[Buddha-l] Dharmapala

[Dan Lusthaus]

Andy writes:

> So we put out message in terms the warrior caste can understand? That 
> doesn't
> mean we are really pulling the legs off of crabs, only that those who 
> won't
> engage in rational debate are pulling into their irrational shell.

The crab analogy is presented as a simile ("this is like..."). Vajrapani is 
not.

Does one metaphoricalize the literal in the following to make sense of it? 
This comes from near the end of the Cula-Saccaka sutta:

"One insulting a furious elephant would be safe, yet not a man insulting 
good Gotama. There is safety to a man disturbing a burning flame, but there 
is no safety to a man insulting good Gotama. A man insulting a venomous 
snake would find safety, yet one insulting good Gotama would not find 
safety. We were bold and daring and thought to insult good Gotama with a 
dispute. May good Gotama, accept tomorrow's meal from me together with the 
Community of bhikkhus. The Blessed One accepted in silence."

http://metta.lk/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/2Majjhima-Nikaya/Majjhima1/035-culasaccaka-sutta-e1.html

For the literary among us, note the difference in significance to Buddha's 
silence at this point compared with Saccaka's almost lethal silence earlier.

Dan