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

[Richard Hayes]

On Jan 2, 2010, at 12:15 AM, Dan Lusthaus wrote:

> Simply 
> put, what type of compound it is cannot be solved by grammar alone (grammar 
> only points to possible consequential semantic and doctrinal entailments, 
> and one then has to decide which to embrace -- this is not an objective 
> procedure, as hiding behind grammar would implly, but largely subjective and 
> contextual.

No one is suggesting otherwise. No one I know of would claim that grammar alone can solve a problem. Most people I know, however, would say that a solution found in some other way must at least be grammatical to be worthy of consideration.

> Passing to the following words of the formula, mani padme means “the jewel 
> in the lotus.” Here we seem to find a meaning that is immediately 
> intelligible,

Absolutely false. One cannot say that is the meaning at all (let alone an intelligible meaning), because it is grammatically unsound. There is simply no legitimate way to get that meaning out of those words.

> and yet the usual Tibetan interpretation takes no account 
> whatsoever of this literal meaning,

perhaps because there is no way to see that as the literal meaning;

> the majority of devotees being 
> completely ignorant of it.

Devotees are not ignorant of a meaning the phrase has. They are smart enough to avoid misconstruing the phrase and attributing to it a meaning it cannot possibly have.

> The latter believes that the mechanical 
> repetition of Aum mani padme hum! secures for them a happy birth in Nub dewa 
> chen: the Occidental paradise of bliss.

Who knows what anyone believes? Did Pew or Gallup take a poll of what devotees believe, or is this just another fantasy of a Comparative Religions 101 professor. I doubt reciting this or any other mantra has much of anything to do with belief at all. I reckon it's just a nervous habit that eventually evolves into an addiction, sort of like pledging allegiance to the flag at the beginning of a school day or singing the national anthem before a hockey game.

some Richard or other