Buddhist monk leaves mess
Posted on 11/28/2010 4:43:55 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Buddhism and Islam came off as the two “faith communities” to whom other Americans feel least warm, according to a Faith Matters survey of 2007. Robert Putnam and David Campbell ponder this in American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, which Sightings has visited twice before. Mormons come in third as a stimulator of “least warm” feelings among others. The authors comment that negative media attention hurts Mormons and Muslims, but “Buddhists do not get the same negative media attention” as do those two. So something else must account for the negative ratings of Buddhism.
Reach for your search engine, Google or otherwise, and ask “which religion is most peaceful?” Once you get past the answers of apologists-of course, Muslims think Islam is, and Christians think Christianity is-it’s clear that Buddhism is seen as most peaceful.
What gives? Read on in the polls and interviews and you will find that Buddhists are kept at a distance by some because they are at a distance from others. Buddhists profit from their distance. If familiarity breeds contempt against Muslims, unfamiliarity also does not help them or Buddhists. Despite this picture derived from those polls and interviews, one still has to ponder: Jews, Christians, and Muslims suffer in the media because their texts and traditions are often so warlike. Ask your friend who practices Buddhism why it does not suffer? Answer: Because its texts and traditions breed peace.
As an equal opportunity admirer and critic of the “faith communities” on this subject, I also have wondered how Buddhism gets its peaceful reputation. A review by Katherine Wharton of two books, Buddhist Warfare and The Six Perfections illuminates. Buddhist Warfare, says Wharton, “forms an accurate history of violence in the name of religion,” and cites sutras which shock, since they “justify killing with detailed reference to the Buddha’s central philosophical tenants. The book therefore presents a uniquely Buddhist ‘heart of darkness.’” Brian Victoria’s essay in The Six Perfections brings the issue to modern times: D. T. Suzuki (d. 1966), “the most influential proponent of Zen to the West in the twentieth century . . . gave his unqualified support to the ‘unity of Zen and the sword.’”
Between ancient and modern times, as another contributor to these symposia finds and cites, was Chinese monk Yi-hiuan, who urged his hearers to “kill everything you encounter, internally as well as externally! Kill the Buddha! Kill your father and mother! Kill your closest friends!”
In the eyes of many apologists and observers, the Buddhist concept of “emptiness” is, from a distance, a guarantor of peace, over against the fullness of Warrior-God texts in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. But Wharton is convinced by these books that “emptiness” can and does also promote violence, and is not by itself the solution.
Now, why does Sightings, which keeps track of celebrations of peace and reconciliation, so often point to violence in texts and traditions? To give aid and comfort to “the New Atheists,” who solicit our aid in killing all religion(s) to assure peace? Hardly. To suggest that condemning Muslims (or specific others) because of the violence of some among them is unfair? Partly. Most important it is to provide a basis for hope for those who work on ecumenical or interfaith grounds and to point to the reconciliatory texts and work on the basis of them, but without illusions. Respondent publics agree that the religious texts point finally to shalom, peace, reconciliation. Their final promise deserves attention all along the way. The final word might come first.
References
David E. Campbell and Robert D. Putnam, American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010).
Michael K. Jerryson and Mark Juergensmeyer, editors, Buddhist Warfare (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010).
Katherine Wharton, “Buddhists at war: The dark side of what is often thought to be the most peaceful of religions,” The Times Literary Supplement, September 29, 2010.
Dale S. Wright, The Six Imperfections: Buddhism and the Cultivation of Character (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009).
--- Martin E. Marty's biography, current projects, upcoming events, publications, and contact information can be found at www.illuminos.com. Original Source: Sightings – A biweekly, electronic editorial published by the Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School.
Like I said, you become your own god.
Burma. The military junta regards Buddhism as the state religion and persecutes both Christians and Muslims.
How about the Boxer Rebellion? Okay, the Boxers were mixed Buddhist/Taoist, but still. We Orthodox Christian commemorate the New Martyrs of China, and it was Buddhists (and Taoists), not Muslims or Communists who sent them to their glory.
Of course this has nothing to do with Yi-hiuan's dictum, which is about the need to detach one-self from the passions.
Uh, you are seeing it through the Christian lens...
No God does not = “You become your own God”
while some may have other Gods than Jesus Christ or the Jewish Yaweh, ...they may have Islamic Gods or Hindu Gods or Materialism or Drugs as their God...It is also possible to have No God, yet not be “your own God.”
I would agree with that. The percentage of Buddhists in western societies is still very small. There is also the factor that most media attention on Buddhism is what New Age “gurus” who have books and programs to sell say about it. Who else would the MSM interview but other leftists?
Give me a break! The military junta in Burma is no more Buddhist than Hitler was a Catholic. And the Boxer Rebellion was the Chinese finally blowing their cork over Britain’s tyrannical and selfish rule.
When you place yourself and your struggles at the center of your life, you become your own god. Little g.
And the westernized-American- California Buddhism fit in so well with the Beatles, “Peace and love”, moral relativism and vegetarianisim and environmentalism....
I can hear Al Gore and Hillary now....”OHHHHHH..mmmm”...”OOOOOOmmmmmm” ( as they meditate on their bank account ledgers.ha)
In many cases, the converts understand little of the religion they are converting to; conversion is a political statement, not a religious one. This is true of American blacks who convert to Islam, as well. They think they are embracing a pacifist religion of their African ancestors. But, while Islam might be big in Africa, that is in Northern Africa, where the people are not black, but are Caucasian. Furthermore, Islam is not pacifistic.
_________________________________________
Agreed. But if I listen to the fruity nasal tones of my Buddhist neighbors one more time.....
Yes, your statement is true....but there are some people who put a “greater consciousness” or their version of “nothingness” at the center of their life, that is what guides them...It is not them, not their ego, and not any God we would , or they would attribute.
When you blame anybody but yourself for your problems (ie suffering) you become a liberal. Big L.
True... but that's true of most leftist elitists no matter their purported religion happens to be.
True... but that’s true of most leftist elitists no matter their purported religion happens to be.
again: Fruity nasal tones...
It takes real work to attain nothingness and then what are you left with? Bupkis, that's what.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
And I remind you, I was pointing to murders and wars "in the name of Buddhism" not murders or wars perpetrated by Buddhists whose piety you would approve. Unlike Hitler, who murdered in the name of the Aryan Race, not of his nominal religion, the Burmese junta murders in the name of their nominal religion.
Well, you failed miserably on both counts. Neither the Boxer Rebellion nor the military junta in Burma are examples of war or murder in the name of Buddhism.
Were not the Samurai Shintoists?
“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
Yes, peace being imposed only by God, not Christ.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.