How is Buddhism tainted? Christianity could have been tainted during the purges in the early centuries, but I don’t find Buddhism to have deviated from its original teachings in such a way that Buddhists themselves would no longer recognize them. There are millions of Buddhists in the world, so there are bound to be weirdos in that lot. But consider the question: “What is Buddhism, as defined by prominent Buddhists themselves, whose prominence is recognized by traditional institutions that uphold Buddhism?” It doesn’t seem to me the answer to this question would have changed much during the last millennium.
Likewise, rationalism could not be tainted by some Christian preacher who claims he is a rationalist, but whose preaching implicitly oppose rationalism and who is not considered a rationalist by anyone on LW.
But consider the question: “What is Buddhism, as defined by prominent Buddhists themselves, whose prominence is recognized by traditional institutions that uphold Buddhism?” It doesn’t seem to me the answer to this question would have changed much during the last millennium.
This chap would disagree. There’s rather a lot of words there, so briefly: Buddhism in the Western world—what he calls “Consensus Buddhism”—is for the most part an invention of the 19th and 20th centuries with more roots in European and American culture than in the countries it came from.
How is Buddhism tainted? Christianity could have been tainted during the purges in the early centuries, but I don’t find Buddhism to have deviated from its original teachings in such a way that Buddhists themselves would no longer recognize them. There are millions of Buddhists in the world, so there are bound to be weirdos in that lot. But consider the question: “What is Buddhism, as defined by prominent Buddhists themselves, whose prominence is recognized by traditional institutions that uphold Buddhism?” It doesn’t seem to me the answer to this question would have changed much during the last millennium.
Likewise, rationalism could not be tainted by some Christian preacher who claims he is a rationalist, but whose preaching implicitly oppose rationalism and who is not considered a rationalist by anyone on LW.
This chap would disagree. There’s rather a lot of words there, so briefly: Buddhism in the Western world—what he calls “Consensus Buddhism”—is for the most part an invention of the 19th and 20th centuries with more roots in European and American culture than in the countries it came from.