[Buddha-l] Buddha's Meditation

[Franz Metcalf]

Dan et al.,

You wrote to Richard H. thus:

> Triumph has distinct military denotations, as did the ritual
> of the Triumphal (when it was still a noun). It is not just a
> substitute term for hubris, chauvenism, snobbery, nor
> simply a feeling of superiority, etc.

Well, heck, then no *wonder* you wrote to me thus:

>> So perhaps we're talking about a kind of triumphalism
>> not of Buddhism, but of awakening. That distinction
>> might help.
>
> No, it continues the misconstrual.

Okay, gotcha. You are clearly defining the word more narrowly (and  
more historically) than I am. I generally like that practice, so I am  
happy to concede that we should not call most forms of Buddhism  
triumphal or triumphalist. There *are* and have been such forms, but I  
agree with you in saying they are not in the mainstream (except  
perhaps in Japanese history).

Perhaps this is a bit like the distinction sometimes made between  
"confidence" and "faith." In contrast to the Abrahamic, well, faiths,  
that emphasize (especially in Protestant Christianity) faith, many  
Buddhists claim they need only confidence in the efficacy of their  
doxis and praxis; they have no need for faith because they have  
evidence (non-falsifiable as it may be) that gives them confidence.  
Somehow this strikes me as parallel to the distinction between what we  
might again call Buddhist "confidence" and actual "triumphalism."

In any case, time for me to get off this computer and do something  
useful for a change.

Franz