[Buddha-l] Glass bhumi - was Denigrating Buddhism

[andy]

> 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
> 

Hi, Alex!   Well I am not a Buddhist, so I was only speaking of myself.  
And inadvertently using some kind of imperial "we".   I was reacting to 
charges of Saidian Orientalism by those who maintain that that Buddhism, in 
its historical cultural context, was not necessarily a religion of peace.  

So I don't know.   Do you _look_ Buddhist?    (a poor attempt at humor.)

Best wishes, 

-- 
James Andy Stroble