[Buddha-l] Rice & Dragons

[Richard Hayes]

On Apr 16, 2012, at 09:11 , Jo wrote:

> Christianity also is 'anti-casteism,' but Indian Christians are divided into castes, with the usual social consequences.

About fifteen years ago I was invited to give some talks on B. R. Ambedkar at a Sikh temple near Sacramento, which is located in California some place. It come to my attention while there that the Sikhs who invited me were all low-caste Sikhs and were excluded from worship in the high-caste Sikh temples in the area. Sikhism, of course, is also supposed to be egalitarian and casteless. And California is also supposed to be without caste, but of course anybody who has spent as much as an entire day there knows the place is totally riven by castes based on race, language, sexual orientation, career prestige, proximity to San Francisco and how many "friends" they have on Facebook.

> I'm not aware of any published social research on the Boruas, Buddhists of Bengal, Theravadins-- do they also practice caste division/exclusion and old Hindu purity rituals? Can Dalits, for ex., convert to Buddhism there and be accepted by the Boruas? 

I am not aware of any published literature on the topic, but I have heard plenty of anecdotal evidence from Buddhist dalits, and especially those who follow Ambedkar, that they are despised and rejected by other Buddhists and acquainted with grief. Louis Dumont pretty much got the story of caste right in Homo Hierarchicus. 

One person who has written a fair amount Buddhist dalits is Barbara Joshi, but I'm not sure how much she has addressed the question you specifically asked about dalit Buddhists and Baruas. 

Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico