[Buddha-l] Glass bhumi - was Denigrating Buddhism

[Alex Wilding]

Andy wrote:
> Contempt?  Well, yes, if it is deserved.  And there is
> much in the tradition called Buddhism to be contemptible
> of. But of course we can save the tradition by identifying
> those contemptible things as "not real Buddhism".  The
> problem is, as western selves, we have no right to do so.
> Or so I am lead to believe.
Can you shed light on this puzzle for me? Does being born and educated in the heart of England make me somehow less of a Buddhist? I have less authority? Less knowledge? Less insight? Less compassion?
Is there a glass bhumi that bars the way to someone with my western roots, but easily passed by someone born east of say, Kabul? (And north of the Timor Sea and west of Hawaii, of course.)
Please explain.
All the best
Alex W