Today's discussion question

[Rev'd Seventy-Six]

Of the three Buddhists with whom I've been acquainted, all were hetero
North American anglo males and, incidentally, assholes. One was a
lifestyle buddhist and chronic check dodger, one was a former
footballer turned punk (a refined taste in booze led him to better
parties), and the last had a penchant for brawls and chasing women
half his age.  They were all good friends before they did what a lot
of Western seekers do and went groping for a framework which would
permit them to justify their lapses.

Are all Western converts to Buddhism bad? No. Neither are all of them
suited to the philosophies they have adopted. This is not heresy,
given that People Are People; we're all slogging thru the same cloud
of unknowing, so who doesn't yearn to make faith simpler, like a
plastic nametag adorned with Flair, as though faith were a fancy title
designed to elevate one's social standing...

It's fakers I abhor, not fakirs.

On 8/13/13, Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com> wrote:
> I've been away. Did you ask a question, David? I didn't get that you
> actually meant to interact on this matter in a sober manner. As to
> Westerners who take robes as Sangha, one Tibetan monk said to me, "I don't
> get these Westerners. I've been a monk all my life and I don't think I'm
> ready to do the practices they want to do right now, right away. We think
> you have to train to be ready to do these practices safely, but the
> Westerners think can just meditate on emptiness and they are enlightened."
> He is not the only Tibetan who shook his head in consternation at the
> Westerners trying to be Tibetans, and it is frequently commented on in
> Buddhist literature today. I didn't just work for them, I studied, too. But
> I never had aspirations of monasticism.
>
> I do scoff at the vast majority of so-called religious people. I think Marx
> was right.
>
>
> On Tue, Aug 13, 2013 at 5:35 PM, Michael Bailey <
> michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> A) personal acquaintance with 2 westerners who adopted buddhism has not
>> revealed it to be a complete panacea of character improvement imho
>>
>> B) pynchon doesn't seem extremely overawed by the mystic East in any of
>> its aspects.  Would say that christianity plays a much bigger role, also
>> western philosophical tradition and history of technology, in all his
>> work.
>>
>


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