Richard on Chopra
Richard
131.96.170.6 2011/09/01 at 1:16 pm
“There are no dictates (as far as my limited knowledge goes) to engage the world and solve its tortured dilemmas. Indeed, Buddha is famous for teaching that such solutions don’t exist. It is futile to apply Buddhism to a political crisis — or to the subprime mortgage debacle, for that matter — because wrestling with the material world never leads to freedom, fulfillment, or peace.”
Oh God. Chopra should just shut up. He obviously has never read the many suttas on those who are fit to rule, how wealth should be appropriated, the ideal society, etc (I think a lot of these misunderstandings are due to Max Weber and the limited amount of scriptures that he encountered). Also, it is not true that the early Buddhists despised wealth (the most commonly repeated stereotype that you will hear in relation to Buddhism):
The wise and virtuous shine like a blazing fire.
He who acquires his wealth in harmless ways
like to a bee that honey gathers,[6]
riches mount up for him
like ant hill’s rapid growth.
With wealth acquired this way,
a layman fit for household life,
in portions four divides his wealth:
thus will he friendship win.
One portion for his wants he uses,[7]
two portions on his business spends,
the fourth for times of need he keeps.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.31.0.nara.html
“There are no dictates (as far as my limited knowledge goes) to engage the world and solve its tortured dilemmas. Indeed, Buddha is famous for teaching that such solutions don’t exist. It is futile to apply Buddhism to a political crisis — or to the subprime mortgage debacle, for that matter — because wrestling with the material world never leads to freedom, fulfillment, or peace.”
Oh God. Chopra should just shut up. He obviously has never read the many suttas on those who are fit to rule, how wealth should be appropriated, the ideal society, etc (I think a lot of these misunderstandings are due to Max Weber and the limited amount of scriptures that he encountered). Also, it is not true that the early Buddhists despised wealth (the most commonly repeated stereotype that you will hear in relation to Buddhism):
The wise and virtuous shine like a blazing fire.
He who acquires his wealth in harmless ways
like to a bee that honey gathers,[6]
riches mount up for him
like ant hill’s rapid growth.
With wealth acquired this way,
a layman fit for household life,
in portions four divides his wealth:
thus will he friendship win.
One portion for his wants he uses,[7]
two portions on his business spends,
the fourth for times of need he keeps.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.31.0.nara.html
Richard
1
New Man, New Age, New Socialism 