Dear Frank & friends,

> On the other hand, so many perfectly good words are
> so corrupted by Christianity and carry such negative
> connotations that from a marketing standpoint, it's
> just not helpful to promote buddhism if we have to
> fight strongly ingrained notions. For example, when I
> was reading some (PTS?) translations of pali suttas
> many years ago, their use of "Lord" (the Buddha),
> "thy", "thou", and other archaic terms made the pali
> suttas sound like bible passsages. So much so, I
> couldn't even finish reading the sutta, it filled me
> with so much revulsion and disgust.

Thankfully, the mediaeval language you mentioned is only found in the pre-21st
century translations. However, I remember noticing some sightings in quotes. For
academic reasons, such books are still reprinted (in India, for example) since they
are of some academic standard even if their contents are outmoded and plainly wrong.

> No matter which word we choose, "faith",
> "confidence", "trust", I think the important thing is
> to qualify and define it clearly once, and then any
> future references within that text would refer to that
> specific definition, just as in a discourse Buddha
> would define "brahmin" once, and then afterwards it
> was understood to refer to his re-definition rather
> than the common definition.

This sets me thinking about the Buddha's genius. In many places you can tease out the
Buddha's progressive skillful means of communicating the Dharma to others: he leads
others "from the known into the unknown"(Bhagavad,gitaa) in this manner

(1) The Buddha uses words, terms and ideas familiar to his audience (inventing new
vocabulary means you have to work twice as hard and yet not likely to hold your
audience who are unfamiliar with the lingo).

(2) The Buddha redefines his terms (for example, the Dhammapada), through analogies
(eg fire). Many examples are discussed by KR Norman (1991c) in his paper:

Theravda Buddhism and Brahmanical Hinduism: Brahmanical terms in a Buddhist guise. In
The Buddhist Forum II seminar papers 1988-90, ed Tadeusz Korupski. London: Univ of
London (SOAS), 1991:193-200.

(3) The Buddha builds higher teachings on these groundwork of common terms (for
example, beginning with faith, he introduces the 5 indriyas).

Beyond what I have said, we should, for balance and expedience, be aware of the
microscopes and telescopes that other religions (especially Christianity) are
training on us (ie besides Vatican 2). Here are some examples:

CHRISTIAN ADOPTION OF THE "TRIPLE GEM"?
Henry C Karlson, "The Triple-Gem of Christian Refuge: Jesus, His Teaching, and His
Church." Henry C Karlson
Byzantine Catholic & theology masters student (USA).
http://www.members.tripod.com/hckarlso/refuge2.htm

MISSIOLOGY
In the 16th century the Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci began the successful
Christianizing of China, which would have been Christian today, but thanks to the
jealousy of the Dominicans and the Franciscans and above all to the Popes papal bull
[so aptly named!], his efforts failed!
However, the Protestant John Nevius was so successful in China that the the
Nevius method helped (and is still helping) to make Korea the leading Christian
country in Asia today. Yet the Christians failed to evangelize or colonize Japan
despite similar efforts. Elsewhere, the Christians are today trying to learn from the
Buddhists (such as learning Buddhist meditation).
If Buddhism is to flourish (nay survive) beyond its monastic shell (discounting
much rot already setting there in: read Seneviratne's "The Work of Kings" for
example), then it helps us to be aware of the reasons for the success of people like
Nevius.

Here are some studies showing where Christianity succeeded (like the Buddha did)
when they adopted the "local idiom" and failed when they rejected it:
(1) Andrew Eungi Kim. The rise and the fall of Protestantism in East Asia: A
comparison of South Korea and Japan. International Center for Korean Studies (ICKS)
Working paper 2003-2. Seoul: International Center for Korean Studies, Korea
University, 2003.
(2) Chuang Tsu-kung. Communicating the concept of sin in the Chinese context. Taiwan
Mission July 1996. http://members.aol.com/taimission/sin_chin.htm
(3) Peter Nepstead. Christianity in China: Matteo Ricci and the Jesuits. The
Illuminated Lantern 6, Dec-Jan 2001.
http://www.illuminatedlantern.com/cinema/features/christianity.html
(4) John Carmody. A next step for Catholic theology. Theology Today 32,4 Jan 1976.
http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/jan1976/v32-4-articles4.htm

I remember reading a news item about a Christian college on the US west coast
dedicated to the study of Buddhism! Since they cannot convert us with the Bible, they
hope to convert us with the Tripitaka. This is like the Western colonial invasion of
the east. This is one of the important causes of the spread and rise of Buddhism in
the West. Let's pray for their success, folks [tongue pushing against palate].

Big brother is watching us, gentlemen.
Let's get back to out Sutta study and meditation.

On the other hand, we might be heading back to the brave new world of the
brahmana/sramana scenario Buddha's time where religions and systems freely share
ideas and debates, and what matters most is the spiritual liberation that is directly
experienced.

Those who have seen the light, speak the same language.

(I think that's why the church in once Perth invited Ajahn Brahm to give the key
address during their Eucharist, their most sacred ritual. Also some years back, the
Catholic community here invited Ajahn Santikaro, a pupil of Buddhadasa, to speak on
and conduct Buddhist meditation, in Damien Hall here in Singapore. I wonder the day
will come when the Catholics meditate more than the Buddhists and claim that they
invented meditation! After all they have appropriated the tonsure, rosary, relics,
chanting, church architecture, incense, etc from elsewhere.)

DISJOINTED THOUGHTS (AH! THE JOYFUL PEACE)
"No images of me " the Buddha says (somewhere).
You Greek Buddhists hear him not
And you made the Buddha after Apollo, with halo and pleats.
They shot the Bamiyam Buddha down to pieces
Thank you Talibans for finally bringing the Buddha's message to the world.
But we still burn relics of him who is burned cool millenias past
And we bow to Maara
(But unlike Upagupta).
May you have all the money and power you desire, nayakas,
Surfeiting, may your eye then turn to the Buddha light.
The joy of the Suttas sits beside dhyana's bliss:
You could almost touch the Buddha through this screen,
brothers and sisters.

Let us close our eyes, and see more.
Who sees wins.

Thanks for the helpful frankness, Frank.

Sukhi

Piya