[Buddha-l] "Western Self, Asian Other"

[Richard Hayes]

On Jan 1, 2010, at 12:21 PM, Ralf Steckel wrote:

> practicing Buddhism would give every scholar of Buddhism the chance to have a direct and experimental access his or her field of study. So i'm a bit astonished that so few do.

You may be relieved to know that it's false that few scholars of Buddhism have a direct and experimental relationship with their area of study. The vast majority do have such a relationship. I can think of only a few individual scholars who do not (or have not in the past) had such a relationship. There are some, especially in the United States, who do not publicize their relationship with what they study out of fear of being seen as proselytizers. In a country in which the prevalent educational policies are influenced by the wording of the separation of church and state, most people who have anything to do with religious studies at all are careful not to be perceived as advocating a particular religious tradition. They learn to keep their own religious convictions and practices at home or at their dojo (where, incidentally, they belong), not in the classroom.

Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico