Dear friends,

please allow me to add that the Buddha's teachings is Buddha-dhamma not Buddha-dogma.

metta,
Yong Peng.

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Ong Yong Peng wrote:

it is not common for someone to judge and making personal remarks on others, particularly among knowledgeable Buddhists. Experience tells that the party who make the comments may not be any better than the party being commented. It is interesting to note that in many religions, there are leading ecclesiastical roles whose main functions are to rule and judge people, sometimes people not even within their religious fold (just another indication how ridiculous the world and ourselves are at time). The original model employed by the Buddha is one of consultation and consensus, the Buddha being a member of a local Sangha assembly. However, as time passes and as Buddhism spreads over a wider geographical area, social and cultural differences had resulted in significant changes in how various monastic communities operate today.