[Buddha-l] Big is beautiful (was: Review of a review)

[Richard Hayes]

On Jul 2, 2010, at 11:39 AM, Franz Metcalf wrote:

> I find it interesting that the word "petty" in English carries this  
> even further, with its actual denotation diverging from the French  
> "petit."

In Québec, 'petit', often shortened to 'ti', is used as a term of fondness and familiarity, like diminutives in many other languages. A term of great fondness of a child is 'ti-cul', difficult to translate literally, but perhaps not unlike calling someone a little asshole.

> Est-ce que c'est vrai, Joy?

I think he'd respond better to being called Joytje.

> Mandatory Buddhist content: this parallels the Pali word "hina."  
> Perhaps this is why Mahayana has been more successful in the big ol'  
> USofA.

Don López (or, as his friends call him, Lopecito) has observed, Americans always want to start at the very top without having to work their way up there. As soon as they found out there was a Mahāyāna, that was for them. And then when they heard of anuttara tantra, they dropped the puny Mahāyāna and went for the best. As for myself, I grew up in a small-is-beautiful household. My dad rode a bicycle to work before it was fashionable, and when he had to drive a car, he drove a Nash Rambler. Cripes, with an upbringing like that I was destined for the hīnayāna.

Ricardito