Buddhist political correctness

Does political correctness find its way into Buddhism?  This is not an easy question to answer, but it gets easier if we define political correctness first.  The Oxford Living Dictionaries puts it this way:

“The avoidance of forms of expression or action that are perceived to exclude, marginalize, or insult groups of people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against.”

Not too bad, but for our purposes lets take Buddhist political correctness one step further in which ‘political’ can refer to the common view.

“The avoidance of interpretations whether by speech or by writing that are offensive to the majority of other Buddhists who share a different interpretation of Buddhism.”

More to the point, Buddhist political correctness limits what can be discussed about Buddhism insofar as it might offend the sensibilities of the majority of other Buddhists.  This could be over the matter of rebirth since the norm for most people today is there is no afterlife much less a part of the person that continues on after death.  This political correctness would certainly put the kibosh on any pro forma discussion since, from one side, rebirth is impossible according to modern science which is materialistic.

We can see that Buddhist political correctness is really censorship by a new name.  However, its real purpose is to forestall any substantive discussion about the underlying meaning of Buddhism as regards certain terms such as nirvana or rebirth.  This allows a majority consensus interpretation to dominate and to continue even though it could be totally wrong.

This Buddhist political correctness is prevalent on the Internet in reddit forums, for example.  It is more prevalent in Zen centers or various kinds of Dharma centers.  In academic circles there is a “peer consensus” which could be wrong.  Already this kind of political correctness has turned into a system of power which is the truth of all political correctness.  Such power is not about persuasion or faith but, instead, about the ability to compel obedience.

 

Comments

[n. yeti]

Zennist:

Interesting reflections. I am also feeling some major changes that have occurred since the last total eclipse, in which some Buddhist traditions hold various entities (god like beings or dharma protectors) experience death. For this reason some say observing practice during these times multiplies their karmic effects.

I am not familiar with the metaphysics but thought I would share the basic drift because In any case, unlike many who were jubilant at the eclipse, I feel that something unfathomably supportive of spiritual practice in our world has been lost. I do not feel hopeful for the future of humanity nor of the Buddhist religion in general.

Chaos, strife, calamity, there are all the signs which have been prophesied not only within Buddhism but other spiritual traditions also. We are in the age of the decline of the Buddhadharma, and I wonder if what is taught in so many of today’s schools can even be considered Buddhism any more. If a Bodhisattva from Buddha’s retinue were to take birth here, today, I wonder what they would make of our Zen schools and their bastardized teachings.

For me it is similar to what has happened with sexuality in our current time. No longer viewed as a natural bonding and procreative function which holds humanity together (as couples, as families, as greater society) sexuality has been utterly trivialized and cheapened.
Sexuality has been reduced to mere gratification and selfish behavior, with promiscuity and utter lack of moral restraint now held on a higher plane than the much deeper bonds of human love – which of course Buddha advised giving up because it causes woe, but I am making an analogy. But clearly anyone can see the tremendous accumulations of hurt and indecency which is cropping up as more and more people are calling out abuse in very public ways. Very few have the moral insight to see how excess and moral laxity have corrupted sexuality and led it to become a factor that does not bring greater trust and wellbeing to human community, but one that causes utmost divisiveness and anguish.

In a similar way, many of today’s Zen schools have done for spirituality what pornography, Tinder, and various other evils have done for sexuality. Nihilism and materialism have been a corrupting factor which has raided Buddhism of its spiritual benefits of wellbeing, calm, the ability to let go of hurt and so on, and raised these fairly superficial aspects of practice as the highest value, whereas renunciation, faith, karma, rebirth and the mind-only principle have been left aside in much the same way as the most valuable aspects of sexual intimacy have been abandoned.

[thezennist]

Smith: I think it was in the 1990s that I got kicked out of a Tibetan center that was directly connected with the Dalai Lama. It was for asking a famous Lama, what was the meaning of "Mind" (citta/sem)? That was my first real taste of PC, Buddhist style. I was told by a guy named Karl that my question was basically over the heads of the other practitioners. When I got home, Karl phoned me and told me not to come back.

[thezennist]

yeti: For over a year now, it is as if a veil had been lifted. I am seeing, for want of a better word (borrowed it from Stanley Kubrick), people with 'eyes wide shut'. They are there, but not there. They don't have the slightest connection with the animative princple which gives their protein suits life. There are, of course, people who do. I dare say, based upon my spiritual encounter of 1976 (something straight out of the Lankavatara Sutra), far stranger things are still to come.

[smith]

'political correctness' = neo-marxism = marxism. The frankfurt school;s evil genius-ness, added onto by the french 'victim/oppressor' dialectic overlays. But still very much unchecked and unchallenged, because the opposition to this satanically created and led evil is not named and labelled and referred to as marxism - precisely that which it is. And therefore, since it is referred to in a myriad of vague names and labels, the opposition to this evil remains weak, ineffectual, having blurred and diffused any focus or cohesive and collective galvanizing or uniform force with which to fight and defeat it. Marxism in its latent form has effectively defeated its opposition by rendering its opposition impotent in this way - it defines and redefines its enemies and conquests in all social spheres and universally, such that its opposition cannot begin to assail it, as long as the opposition is foolish enough to fall for the trap of trying to engage and fight it by the terms and grounds it has defined. The only way to defeat this evil ideology is to consistently and uniformly name it and label it as marxism, an idea, an identity which the uneducated(masses) can understand what it is they are opposing - marxism/neo-marxism/pc is operating in every nook cranny of our social world. Its manifestation within buddhism is but a small fragment of that strategic operation. 'Political correctness' is a term that neuters the attack/opposition, and a perfect example of how the marxist dialectic has conquered and subsumed opposition having created a muddly, diffused word to define itself.

[n. yeti]

Zennist:

I do think it is overlooked how this blog, and a few others here and there, seem to be creating enormous ripples through the American Buddhist community.

Pretty frequently I am criticized for making any comment at all. But without someone to challenge these views, without having this discussion in the public sphere, I wonder how long it would take for those who encounter in Buddhism a true expression of faith to be completely marginalized and silenced by the majority who now – as you point out – seem to adhere to destructive views. And those views have increasingly become tyrannical obstructions as core teachings of Buddhism are cast aside in favor of modernistic feel-good materialism.

First I would like to approach the precept of right speech, since that is the first line of defense for monks seeking to hide behind the precepts when committing heresies and throwing themselves – and perhaps their ignorant followers – into states of woe. And by that I mean quite literally rebirth in the hells, a point of view which is based in the scriptures and traditions of Buddhism, and not picked out of the hat like so much of contemporary Buddhist discourse.

Had not a few comments shaken the complacency of Buddhist leaders like Brad Warner or Mike Port – both of whom are thoroughly evil monks in my opinion– would they have had enough motivation to bring up this subject and have this intra-religious dialogue? I doubt it.

They refuse to acknowledge it directly, often citing precepts about right speech and so on, but it is clear they take a look at this blog and reply obliquely to comments which pertain to them. All of which is a craven attitude, not worthy of my respect. It seems almost a shame not to taunt them.

So I ask: is it right speech to bitch slap your interlocutor then sign it with a huggy emoji? That sort of passive aggressive behavior merely covers up the problem, which is one of ignorance, and glosses over it with a commonly accepted lie that if you don’t say mean things in the Buddhist world what you have to say is true. I haven’t counted the number of times, but Shakyamuni apparently did not feel it was necessary to hold back his words under the guise of precepts when he encountered stupid and worthless people, many of whom he repeatedly in the Pali scriptures berated as stupid and worthless.

In that spirit, I say the evil monks of today seem to congratulate each other on the breeziness with which they do away with the wisdom teachings of the Zen religion. They have utterly turned their backs on past masters and still have the audacity to claim legitimacy as “lineage holders”.

Yet look at their discourse: memoirs about time frittered away in monasteries gathering piles and making senseless tramps through the snow, bemoaning their economic status and bragging about their importance to the Zen community while begging for cash to continue to destroy the foundations of Zen. What a bunch of frauds.

I would not be surprised if demons reside in their altars.