From: Ant McWatt (antmcwatt@hotmail.co.uk)
Date: Thu Jul 21 2005 - 20:27:38 BST
Sam Norton stated July 16th 2005:
>Much to my chagrin, I couldn't make the conference with RMP, but I had the
>small compensation of two weeks holiday in China and Mongolia to distract
>me.
Sam,
Your holiday in China and Mongolia certainly appeared to be a high quality
distraction if not quite on the Dynamic level of a conference with Robert
Pirsig. However, there is always next year's MOQ conference...
>Amongst many fascinating things were trips to several Buddhist temples, in
>Beijing and Chengde, which were eye opening in many senses. There were
>several ways in which the practice of religious observance in the temples
>was social level. The most striking, for me, was when we were told by a
>guide that it was common practice (as a 'minimum observance') to come to
>the monastery once a year and ask a monk to pray on your behalf. Hardly the
>'intellectual level' that I thought was the essence of Buddhism!
Isn’t it actually the case that the guide quickly realised that as you were
a barbarian from the West and, as such probably a Christian, you would feel
“more at home” with some socially orientated practices? ;-)
>What really struck me was the way in which the impression of Buddhism that
>I had formed (largely as a result of various conversations on this site)
>was of something very austere and intellectual.
That is the form of Buddhism found in the Buddha’s original teachings (if
Walpola Rahula’s text “What the Buddha Taught” is anything to go by) and the
MOQ. However, it’s absolutely no surprize to me that geographical areas
which have had a (relatively) long Buddhist tradition would have developed
social ceremonies for the less educated. There is also nothing wrong in
this as long as these ceremonies don’t retard a particular individual’s
understanding of Dynamic Quality or undermine the intellectual level. A
senior monk would be well aware of this distinction as indicated in the book
I strongly recommended to Matt Kundert a while back: John Blofeld’s 1973
“Taoist Mystery & Magic”.
In particular, look for the section where a monk finds Blofeld looking at
the statues in a monastery hut depicting the punishments in hell given for
various sins. The monk is careful to point out to Blofeld that the monks
didn’t themselves believe in these punishments or a hell though such
depictions gave a moral guide to the less educated populace (who possibly
couldn’t read, for instance).
Finally, a few comments concerning Khoo Hock Aun’s fascinating reply to you:
>My mother, for instance, is not wise enough yet to appreciate the
>insights of Buddhism that can be yielded by the practice of
>meditation. But she can be very moral. Morality - right thought, right
>action etc - minimises the karmic baggage from lifetime to lifetime
>until one arrives at a level ready to develop wisdom.
I think this paragraph points to an important difference between the
Buddha’s original teaching /the MOQ and how traditional Buddhist philosophy
has often developed over the last two thousand years or so. Reincarnation
(as with Christianity’s heaven and hell) is an invention by the human psyche
concerning biological death designed to make a believer feel better.
However, there is no scientific evidence or reason for why the universe
needs more than one realm/dimension to continue life and creativity. Our
world of Dynamic change - as taught by the Buddha - has no purpose or use
for a heaven, hell or reincarnation and believing otherwise is ultimately
misleading and retards human evolution. Possibly it’s the biggest gumption
trap of all for a person before they can reach enlightenment (as defined by
Khoo) i.e. a “full and final
understanding of reality”.
>Compassion is a central tenet of Buddhism, where we are
>all fellow travellers on the same motorcycle ride, some needing better
>directions than others, some needing more advice on motorcycle
>maintenance, some just need a lift!
This paragraph sounds absolutely right on target to me.
>So Sam, if you have seen different varieties of Buddhism, there are
>just as many varieties of this perception of reality and understanding
>of what Quality is. Just as there are as many religions and
>denominations within the religions. Just as there are many on this
>list with their own ideas of the MOQ.
>
>The underlying reality, unnamed, undescribed, uninterpreted, remains the
>same.
As does this observation concerning Quality. I couldn’t agree with this
more!
Best wishes,
Anthony
.
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