[Buddha-l] Buddha's Meditation

[Franz Metcalf]

Gang,

Since Richard brings up the metaphor,

> If Buddhism is a mirror, Westerners have seen their
> own faces in it and fallen in love with what they saw.

(and since I seem to be going for a personal record for most buddha-l  
posts in a day), I quote Robert Sharf's conclusion to an important  
article he wrote now almost 20 years ago:

“Like Narcissus, [Western Buddhist] enthusiasts failed to recognize  
their own reflection in the [supposedly Buddhist] mirror being held  
out to them.”
----Robert H. Sharf, 1993. “The Zen of Japanese Nationalism,”
     _History of Religions_, 33/1 (1993): 39.

Luckily, as Huineng knew, there is no mirror. Timothy, a poem on this?  
Here, I'll be Shenxiu, you can be Huineng.

     Western civilization is the bodhi tree
     Our self-image is pure and perfect.
     At all times we must strive to export these,
     Always denying our own projections.

Franz Metcalf