and certainly
not 
> Buddhism exclusively -- are by nature authoritarian. This
cannot be 
> camouflaged or ameliorated by claiming there are "masters" (how
about 
> "my master") who treats me like a horse, and lets me have
relaxed 
> reins in terms of my degree of participation (because, of
course, in 
> the West, few of us enter actual monastic communities with the
regulations, stipulations, controls, etc.
> those typically require -- instead we've devised sort of
monastic 
> half-way houses where we can psychologize and self-justify our 
> submission to authority by claiming it is lessons in humility, 
> ego-reduction, faith, and whatever). Our experiments with these

> halfway houses quickly revealed their were seedbeds for all
sorts of 
> abuse. Not a new Western phenomena, but an age-old one,
institutionalized over many centuries.
>
> Again, not just Buddhist. From today's NYTimes, concerning
Irish
> reformatories:
>
> Report Details Abuses in Irish Reformatories By SARAH LYALL
> Published: May 20, 2009
>
> LONDON - Tens of thousands of Irish children were sexually,
physically 
> and emotionally abused by nuns, priests and others over 60
years in a 
> network of church-run residential schools meant to care for the
poor, 
> the vulnerable and the unwanted, according to a report released
in Dublin on Wednesday.
>
> The 2,600-page report paints a picture of institutions run more
like 
> Dickensian orphanages than 20th-century schools, characterized
by 
> privation and cruelty that could be both casual and
choreographed.
>
> (the rest, including a link to the report, at) 
>
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/21/world/europe/21ireland.html?hp
>
> Members of an e-list such as buddha-hell must have a certain
affection 
> and fondness for Buddhism, or they wouldn't continue to loiter
in its 
> nether regions. That fondness inclines one to be defensive of
that 
> which one idealizes. Conversely, one finds it deeply disturbing
to 
> learn unpleasant truths about one's idols. A century ago
reports like 
> the one above were being published and disseminated in Japan --
except 
> they weren't about Irish reformatories, they were about Tibetan

> monasteries, where pederasty (and other problems) was 
> institutionalized to a degree that Japanese traveling to Tibet
were 
> scandalized and troubled -- not that the Japanese clergy has
lacked in 
> major scandals and outrageous abuses and misbehaviors over the
centuries as well. Even so, what they saw in Tibet disturbed
them.
>
> See
>
http://www.japanese-religions.jp/publications/assets/JR33_a_Shima
tsu.p
> df Yoichi SHIMATSU's "A Hidden History: Free Tibet, the Lost
Crusade 
> of Buddhist Japan"
> (a pdf)
>
> Buddhism, esp. its actual, historical, institutional history,
may NOT 
> hold the answer to all of life's problems nor the best
prescriptions 
> for how things should be done. Mindless Buddhism -- regardless
of the 
> sentiments motivating participation -- easily lends itself to
these abuses.
>
> Not only Nansen's cat was a victim of lethal pedagogy (and
valorized 
> for decapitation); it was acceptable -- even highlighted in the

> edifying narratives -- for Zen "masters" to lie in wait on the
Temple 
> wall for the naughty students who snuck out at night to return
from 
> their partying, meeting them on the wall with a heavy stick,
knocking 
> them off the wall to their deaths -- setting examples ("Zen is
a 
> matter of life and death" -- no joking!). Accepting that sort
of 
> pedagogy continues in present day Japan, where annually a dozen
or 
> more elementary school children are killed by overzealous
corporal 
> punishment inflicted by their teachers. Generally, the teacher
is not 
> reprimanded; rather the "shame" falls to the parents for having
raised 
> such a miserable kid deserving of such treatment. (A recent
case may 
> have begun to challenge that tradition, but traditions die hard
in 
> that part of the world.)
>
> Because of the seriousness of such abuses (and more), these are
not 
> trivial issues to be swept under the rug with wishful,
romanticized 
> sentiments. They need to be thought about -- critically and
deeply.
>
> Dan
>
>
>
>
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