[Buddha-l] Vajrayana on buddha in the Buddha

[R B Basham]

Bright Ancients and those Not,


The Brit Hume advice to Tiger Woods continues to come up, not only here
but there and then again over there. 

Appended is a link to one introspective process which seems valuable to
emulate not so much for its significant content but for (personal)
lucidity. My own rationalizations appear simpler as I noted that being
responsible as a Buddhist differed from Brit Hume's Judeo-Christian
absolution; neither of which is central, but irrelevant, to Fleming's
'straw men'. To me, the crux is analogous to how stereotypes deal with
working as well as non-working consumer products. In the former, most
individuals appear identical yet, in the latter circumstance,
stereotypes differentiate as some throw away and replace the broken (or
out-dated) while others fix or reconsider. ... 

'Conditioned mind' does determine what 'stories' are told as well as
listened to, doesn't it. <G> =BigGrin


Richard, the Recessed, Basham

**

http://www.countercurrents.org/fleming160110.htm

What Brit Hume Doesn't Know About Buddhism And The Sorry State Of US
Christianity
By Eileen Fleming; 16 January, 2010; Countercurrents.org

Recently on the Bill O'Reilly show, Brit Hume advised Tiger Woods that
he should turn from Buddhism to Christianity.

On 'O'Reilly', Brit Hume Reaffirms His Faith; Tells Tiger Woods He
Should to Turn to Christianity

The truth is that the best Christians are also Buddhists, such as Thomas
Merton, Trappist monk poet, social critic and mystic, who said: "I see
no contradiction between Buddhism and Christianity. I intend to become
as good a Buddhist as I can." [Steindl-Rast, 1969, "Recollection of
Thomas Merton's Last Days in the West"]

The pre-Christian Merton was attracted to the mysticism of Aldous Huxley
in the book, "Ends and Means," which sowed the seeds of apophatic
mysticism-meaning a knowledge of God obtained by negation-that sprouted
into a relationship with Buddhist teachings about the Void and
Emptiness. Merton also devoured Christian mystical writings by
Pseudo-Dionysius, Gregory of Nyssa, Meister Eckhart and John of the
Cross. 

...