Comments on Previous Posts

On Buddhiscopalianism, a gentleman emailed:

Subject: Dogma

Zen Buddhism and Christianity are irreconcileable. I visited the link and read it, and the authors understanding of Buddhism is seriously lacking.

For starters, Buddhism acknowledges no God as the creator of the universe. Nor is there a "soul." There is no such thing as sin (as Christianity would define such) or eternal damanation. Jesus as the son of God? Impossible. Prayer is useless. Getting to heaven is a waste of time.

I will refain from continuing, I am sure I have said enough. What you are doing is toy zazen, not real zazen.

I wish you the best in finding your answers.

He is correct in that Buddhism does not believe in a god, soul or an afterlife. In fact, the historic Buddha was reported to have refrained from commenting, much less pronouncing, on such matters, since he believed that ultimate truth and enlightenment comes from within. Buddhism in its purest form does not espouse any dogma.

I thank him for his insight and would like to clarify that I adhere to Buddhism as a philosophy or way of life, precisely because I do not believe that I or any other human can know the absolute with certainty and confidence due to our limited nature.

From the ardor and certitude of his words, he is undoubtedly a practicing and learned Zen Buddhist. I can thus see how he judges my way as mere play - much as hardcore fundamentalist evangelicals do not consider other Christians as true believers and followers.

I wish him peace and happiness.

On Little Brown Americans, a friend wrote:

You are right even though a change is really what we need, a lot of people not just little brown americans are not ready to vote for Obama.

Like you I was a Hilary supporter and would have voted for her in a heartbeat. It is not so much the color of his skin (Obama) but rather certain issues that still has me undecided. We have been having these discussions too with family around dinner time and we have agreed to disagree and understand each others point of view.(amid a lot of shouting) I will be watching the debates closely...I have not decided on who to vote yet, but I am leaning towards Obama. The choice of Palin for vp for McCain tips the scales towards Obama, I cannot see her as our president, not in a million years.

I would have loved to vote for a woman, but not Sarah Palin.

Enlightenment is attainable, at least in politics!