Illiberalism is not good for the future of Buddhism

Into my seventies, I have found many in this generation to be, ironically, quite illiberal in the sense of being almost close minded as opposed to being open minded; willing to accept ideas that run contrary to present day dogmas but ideas, nevertheless, that are reasonable to hold such as reincarnation or rebirth. 

Illiberalism is not good for the future of Buddhism because so much of Buddhism has not been unpacked.  The more I unpack the implications of Buddhism the more they turn out to be quite astonishing and way beyond the intelligence of the average modern who will not likely accept them for that reason. 

Illiberalism makes this all so much worse.  It tells this generation shut your mind down when confronted by something that you don’t understand.  Nevertheless, you must allow it to speak for itself on its own terms.  This has not been the situation with Buddhism which for a long time has all but been revised into some weird kind of nihilist religion.

This is not entirely a blame game on my part.  The real finger of blame as to be pointed at academia.  The fact is that academia and other sources have been brainwashing students since the 1990s (and arguably way before) with a steady diet of postmodern claptrap which finally came to a head in the example of Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington (founded in 1967), where its unstructured—sort of—egalitarian model finally collapsed like a cheap card table.

The illiberal mindset of these students is in no way compatible with the message of the Buddha or Buddhist training—and I would argue that a retired battle hardened Marine would stand a better chance of becoming enlightened than most of today’s college graduates.

Buddhism, and what is going on in academia and the arts have nothing in common.  The good news, however, is that Buddhism pretty much escapes a postmodernist deconstruction by academia because those in academia still believe Buddhism to be a kind of ‘lite’ materialism.  And as we might guess, many professors are more or less hardcore materialists having fallen prey to the Marxian/postmodern dog whistle. 

Hopefully one day the crazy illiberals will run out of steam and stop kicking at the goad, finally having to wake up to the fact that their education has been costly and they’ve received very little bang for the buck—if any bang at all!  Their education has been to some degree an academic Ponzi scheme which boils down to robbing Peter, the student, whose tuition pays for the salary of Chancellor Paul and his administration, which also provides the necessary money for funding major building projects.

What is most disturbing is that authentic Buddhism is not resonating all that much with the general public.  The Buddhism and Zen that people are attracted to is in name only.  What is omitted is, ironically, the marrow of the teaching which is how to transcend the psychophysical organism, the false self, and realize what Shakyamuni Buddha realized and other Zen masters.

 

Comments

[Tim]

“Now, Kalamas, don’t go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, ‘This contemplative is our teacher.’ When you know for yourselves that, ‘These qualities are skillful; these qualities are blameless; these qualities are praised by the wise; these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to welfare & to happiness’ — then you should enter & remain in them. - ( this is non-religion ) Helps us separate the wheat from the chaff. (((bow)))

[david b]

What n yeti said about marines is interesting because I was reading a book about Jainism recently by a scholar of both Jainism and Buddhism and he made the point that its no coincidence that both Buddha and Mahavira were kasatryias, the warrior caste, and how the mpnastic discipline is similar to military discipline.

[Tim]

Beginning(?) with the Dhammapada, It is an individual question and learning and growth. Is it not? To see the world of the Buddha blossomed into a world lotus is religion. Every birth must discover it's own awakening. The garden is perpetually planted by season.

[n. yeti]

"I would argue that a retired battle hardened Marine would stand a better chance of becoming enlightened than most of today’s college graduates."

After recovering from cancer, I started getting more involved with charity, and currently work with an organization that assists veterans among other things.

I have heard some contemporary Western monks disparage "Zen Marines" for being gung ho about their practice, but in my opinion there are important parallels between the requirements of military life and Zen, such as discipline, ethics, and fearlessness among other qualities.

Most people in Western society today are poorly disciplined and not well prepared to renounce anything, and approach Buddhism like a Chinese buffet, picking and choosing the bits that conform to their cravings, but lacking acceptance for other parts of the religion, namely karma, rebirth, and the mystical.