Enzo Michelangeli wrote:
> To me, Buddhism's insistence on personal responsibility in the process of
> enlightenment
> appears positively bourgeois and individualistic,
But Buddhism's understanding of the relation between the individual and society--like mind and body, life and environment, etc.--is much more...dialectical(?). The explicit rejection of strict dichotomies and dualisms means that the conception of the "individual" is very different, and so I think what you say is much more true of some modern bourgeois interpretations or applications (maybe that is what you're saying) than of Buddhist teachings themselves. I have always thought that there was a kind of kinship between aspects of Marx's method and philosophy and this non-dichotomous non-dualistic aspect of Buddhist principles. I've meant to look at Marx's doctoral dissertation to try to elaborate this. Buddhism is the "middle way." This is very reminiscent of Marx's rejection of both Hegel and Feurbach as both one-sided and reductionist, as erring in the same manner in opposite directions. So instead of spirit vs. matter, mind vs. body, agency vs. structure, material vs. ideal, these are different shades of a totality. In its best and true version (where best and true are defined by me) Buddhism is atheistic, radically egalitarian, and inseparable from commitment to social justice. There is tremendous evidence for this. But as others point out there is evidence for whatever you want. What has to be remembered is that the historical Buddha (Guatama, Siddhartha, or Sakyamuni) taught for over 50 years, and changed his mind many times during his life, tried different approaches. Different sects of Buddhism correspond to teachings from different parts of his life. This is additionally complicated by the usual later preversions and misinterpretations by others. So authoritarian priests or states have commited acts in the name of Buddhism that are anything but Buddhist in spirit. But I think we should take care in reducing the view of the "individual" in Buddhism to anything like modern western notions. Mat