Re: New found Buddhist

"Akaliko" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
> "DrWarrenKrugar" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Messer Xin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
>  news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
> > > On Fri, 28 Nov 2003 18:29:02 -0500, Ch'an Fu wrote
> > > (in message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>):
> > >
> > > > I read a book that said Theravada is the only religious group
> > > > that doesn't bow to shrines, which i don't believe in strongly.
> > >
> > > Just a comment on this one thing.
> > >
> > > Buddhists bow because of the bowing, to whom or to what is secondary.
> > > Theravadans bow as much as anybody else.
> > >
> > > Many Americans, and, I presume, Europeans, have problems bowing at all.
>  This
> > > is a good thing to think about.
> > >
> > >    ---Messer Xin
> >
> > Yes, Messer, Westerners seem to have cultivated an aversion to bowing,
> > and it does give pause for thought. What does this rather Liliputian
> > contention tell us about the self-centric enshrinement of the ego in
> > Western culture?
> >
> > Asians would laugh at this quaint and ill-reasoned Western
> > cultural/psychological foible. While Asians prefer bowing to
> > handshakes, few have any objection to shaking hands when "in Rome".
> >
> > One exception in Asian culture is that some Asian Christians refuse to
> > participate in the annual Confucian ritual of honoring one's
> > ancestors,an obvious instance of the influence of the white devil.
> >
> > At the risk of offering good advice, which is something I ordinarily
> > refrain from doing, I'd reconsider this disproportionate objection to
> > a simple ritual. Bowing means nothing in itself and is a simple
> > gesture of respect that is no more heinous than any the rituals you
> > willingly submit to day in and day out such as handshakes, smiles and
> > "have a nice day".
> >
> > Have a nice day. : )
> > bowing,
> > -warren
> >
> > "He who will not reason is a bigot; he who cannot is a fool; and he
> > who dares not is a slave."
> >  -Sir William Drummond
> 
> There are some insights, some bias, some exaggerations, some wisdom, some
> knowledge........and, most of all, a big EGO!
> Hehe! :-)

Aside from my personal shortcomings (and that one duly noted
largecoming), I deserve little or any credit for exhibiting knowledge,
bias, exaggeration, or, most of all, wisdom. However, given a choice
among accusations, I would likely select bias as the most nearly
correct item on that descriptive list, simply because any viewpoint
may be properly termed a bias.

The bias I present above is a typically Asian one, although I attempt
rather unsuccessfully to do so with some sense of disassociation,
citing, for example, an exception to the rule just to throw the hounds
off. At every possible turn I attempted to employ modifiers such as
"few Asians" just to ensure that my gross generalizations would not be
too conspicuous. All of which illustrates the politician's principle:
"a respectful lie should be none too obvious."

But I see from your comments that you are already familiar with
rhetorical principles. You adroitly exemplify the blank space
principle, for instance, in dropping descriptives and leaving their
justification to the reader. Often, the wisest procedure in criticism
is the principle of vaguenes - leaving the readers' fertile
imaginations to fill in the details is easier and often more effective
than attmepting to justify an argument for oneself.

So I see that you are a man after my own heart - possibly in more ways
than one! Oh, but if it is my heart you are after, you may have to dig
deep through several layers of massive ego for what I am told is the
mere shadow of a once-tepid wrinkled stone.

A little more about ego, if you will so endulge me (and even if you
will not). I felt (although how ingenuous that feeling was may be a
matter of some dispute) that an Asian perspective might be informative
in the context of what is after all an Asian observance. I suppose
somewhere in my massive ego there may have been an unrepressed impulse
toward truth and accuracy that I have somehow not yet managed to
conquer, dominate and snuff, and I certainly apologize for any such
naive tendencies (without necessarily thereby having to admit them).

At any rate, my representation of Asian sensibilities aside, I myself
admit to being a Western devil, and a minor one at that. As cupcake
summarizes it I am simply "your common garden variety jerk" - a
species more abundant than English hedgehogs. More about hedgehogs
later, I promise...

So, in noting my ego, you lend credence to my point about the
enshrining of ego in Western civilization.  I would not for one moment
strain credibility by attempting to dismiss your accusation of massive
ego as a lie. I am clearly a Westerner as deserving of the label as
the rest of you.

Which brings me back to the main point of this stunningly dissembling
dissertation - crediting abhorance to bowing to Western Christian
social conditioning, and this is something Evelyn corraborates as well
(by the way, this logical fallacy is a variety of the "appeal to
numbers": "I am not alone in believing this; thus it must be true").

Now - finally - for that promised hedgehog story.
-------------------------------------------------
It seems that a girl walked into the bathroom while her father was
showering.  Pointing at him she blurted, "Daddy, what's that?"

Taken aback, the man stammered, "It's...it's a...hedgehog." 

"Well," she responded, "for a hedgehog, it's got a pretty big dick!"
--------------------------------------------------
-warren

"Humility is no substitute for a good personality."
- Fran Lebowitz