Contemplation and Tradition

Homework

(from the Ways of Knowing home page this week)

For this week's homework, we'll share perspectives "about how buddhism has been dominated by the monastic ethos of the east, and needs to be re-conceptualized from the ground up for our own cultures."  We can open up the discussion to include all religious views, and consider ways we have (or have not) been able to accomodate these.

Sources

• The first Ways of Knowing meeting which set expectations and directions for this group that still have hold: http://waysofknowing.kira.org/4Transcripts/2009.02.12_-_Workshop_01.
• http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/gg_live/gg_podcast/podcast/stephen_batchelor/
• http://www.stephenbatchelor.org/creating.html
• http://www.stephenbatchelor.org/other1.html
• http://www.tricycle.com/feature/crossroads?page=0,0
• The Art of Inquiry,  Art of Contemplation and Cornerstone Principles from the Cheng Hsin school.
• The Unfettered Mind and Lojong Mind Training.

Comments

In accordance with the central Buddhist doctrine of "conditionality," the concept of Sangha and the role of the monastic in Buddhist societies arose in dependence upon the socio-economic conditions of former times. And in accordance with the equally central notion of "impermanence," they too are subject to change. There is, nonetheless, a trend to overlook the implications of these doctrines on Buddhism itself and its institutions. This may in part be due to the one-sided interpretation of impermanence as "subject to destruction." This negative connotation obscures how it is equally a pre-condition for creation, transformation and renewal. Change is neither good nor bad: it is simply the way things are.