[Buddha-l] Bourgeois Buddhism

[Richard Hayes]

On Mar 13, 2012, at 3:33 PM, Sally McAra <sallymcara at gmail.com> wrote:

> I thoroughly recommend it for getting an insight into the problems
> relating to divisive generalisations such as the labels "western
> Buddhist" and "ethnic" Buddhist.

I'll look it up. It may help me articulate better why I am deeply uncomfortable with the concept of "Western" Buddhist and also with such notions as "birthright Buddhist" or "born Buddhist" or "Buddhist country" and so forth. I used to become quite queasy when I used to hear people talking about such things as "ethnic going for refuge" and "provisional going for refuge" and "effective going for refuge" and whatnot. It reminded me of Tillich's observation that there is something evil in the systematization and institutionalization of religion. I have always suspected Buddhism was pretty good until it got spoiled by the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path and the Three Jewels. (Cf Hakuin's comment that the Heart Sutra was like a nice soup until some jackass threw the two rat turds, Form and Emptiness, into it.)

Richard Hayes