[Buddha-l] Denigrating Buddhism

[Erik Hoogcarspel]

Op 19-08-11 03:18, andy schreef:
> What does all this mean? Being that I reside in Hawaii, I regard 
> tourism as a
> social dis-ease.  And if religion is reduced to tourism, it has crossed the
> line to being worthy of contempt.   A fellow undergrad philosophy student,
> long ago, used to say that he was just a "spiritual thrillseeker"  (which if I
> recall correctly, was patterned after a TV show a the time titled
> "Thrillseekers" hosted by Chuck Conners).  So are western Buddhists just
> spiritual thrillseeking tourists?
>
Chinese tourism is not a disease, it is a disaster, an endless queue of 
chatting, climbing, eating, littering, each other photographing masses, 
that buys lots of souvenirs, most preferably those referring to other 
far away places. Indian tourism is not much better, only instead of 
taking photos people tend to offer rupees to anything that doesn't move 
in the hope that it brings success in business and lottery.
For the present day Chinese person, religion is useless if it is not 
making money or causing amusement and Tibet is the jewel in China's 
crown, the trophy wife, the proof that the present day Polit Bureau is 
even doing a better job than Qin Huangdi, who unified China in 221 BC. 
China has nine skeletons in the cupboard, they are called the Polit Bureau.
Needless to say that tourism has little with religion in general and 
certainly nothing with Buddhist dharma.

erik