[Buddha-l] buddha-l Digest, Vol 103, Issue 6

[James A Stroble]

On Sat, 14 Sep 2013 23:23:38 -0400
"Dan Lusthaus" <vasubandhu at earthlink.net> wrote:

> That was not the issue.

I have been thinking back to an earlier discussion, where the "right
speech" of the eight-fold path came up.  Unfortunately, I don't know
how to apply it in this situation. 

I would repeat my earlier reference to the move "The Matrix" and point
out that Morpheus and Neo are fighting, again, but this did not seem to
resonate the first time.  

But the nationalism and religion question intrigues me.  I am of the
opinion that religion gets co-opted by nationalist interests in most
cases, but I get the feeling Dan is of the contrary opinion.  But in
the case of Buddhism, it seems that the assertion of Buddhism as a part
of a national identity is what is at stake, not Buddhism per se.  Maybe
I am not very aware of any such trans-national Buddhist identity, but
it does not seem that the Sinhalese are all that concerned about the
Tibetan struggle, or the Burmese about the Thais. This suggests to me,
at least, that nationalism is the prime mover in such struggles, and
religion only a convenient prop.  


-- 
Yours, 

James Andy Stroble
Leeward Community College