[Buddha-l] Dharmapala

[andy]

On Tuesday 13 July 2010 03:52:43 pm Federico Andino wrote:
> 
> One of the things that always bug me is "West". For example, I had met
> people from Europe and USA who doesn´t consider Latin America part of the
> west, and if by west you mean wasp, damn right it isn´t. What would
> constitute this mythical west that opposes the mythical orient?
> 
> F

Yes, it bothers me too!  And I was taught never to use the term.  Evidently, I 
failed.   But this construct is a necessary part of the Orientalist critique.  
My point might be that in the debate over Buddhist violence, the criticism of 
imaginary Buddhism is in fact still a form of Orientalism. 

And as an aside, at a conference on East-West philosophy, I was completely 
confused by one speaker's use of the east-west distinction.   After  awhile, 
it became clear that his line was the Berlin Wall.  

-- 
James Andy Stroble, PhD
Lecturer in Philosophy
Department of Arts & Humanities
Leeward Community College
University of Hawaii

Adjunct Faculty 
Diplomatic and Military Studies
Hawaii Pacific University 

_________________

"The amount of violence at the disposal of any given country may soon not be a 
reliable indication of the country's strength or a reliable guarantee against 
destruction by a substantially smaller and weaker power."  --Hannah Arendt