Dear friends,

I have set up a new folder in the Links section,

Ron's List: Understanding misconceptions of Buddhism

Earlier this year, I have posted a few messages on some general issues on Buddhism. As you may recall, these were partly in response to some unpopular remarks made by Christian evangelical pastor Rony Tan in Singapore.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Pali/message/14441

Contemporary Evangelical Christianity can be traced back to roots in North America. Evangelical churches are usually founded on the charismatic leadership of an individual or a group of individuals, and detailed analysis often reveal differing views and opinions, though subtle, among the different churches. It may be a while before these differences become a distinction further separating these "churches".

I find that very often Buddhists are helpless when trying to defend themselves from unsubstantiated claims on their religion. So, I am setting this folder up so that we can provide the "answers" to any misconception.

I have affectionately named this folder Ron's List.

When Buddhism spread outside of India, the Indian culture was not transmitted together, even though traces of Indian culture is obvious in many Buddhist cultures, for example, Tibetan, Thai, Nepalese and Sinhalese. This is unlike Christianity, which was spread with the Roman culture by and large.

For most of its global transmission, Buddhism fuses with local culture as it spread from one place to another. Most of these cultures would be unknown or foreign to the Buddha. Even the "Indian elements" we may see in some forms of Buddhist practice would be alien to the Buddha, as most of them would have postdated the Buddha by centuries.

I hope this folder will also become an important resource for understanding the historical, cultural and scriptural background to Buddhist concepts and practices.

This folder can be accessed from the Links section on the group's website: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Pali/links

Yahoo! login is required.

Thank you.


metta,
Yong Peng.