DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - Does Buddhism need different traditions, schools and sects?

**altosburg** · 07-23-2010, 02:36 AM

Yeah, there's a lot of superstitious stuff that's gotten mixed in, but it's hard for me to look at a tradition like Tibetan Buddhism (with which I strongly disagree on several points) and say, "Man, I wish you weren't out there, you heretics, you. Why can't you be real Buddhists?"

The urge to declare some people "real" Buddhists and some people less so seems to me far more sectarian than merely having different ways of doing things.

The problem being that there are folks in the tibetan religions pointing at us and saying "those aren't really Buddhists", and "that's just 'dharma lite'." And since especially the tibetan religions are all about blind, unquestioning obedience to, and worship of, one's guru, a lot of people believe that out-of-hand.

That attitude prevailed at the now-thankfully-defunt E-Sangha, and also prevails at E-Sangha West, where we see a moderator (and supposed 40-year practitioner of Buddhism) bristling at the name of Nanavira, and expressing his desire to poke what he calls "Nanavira-wallahs" (and apparently everyone else who sees the Dhamma differently than he does) with pointy sticks.

07-23-2010, 02:36 AM	#5
altosburg Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 601 Senior Member	Yeah, there's a lot of superstitious stuff that's gotten mixed in, but it's hard for me to look at a tradition like Tibetan Buddhism (with which I strongly disagree on several points) and say, "Man, I wish you weren't out there, you heretics, you. Why can't you be real Buddhists?" The urge to declare some people "real" Buddhists and some people less so seems to me far more sectarian than merely having different ways of doing things. The problem being that there are folks in the tibetan religions pointing at us and saying "those aren't really Buddhists", and "that's just 'dharma lite'." And since especially the tibetan religions are all about blind, unquestioning obedience to, and worship of, one's guru, a lot of people believe that out-of-hand. That attitude prevailed at the now-thankfully-defunt E-Sangha, and also prevails at E-Sangha West, where we see a moderator (and supposed 40-year practitioner of Buddhism) bristling at the name of Nanavira, and expressing his desire to poke what he calls "Nanavira-wallahs" (and apparently everyone else who sees the Dhamma differently than he does) with pointy sticks.
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