Dear List Members;

Are there any Theravadan Pali writings that advocate a doctrine
similar to that of skillful means (upaya) found in, for instance, the
Lotus Sutra.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upaya <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upaya>

Or an explicit statement of the so-called "golden rule" (also
known as ethic of reciprocity, or "do to others what
you would have them do to you," or evaluate them as one would
evaluate oneself)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethic_of_reciprocity
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethic_of_reciprocity>

I ask this after reading Pali scholar Eisel Mazard's recent editorial at
Prachatai condemning a recent high-profile Thai animated
version of the Buddha's life (written in collaboration with
experts at Mahachulalongkorn Buddhist University in Bangkok)
as not being in conformity with the Pali canon. Using Sanskrit sources
is another criticism Eisel lodges against the film. Here is a quote from
the review:

"...Precisely because the film is regarded as an attempt to portray the
historical Buddha, its wildly unhistorical character is difficult to
behold without a wince.

Textual scholars will immediately recognize the events as hastily
cobbled together from Ashvaghosa and the Lalitavistara --viz., non-Pali,
non-Theravada, Sanskrit sources (now considered "Mahayana").

Thus, while the source material selected is fundamentally alien to the
tradition of Buddhism in Thailand, the film-makers have attempted to
impose "Thai" elements in a manner both artless and anachronistic.

Perhaps the most striking example: they depict Devadatta reading Pali
from a manuscript written in Khom (classical Cambodian) orthography!
Here is ancient Cambodia written into ancient India (with the ocean and
the passage of over a thousand years that separates the two simply
smeared). ....

The saddening question is this: will there ever be an interest in the
historical material that the Pali suttas hold, such as might challenge
the widespread assumptions built up from half-remembered legends of
Ashavghosa, the Lalitavistara, and Jataka fables ("Wet-san-don", etc.)?"

http://www.prachatai.com/english/news.php?id=461
<http://www.prachatai.com/english/news.php?id=461>
http://www.pali.pratyeka.org/ <http://www.pali.pratyeka.org/>
http://thaifilmjournal.blogspot.com/2008/01/unfulfilling-life-of-buddha.\
html
<http://thaifilmjournal.blogspot.com/2008/01/unfulfilling-life-of-buddha\
.html>
http://www.readbangkokpost.com/buddhism/entertainment/animated_feature_f\
ilm_with_lif.php#article
<http://www.readbangkokpost.com/buddhism/entertainment/animated_feature_\
film_with_lif.php#article>

I think it's a rather harsh and misplaced review given that the animated
film is a children's film that should really probably be compared to
Walt Disney films that take similar liberties.

IMHO Outside of children's films the call for high standards of
scholarship seems like a great idea.

I would add to Eisel Mazard's question "will there ever be an interest
in the historical material that the Pali suttas hold" ...**among lay
intellectuals outside of the Sangha*, for instance as there is among
scholars of Christianity who are not priests, or scholars or historians
of Judaism who are not Rabbis? This is the space that Steven Collins
1998 "Nirvana and other Buddhist Felicities" fills, it seems.

With metta,
Jon Fernquest








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