Western Buddhism has been mugged by capitalism

Why does Buddhism get a free pass among religion’s cultured despisers?
With the notable exception of the great Christopher Hitchens, who dished
it out to all, most of the Western media hold Buddhism generally, and
the Dalai Lama in particular, in a curious kind of uncritical respect
that the Enlightenment was supposed to have freed us from. Or as
Hitchens called it: “The widely and lazily held belief that ‘oriental’
religion is different from other faiths: less dogmatic, more
contemplative, more… transcendental.”

So, when the Dalai Lama invites a young child to suck his tongue,
defenders leap in to insist that this is just an unusual cultural
practice that has become lost in translation. Westerners have a very
different understanding of the erogenous: sticking out one’s tongue has
a totally different meaning in Tibet than it does for us. It’s all a
misunderstanding. And his holiness has a rather quirky sense of honour.
He was “misguided” rather than “sleazy”, as one columnist in The Times
put it. Hm...

https://unherd.com/2023/04/the-dalai-lamas-greatest-failure/

On 4/15/2023 3:00 PM, Julian wrote:
> Western Buddhism has been mugged by capitalism
>
>
>
> Why does Buddhism get a free pass among religion’s cultured despisers?
> With the notable exception of the great Christopher Hitchens, who dished
> it out to all, most of the Western media hold Buddhism generally, and
> the Dalai Lama in particular, in a curious kind of uncritical respect
> that the Enlightenment was supposed to have freed us from. Or as
> Hitchens called it: “The widely and lazily held belief that ‘oriental’
> religion is different from other faiths: less dogmatic, more
> contemplative, more… transcendental.”
>
> So, when the Dalai Lama invites a young child to suck his tongue,
> defenders leap in to insist that this is just an unusual cultural
> practice that has become lost in translation. Westerners have a very
> different understanding of the erogenous: sticking out one’s tongue has
> a totally different meaning in Tibet than it does for us. It’s all a
> misunderstanding. And his holiness has a rather quirky sense of honour.
> He was “misguided” rather than “sleazy”, as one columnist in The Times
> put it. Hm...
>
> https://unherd.com/2023/04/the-dalai-lamas-greatest-failure/

"The Buddha found nirvana after many years of praying, meditating and
fasting, finally gaining enlightenment after meditating for days under a
fig tree. Whatever the processes involved here, there are clearly no
short cuts or cheat codes."

I guess that this vicar really does not know Buddhism.

--
Sanford
Strangely enough, it means
the way across the river.

On 18/04/2023 20:01, Sanford wrote:
> On 4/15/2023 3:00 PM, Julian wrote:
>> Western Buddhism has been mugged by capitalism
>>
>>
>>
>> Why does Buddhism get a free pass among religion’s cultured despisers?
>> With the notable exception of the great Christopher Hitchens, who
>> dished it out to all, most of the Western media hold Buddhism
>> generally, and the Dalai Lama in particular, in a curious kind of
>> uncritical respect that the Enlightenment was supposed to have freed
>> us from. Or as Hitchens called it: “The widely and lazily held belief
>> that ‘oriental’ religion is different from other faiths: less
>> dogmatic, more contemplative, more… transcendental.”
>>
>> So, when the Dalai Lama invites a young child to suck his tongue,
>> defenders leap in to insist that this is just an unusual cultural
>> practice that has become lost in translation. Westerners have a very
>> different understanding of the erogenous: sticking out one’s tongue
>> has a totally different meaning in Tibet than it does for us. It’s all
>> a misunderstanding. And his holiness has a rather quirky sense of
>> honour. He was “misguided” rather than “sleazy”, as one columnist in
>> The Times put it. Hm...
>>
>> https://unherd.com/2023/04/the-dalai-lamas-greatest-failure/
>
> "The Buddha found nirvana after many years of praying, meditating and
> fasting, finally gaining enlightenment after meditating for days under a
> fig tree. Whatever the processes involved here, there are clearly no
> short cuts or cheat codes."
>
> I guess that this vicar really does not know Buddhism.

Indeed. Here is a "cheat code"

"Question: Is it possible, without understanding the meaning of the
Lotus Sutra, but merely by chanting the five or seven characters of
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo once a day, once a month, or simply once a year,
once a decade, or once in a lifetime, to avoid being drawn into trivial
or serious acts of evil, to escape falling into the four evil paths, and
instead to eventually reach the stage of non-regression?

Answer: Yes, it is.”

(Nichiren - The Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra)

Further...

"... or hear someone else chant it only once in a lifetime and rejoice
in the hearing, or rejoice in hearing the voice of someone else rejoice
in the hearing, and so on in this manner to the fiftieth hearer."

(Nichiren - The Recitation of the “Expedient Means” and “Life Span”
Chapters)

I didn’t know he had a fey lure. :-)

--
David Dalton dalton@nfld.com https://www.nfld.com/~dalton (home page)
https://www.nfld.com/~dalton/dtales.html Salmon on the Thorns (mystic page)
"And now the angry morning; Gives the early signs of warning; You must
face alone the plans you make; Decisions they will try to break" (S. McL.)