[Buddha-l] Check out The Right's Stupidity Spreads

[Katherine Masis]

Joanna Kirk wrote:
 
"That's probably why we don't find that right-wingers by the hundreds don't
embrace Buddhist practice. I suspect that among the Buddhist cadres they are
quite rare."
 
I'm not sure if this applies to countries other than the U.S.A.  I recall that, a few years ago, someone on this list said that in several Asian countries, Buddhist practitioners aren't necessarily progressive.  At least the Buddhism/left-wing connection hasn't been my experience in Costa Rica.  Sanghas here tend to have a mix of political orientations among their members.  Conversation topics in Costa Rica drift easily and often to both local and international politics, and there is little or no peer pressure in the Sanghas I've been involved with to take sides on any given issue.  Of course, the Tibetan groups here are decidedly in favor of freeing Tibet from China, but how their members vote locally is entirely their business.
 
Katherine Masis
San Jose, Costa Rica