[Buddha-l] Bangladesh Muslim lovefest

[Erik Hoogcarspel]

Op 02-10-12 16:22, Richard Hayes schreef:
> Speaking of karma, has anyone read Owen Flanagan's book in which he 
> makes a case for "naturalized" Buddhism, by which he means a Buddhism 
> purged of the superstitions of karma and rebirth? His claim is that 
> naturalized Buddhism has a good deal to offer the modern world that 
> conventional Buddhism cannot offer because it has too many dogmas that 
> cannot be sustained in the light of critical thinking and scientific 
> investigation. Me makes an excellent case of that thesis, and along 
> the way asks whether "tamed" Buddhism (as he sometimes calls it) still 
> deserves to be called Buddhism. The answer, in a nutshell, is that if 
> vajrayāna and Zen deserve to be called Buddhism, then so does modern 
> karma-free Buddhism. It will be interesting to see whether the 
> Buddhist Taliban declares a fatwa on Professor Flanagan.

When I met him a few years ago I read some parts, But to be honest I was 
not very much impressed because naturalizing things seems to be a U.S.A. 
hobby and it means to explain something as causal effects of physical 
events. So legitimizing Buddhism as basically a kind of neuroscience. I 
see principal reasons to reject this hobby, or let's say to see this 
hobby as a kind of science fiction that one reads as pure amusement just 
before going to sleep (it really makes me sleepy, because once you get 
the drift it is all pretty foreseeable).
I would like to see Buddhism getting a lot wilder, but please less serious.

Erik