DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - How western Buddhism has changed in 50 years

**JJoon077** · 05-28-2012, 02:36 PM

Personally, i am glad to see 2000 years of cultural lacquer and mysticism stripped off of the beautiful dharma of the Buddha Shakyamuni. I would gladly listen to the teachings in plain English, without the Sanskrit, the Tibetan and other foreign terms. I would love to have Emptiness put in plain English, and the other concepts so often "debated" by dialecticions.

The clearest example of this i can bring to mind is the teaching on compassion: to treat all with equal regard, not holding some with affection, some with despite, and others with ignorance. In this case, that word Ignorance is derived from the root "to ignore", apparently translated by someone who did not understand the terms nor the concepts, and is still prevalent to this day~!

It was only through meditational insight that one saw the disparity; the true meaning is best expressed in English by the word: Indifference. What a world of difference that one word makes to the whole lesson. So it is with so many other words, handed down like heirlooms, their meaning lost, their beauty besmearched by so many grasping hands. Let the Westernization of the Teachings of the Rightly Self Awakened One proceed~!

05-28-2012, 02:36 PM	#16
JJoon077 Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 484 Senior Member	Personally, i am glad to see 2000 years of cultural lacquer and mysticism stripped off of the beautiful dharma of the Buddha Shakyamuni. I would gladly listen to the teachings in plain English, without the Sanskrit, the Tibetan and other foreign terms. I would love to have Emptiness put in plain English, and the other concepts so often "debated" by dialecticions. The clearest example of this i can bring to mind is the teaching on compassion: to treat all with equal regard, not holding some with affection, some with despite, and others with ignorance. In this case, that word Ignorance is derived from the root "to ignore", apparently translated by someone who did not understand the terms nor the concepts, and is still prevalent to this day~! It was only through meditational insight that one saw the disparity; the true meaning is best expressed in English by the word: Indifference. What a world of difference that one word makes to the whole lesson. So it is with so many other words, handed down like heirlooms, their meaning lost, their beauty besmearched by so many grasping hands. Let the Westernization of the Teachings of the Rightly Self Awakened One proceed~!
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