Theos-Talk Archives (December 2002 Message tt00522)

Hi Terrie. You have written a message on Buddhism which is skewed in so many ways I will not bother going into it point by point, as I do not want to muddle things up any further or do anything that contributes to any more ill feeling. I have obviously caused you a lot of pain. Would it have been better for me to not have written the original "sermon" or to not have honestly replied to your several messages to me? I don't think so, as I have personally greatly benefited by this exchange, as I believe many others have and it has perhaps set the tone for a new atmosphere on this list that is a little bit more reality based and a lot less in a fantasy world. Though you obviously do not understand this, my aim is for people to suffer less, not more.

Re myself being a Buddhist, I do not believe I have said on this list that I am a Buddhist. I have taken teachings on this subject for over ten years and it is my aspiration to enter the great Mahayana path. In any case, I can never be a conventional Buddhist, as I do not believe in chanting or practicing rituals.

Re. Your own understanding of Buddhism, I believe you have no real knowledge about this subject and do not understand it at all. 

I am sorry I have hurt your feelings so deeply, but I have not said anything that was intended to be mean, only spoken the truth. I can do that if I want, and I am prepared to take the consequences. You do not understand about sleep and waking or about the kindness or not so-kindness of bodhisattvas or so-called bodhisattvas either. You are talking through your hat. For you this whole drama has become an issue of preserving self-esteem.

When you talk about Alpha males and the staking of territory, you make it sound as if you are not trying to do this, yourself. That is dishonest. 

I have not really ever said that much about Buddhism on here, except to give a few simple messages in which I corrected, in a way which was very gentle, a few common misconceptions about Buddhism, that people have voiced out here. I hope people have gotten something out of these messages, and I believe they have. In Mahayana Buddhist teachings people generally do not talk about who is a Buddhist and who is not, as most of the people, if not all of the people, who attend these teachings are not true Mahayana Buddhist, but only aspirants, such as myself, to enter the Mahayana path. If you have taken the bodhisattva vow to relieve the suffering of sentient creatures, this means you aspire to become a Buddhist. A person is not considered an actual Mahayana Buddhist until he is able to generate what is called the greater or unconventional boddichitta. As almost no one is able to do this, this means that very few people are actually on the Mahayana path. (Which is fascinating and interesting, to me at least). I personally would like to enter this path. The prospect of doing so is immeasurably thrilling.

It is hard to understand that people are suffering and how much they (we) are suffering. These last few days on this list have been a good illustration. The suffering that you (and I?) are experiencing is going on all the time, but we do not know it as we are what you call "asleep." It is under the surface, but it motivates our movements and behavior. Look at the behavior of a person who considers himself to be somewhat saintly. It is sad. To kick one person off a list is easy to do, but if there are a bunch of them in country, it is called a war. If you do not believe in the necessity of war, if you are a pacifist. then you do not fight. If you say you do not believe in the necessity of war, that you know how to live without it and then you fight, you are a hypocrite. This is the very problem with conventional kindness: it is merely conventional, though not a bad idea, either, but different situations require different kinds of behavior. Mechanical talk about conventional kindness is too cheap and easy. Look how some people act on this list. It has nothing to do with me. Period. The so-called evil is in yourself. This is the nature of the beast. Someone has hurt your feelings and you are stewing over it. You intend to get even. It is all in the messages. They speak for themselves. The fact of the matter is that you are being unkind to me, and you have said far worse stuff then I have ever said to you, but we are supposed to ignore this and just concentrate on me. I forgive you, though, as in your adorable pesthood, you not only precious, but you are creating a precious learning opportunity for all of us.

Paul, if you are reading this, I am going to try to make a message as soon as possible, explaining, or at least trying to explain, what happened with my misreading of you, as I owe it to you and the members of this list to do so. Wry






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