Comments on: Between enraged and engaged Buddhism

Between enraged and engaged Buddhism

homunculus — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:35:17 -0800

Asia's Angry Monk Syndrome. [Via]

By: homunculus

homunculus — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:38:51 -0800

More on Thich Quang Duc: "The face of Buddha in the clouds."

By: homunculus

homunculus — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:43:04 -0800

On Film, a Monk's Passion and Protest

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:49:01 -0800

Monk Gloats Over Yoga Championship

By: milarepa

milarepa — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:00:10 -0800

By: sotonohito

sotonohito — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:11:30 -0800

Buddhist monks have a long history of violence, extortion, and murder in Japan; elsewhere too of course, but since Japan is my specialty I know its examples best. Back in the 1500's a couple of varieties of Buddhist monks were a sufficiently a militant and economic power that Oda Nobunaga [1] waged war on them the same as he waged war on the various other military powers. The monks, prior to being killed by Oda, often went "begging" with muscular and aggressive bodyguards to "encourage donations". Extortion by threat of violence, essentially. Doctrinal disagreement between various sects of monks has been around since forever, and I figure if monks can be feared soldiers, run mafia type protection rackets, and fight pitched battles with medieval Japanese warlords its hardly surprising that in the modern world they can get into screaming hissy fits with one another and otherwise act like total jerks. In fact, my sister had the lovely experience of being yelled at by a Buddhist monk because she happened to brush him as they passed in a crowded corridor; he shouted at her because she was female, and therefore her touch had made him "unclean". My point is that the linked article is garbage, its tone of amazement that such super special and amazing people as Buddhist monks can be jerks indicates a complete lack of experience with actual monks on the part of the author and as well as an unhealthy case of trying to believe in the "mysterious Orient". Buddhist monks are human, and like all humans are sometimes complete jerks, this is not such a surprising or amazing revelation that it needs to have an article written about it, and the attempt to coin a special term "AMS" is just plain pathetic. [1] A genuinely evil person if ever there was one.

By: fairytale of los angeles

fairytale of los angeles — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:24:18 -0800

Remember that scene in Goodfellas, where Henry and Jimmy find out that Tommy was whacked for stomping out Billy Batts, and Henry says, "It was among the Italians. It was real greaseball shit." I think of this every time I see the words Dorje Shugden. What I love about this comment is that I have no real idea of any of the internecine dramatics of Buddhism, and yet, thanks to milarepa, I now feel that I know everything I really need to know.

By: sotonohito

sotonohito — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:35:46 -0800

Sorry homunculus, didn't mean to crap in your post. The second linked article just hit one of my major gripes about how Westerners tend to see the far east.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:39:48 -0800

for more buddhist drama, hang out on E-sangha.

By: Foci for Analysis

Foci for Analysis — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:45:06 -0800

sotonohito, that's very fascinating stuff. Any related books or movies that you can recommend?

By: bonecrusher

bonecrusher — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:05:22 -0800

There was a really great FPP from a few years back about a photographer's series of photos of Buddhist monks (in Thailand, if I remember) who would, for a fee, give hitmen tattoos that would make them invulnerable to bullets. IANAB, but that seems like a pretty clear violation of the "Right Livelihood" path.

By: bonecrusher

bonecrusher — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:11:08 -0800

Here it is.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 15:16:32 -0800

No worries, sotonohito. The second article is the important one.

By: Artw

Artw — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 15:41:41 -0800

So that Kung Fu dude was pretty much getting into trouble deliberately?

By: sotonohito

sotonohito — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:03:37 -0800

Foci for Analysis Movies, not really, there's several less than flattering images of Buddhist monks in Japanese movies (Rashomon, Mononoke Hime, etc), but that's hardly historic. Books, kinda. I'm sure books on militant and otherwise unpleasant Buddhism in historic Japan exist, but I haven't read any personally. What I mentioned came from several sources, articles, etc. "State of War" by Dr. Thomas Donald Conlan has a chapter on the role religion played during the near constant war that was 14th century Japan, including a few mentions of militant monks. Its an excellent book on Japan's time as a failed state, but if you are new to the subject I'd recommend getting a quick historic overview, possibly via Wikipedia's entry on the subject, because he assumes you know the broad outline and the book is not a chronological history of the era, but rather an examination of how war and what little government existed during that period from an ever expanding viewpoint. He starts with a biography of a single warrior, Nomoto Tomoyuki, and works his way outward to progressively larger groups, organizations, and concepts. Any history of Oda Nobunaga will include a discussion of his wars against the Tendai Buddhist sect, and his sack of the Enryakuji monastery.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:16:00 -0800

Tibetan monasteries empty as China jails monks to silence Olympic protests

By: homunculus

homunculus — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:51:30 -0800

In Japan, Buddhism May Be Dying Out

By: homunculus

homunculus — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:58:29 -0800

Dalai Lama Fans Clash With Protesters The Battle of Sixth Avenue

By: homunculus

homunculus — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 10:33:20 -0800

"Monk Zero" and Activism in Burma

By: homunculus

homunculus — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 00:08:43 -0800

Buddha's Warriors