DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - Mahayana and Theravada? Which did Shakyamuni teach? (my opinion)

**g4YthYXx** · 11-23-2011, 07:02 AM

Greetings,

...To disguise ones writing as the teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha shouldn't be an issue so long as the one doing so is also truly a Buddha, and is using skillful means to deliver the message.

Except that it is disingenuous and this disingenuosity speaks volumes of those who would willingly instigate and perpetuate such lies - and let's be honest, that's what knowingly stuffing one's own words into the Buddha's (or any of the early arahants') mouth is. Lies are not skilful, for they are not Right Speech.

If something has been composed by someone else, they should have the integrity and honesty to be upfront about it, and let the audience decide whether they are prepared to take it as authoratative, on its own merits, and according to their own reason.

This criticism isn't exclusive to Mahayana either - Theravada is not free from such chicanery, as the above example of the Abhidhamma demonstrates. It is unfortunate that deliberate lies have been made throughout history, but on the flipside, it is good that modern scholarship is helping to untangle the falsehoods perpetuated by Buddhist traditions, so that the genuine spiritual seeker, interested in the Buddha's own teachings, arguably has a better chance of finding it (or something closely approximating it) now in the 21st century than at any point over the last 2000 years.

Metta,
Retro.

11-23-2011, 07:02 AM	#23
g4YthYXx Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 445 Senior Member	Greetings, ...To disguise ones writing as the teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha shouldn't be an issue so long as the one doing so is also truly a Buddha, and is using skillful means to deliver the message. Except that it is disingenuous and this disingenuosity speaks volumes of those who would willingly instigate and perpetuate such lies - and let's be honest, that's what knowingly stuffing one's own words into the Buddha's (or any of the early arahants') mouth is. Lies are not skilful, for they are not Right Speech. If something has been composed by someone else, they should have the integrity and honesty to be upfront about it, and let the audience decide whether they are prepared to take it as authoratative, on its own merits, and according to their own reason. This criticism isn't exclusive to Mahayana either - Theravada is not free from such chicanery, as the above example of the Abhidhamma demonstrates. It is unfortunate that deliberate lies have been made throughout history, but on the flipside, it is good that modern scholarship is helping to untangle the falsehoods perpetuated by Buddhist traditions, so that the genuine spiritual seeker, interested in the Buddha's own teachings, arguably has a better chance of finding it (or something closely approximating it) now in the 21st century than at any point over the last 2000 years. Metta, Retro.
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