Today's discussion question

[David Morris]

My point to Ian was about his prejudice re. Western Buddhist.

On Tuesday, August 13, 2013, David Morris wrote:

> Again, your response ignores the context of my question to Ian, who
> generally condemned Westerners who have adopted Buddhism and said he'd "run
> afoul" of their I'll-fitting said adoption.  All of Ian's personal
> experiences in that regard were on Western turf, where your answer to my
> question is irrelevant at best.
>
> On Tuesday, August 13, 2013, Bekah wrote:
>
>> By that logic no Christian could hate his neighbor because  "love" is a
>> fundamental goal of Christianity.   As far as I know,  all religions have
>> members whose behavior falls short of the goals of their creed.    That's
>> why these basics are goals and admonitions,  not penalized by expulsion
>> (therefore not a Christian) if the followers (members/believers)  fall
>> short.
>>
>> Bekah
>>
>>
>> On Aug 13, 2013, at 4:47 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> > Please refer to my response to Malignd.
>> >
>> > On Tuesday, August 13, 2013, Bekah wrote:
>> > Or on the Pakistani border or the Delhi slums where the Hindus clash
>> with the Muslims regularly.
>> >
>> > Sunday:
>> >
>> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/10236064/Kashmir-Violence-escalates-between-Hindus-and-Muslims.html
>> >
>> > Bekah
>> >
>> > On Aug 13, 2013, at 2:06 PM, malignd at aol.com wrote:
>> >
>> > > You live as a Muslim in Burma.
>> > > How does one run afoul of any Buddhist, of whatever stripe.
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > -----Original Message-----
>> > > From: David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>
>> > > To: Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>
>> > > Cc: alice wellintown <alicewellintown at gmail.com>; pynchon -l <
>> pynchon-l at waste.org>
>> > > Sent: Mon, Aug 12, 2013 8:07 pm
>> > > Subject: Re: Today's discussion question
>> > >
>> > > How does one run afoul of any Buddhist, of whatever stripe.  Did
>> someone criticize your words or behavior?  Did you cruely squash an
>> innocent bug in his presence?  Or is it that the Buddist ran afoul of your
>> prejudices?  From your harsh judgement of their aspirations, I would guess
>> the later.  "Equanimity" is a foundational goal of Buddhism.  Tolerance is
>> equanimity toward others.
>> > >
>> > > David Morris
>> > >
>> > > On Monday, August 12, 2013, Ian Livingston wrote:
>> > > Well, I still wouldn't dare speak for P, but, parsing the statement
>> just a little, I will speak for myself, as someone undoubtedly influenced
>> by Pynchon rightly and wrongly by turns.
>> > >
>> > > I have had the great displeasure of running afoul Westerners in
>> Buddhist robes. These people who go bowing to the East in the certainty
>> that they will attain enlightenment through Eastern teachings take with
>> them all the shit they already believe, all the bunk they have learned in
>> school, and all their prejudices and try to shoehorn those into teachings
>> from sages who had no relation to the world we live in. They're like
>> Cinderella's step-sisters but that they go on believing that they are
>> wearing the glass slipper that never fit on their foot in the first place.
>> The whole delusion results in comically tormented psyches. It's a lot like
>> the people in the big Bible-thumping cults calling themselves Christians.
>> They are ruled by their own Shadows, living in darkness that wastes the
>> good any of them might accomplish in the world.
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > On Mon, Aug 12, 2013 at 8:47 AM, alice wellintown <
>> alicewellintown at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > > Mencken was, as is the average western philosopher, satirist, pundit,
>> blogger, spirit-hungry westerner...what have you, ignorant of the
>> traditions of Eastern philosophy, religion, literature, art. But given the
>> global problems we face, the urgency of many of these problems, climate
>> change and population growth and depletion of the planet are three that are
>> obvious, it seems foolish to ridicule those who would seriously turn to the
>> East, if not for solutions or wisdom, for insights into how East and West
>> may find common ground. This is not likely to succeed if the West continues
>> to insist that all that science and math can not take the measure of is
>> superstitious nonsense, Emersonian naked eyeball transparencies that once
>> viewed through the superior lens of science are stripped of the rose and
>> under the rose colorings of the observer and made black and white zeros and
>> ones. Mencken is a good tonic for the youthful longings of those who read
>> Herman Hesse, who fail to heed the wit of Voltaire, who live in what most
>> would call the best of all possible worlds, and who run fast from the magic
>> of their own traditions and into the trappings of ones they can never begin
>> to make meaningful. But his scientism is now endemic and allied with a
>> haughty exceptionalism. A little humility is called for. The planets can
>> not be charmed from the sky. We must observe them with our feet on the
>> ground, but what Galileo tea
>
>
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