Yamamura explains:
"'...half the discipline of the modern Buddhist sects is nothing but an attempt to see things in their right proportions and act accordingly.'" (p. 100)
I would say that that is all of their discipline. It is amazing that so much tradition and organization have to be focused on that straightforward task. Has all of humanity gone badly wrong or were greed, hate and delusion an inevitable stage of our development?
Yamamura adds:
"'Not that we've any monopoly on that attitude. You'll find much the same thing in St. Francis, for instance, I'm told.'" (ibid.)
An arhat realizes his enlightenment by practicing the Buddha Dharma whereas a pratyekabuddha realizes it by his own unguided practice and insight. In this sense, the Buddha must have been a pratyekabuddha.
When Lauring describes American police as "'...ignorant flatfeet...,'" (p. 101) Yamamura asks him:
"'What pulp magazines have you been reading?'" (ibid.)
This is a hint of irony because Anderson wrote for pulp magazines but also transcended pulp writing.
6 comments:
Paul:
"Has all of humanity gone badly wrong or were greed, hate and delusion an inevitable stage of our development?"
Yes.
David,
Thank you for that Zen answer!
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I would have said that mankind did not HAVE to go wrong, except that I believe at some point, somehow, it did. Iow, Original Sin.
Sean
Sean,
Although I asked that question philosophically, I really accept the Darwinian account of human origins. We have not fallen from a paradisal state but risen from animality, bringing animal motivations with us, and we can rise higher with the help both of meditation and of technology.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Where we differ is in the role played by the SUPERNATURAL, God. I too believe evolution has been proven, but I don't believe mere animality is the whole story. I believe God intervened at some point during that process of evolution to make mankind what the human race uniquely is. The Catholic Church made no mention of Darwinian evolution in any officially binding way till 1950 (91 years after THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES was published), when Pius XII declared in his encyclical HUMANI GENERIS that non-atheistic forms of evolution were not contrary to revealed truth.
Incidentally, that seems to be Frank Tipler's view as well, in THE PHYSICS OF CHRISTIANITY.
Sean
Kaor, Paul!
I forgot to add that well done pulp writing is very much worth reading! By both Anderson himself and other writers.
Sean
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