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New Buddhist
lobster
Crusty Veteran
As Buddhism comes westward ho ho ho ...
what will we add and subtract?
Here is my possibilities:
Add:
- individualised dharma
- Ties
- cultural integration
- virtual reality dharma
Remove:
- irrelevant cultural preferences
- not so super superstition
- heirarchy
2
Comments
Add:
Remove
Add
-A more skeptical mindset
-Balance with a greater inclusion of the feminine perspective
Remove
-Magical thinking
-Fundamentalism and parochialism ("my dharma is better than your dharma")
Don't add
-Our own cultural biases as unexamined ground truths
Today the thought came to me that it would be good to add some of the things I would like to keep. Pretty quickly that became a long list, so I thought it might be better to bring up a philosophical framework to help think about modifying or changing things without losing things of value in the process.
The idea is known as Chesterton's Wall. My understanding of it is that one should have an understanding of the purpose or function of a hypothetical wall before being allowed to remove it. Maybe that wall is obstructing your view or preventing you from getting to a destination so you'd rather it not be there. But maybe that wall is a load bearing wall for your house or it keeps the foxes out of the hen house and one should have the knowledge as to its function before removing it.
To me this is why it is a good idea for someone to have some depth of experiential realization with the practice before deciding what is fundamental and what is modifiable.
Good point @person
However the foxes are already in the hen house. Laying eggs. So for example:
Meanwhile ...
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New Buddhist?
The point of Chesterton's Wall isn't that you can't ever make changes, just that you should understand what you're doing to avoid throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Maybe the wall isn't load bearing or even if it is you can remove it you just need to install a support beam to replicate its necessary function, or maybe it turns out foxes are more important than hens.
Add
Remove
I very much agree with @person about the wall so I can't really suggest massive changes to the doctrine as I don't have to wisdom to do so. However, the system and the shape it has taken in the west is something that I think is worth pruning and scrutinizing by anyone who is participating in it.