--- Ong Yong Peng <yongpeng.ong@...> wrote:

> The Buddhist stand on other religions is always
> embrace and respect,
> and this discussion hardly leads us to anything we
> want to achieve.

Do you mean by this that we should "embrace and
respect"

1. religious people, regardless of confession, or

2. religious practices and doctrines, regardless of
how they look?

Although the election of Pope Ratzinger (called, even
by some of his own most devote followers, "Papa Ratzi"
- perhaps the Pali nickname would be "Paaparatana"?)
is largely an internal affair of the Catholics, it is
nevertheless relevant to us as far as it has effect on
the relation between the Buddhist and Catholic
communities, and on the possibility to practice
Buddhism even if living in an environment dominated by
the Catholic Church.

So I think it's well for us to keep our eyes open.

Besides, I just read that one of the new pope's
favourite writers is Hermann Hesse - perhaps not quite
as Buddhist as some readers believe, but certainly
still less Catholic; so perhaps there is some hope of
a continued dialogue after all.

Gunnar

gunnargallmo@...