[Buddha-l] Jim Peavler's Experience

[Richard Hayes]

On Sun, May 24, 2009 at 2:46 AM, Jayarava <jayarava at yahoo.com> wrote:

>
> It would seem that Richard was caught up in his own rhetorical flow and
> somewhat over stated the case :-) A far better example of this would be
> Sariputta's mother when he returned home! Although even she came around in
> the end.


I was thinking of the story of the Buddha returning to his home for the
first time after his awakening. His wife urges Rahula to go ask his father
for his inheritance. That gesture does not sound like the actions of a wife
pleased with how her husband has turned out, but it does not explicitly
depict her as disgruntled. I have, it must be admitted, made a number of
assumptions about the mood of the lady who prompts her son to go ask for his
inheritance.

In the famous story under consideration, Gotama says something to the effect
that the only treasure he has is the Dhamma, and he invites his son into the
gang. His parents then complain that he, Gotama, has broken their heart once
by renouncing the world and is now breaking their hearts again by taking
away their beloved grandson. Again, this does not sound to my ear like the
outpouring of parents thrilled with how their son's choice of careers.


> Otherwise I think Richard has nailed it. Would like to see that sentiment -
> perhaps sans the personal comments about Sasaki Roshi - as a blog post
> Richard. It deserves a wider audience.


Buddha-l has far more readers than either of my blogs. Today I plan to post
something cranky about an American holiday called Memorial Day, which
irritates me to a point of near insanity. Fortunately for me, hardly anyone
will read it.

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