Today's discussion question

[David Morris]

The interesting thing about Buddhism, at least it's manifestations in the
West, is that it encourages disbelief, questioning, in favor of personal
discovery and experience.  At its core it is anti dogmatic, from a
perspective that dogmas are just another attempt to nail down
reality/spirituality, which is not possible.  Attempts to do so thwart
personal discovery, which is the ultimate goal of Buddhism.  The dogmas do
exist, but they are regarded as hints and help for the journey, not
regimens to be mastered.

On Wednesday, August 14, 2013, wrote:

> Not willful.  I guess the context was Buddhists in America, but your
> question seemed addressed at Buddhism in general.  There are after all
> people who seem to find Buddhism the one unimpeachable religion.  And, to
> be honest, when these  Burma stories first started coming out, I was,
> perhaps naively surprised.  I think of Buddhists in the east setting
> themselves afire, not wantonly murdering practitioners of another religion.
>
>  But you're right about my attitudes; the idea that the DL is a
> reincarnated spirit is as bubble-headed as any other religious myth.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com <javascript:_e({}, 'cvml',
> 'fqmorris at gmail.com');>>
> To: malignd <malignd at aol.com>
> Cc: pynchon-l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Sent: Tue, Aug 13, 2013 7:46 pm
> Subject: Re: Today's discussion question
>
>  Your answer willfully ignores the context of the question.  I know you
> are being disingenuous, because I know you are:
> A) Not that dumb.
> &
> B) Anti any form of spiritual practice.
>
> On Tuesday, August 13, 2013, 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 teaches us about what moves, and what moves, may
> be better appreciated if we treat the ancient wisdoms with more respect
> than the great man was given by the sages who grilled him (though not
> literally). The East is hungry for Western ideas, culture, philosophy,
> science, literatu
>
>
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