19AR24-49

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AR 24:49 - Buddhism's widely ignored relationship with violence

In this issue:

BUDDHISM - its little-recognized relationship with violence, misogyny

JUDAISM - Messianic Jews said to number 300,000 worldwide

Apologia Report 24:49 (1,457)

December 10, 2019

PLEASE NOTE: This is our last issue for the year (and a new record for the total published in our annual cycle). Look for AR to resume in the week beginning January 5.

BUDDHISM

More significant than it first appears from the title, "Is Buddhism Violent?" by Randy Rosenthal (Lion's Roar, Nov 1 '19) begins: "In recent years, the phenomenon of 'Buddhist violence' has received increasing attention. The seeming oxymoron entered the Western consciousness during the Sri Lankan civil war (1983-2009), but I first heard about it during the Buddhist-Muslim conflict in southern Thailand that erupted in 2004. Today, it is notorious due to the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people in Buddhist-majority Myanmar."

As Rosenthal explains, the fact that "Buddhist monks incite violence against Muslims is disturbing to many Westerners - especially to Buddhist practitioners who consider the Buddha's teaching to be completely non-violent. ...

"Religious Studies scholar Michael Jerryson thinks otherwise. He has written extensively on Buddhist violence [and] argues that violence is inherent in Buddhism, both in practice and in doctrine."

Jerryson <michaeljerryson.com> continues: "In the West, for about the last hundred and fifty years, white Western males have pretty much controlled what they see as the canon of Buddhist scripture, or doctrine. We've been normed in the West to orthodoxy - looking at texts and scriptures as being the authority for doctrine. There's orthopraxy, which is people who think that rituals are more important. But there's also a third component that I've argued, which is the cultural authority. Burmese monks and Thai monks are seen as the equivalent of scripture.

"I've heard Western Buddhists say, 'Is that truly Buddhist? Is that Buddhist doctrine?' To which I say, 'Who are you to dictate what is doctrine for these people?' ...

"Doctrine is not locked in. Every Buddhist tradition has different amounts of doctrine. The Vinaya differs everywhere you go. The suttas or sutras differ everywhere you go. The Abhidhamma differs everywhere you go."

Rosenthal: "Is there anything in the orthodoxy that encourages violence, or is it used to justify violence?"

Jerryson: "I would say it's the latter. It's how it's being used and interpreted. We see this in all the world's traditions. The Ten Commandments say 'Thou shalt not commit murder.' We have Christian ministers who kill abortion clinic doctors because of how they interpret the meaning. ...

"In the Russo-Japanese war, during Japanese Imperialism, WWII, Rinzai, Soto Zen, and Pure Land Buddhist monks would advocate that it's okay to kill. ...

"Across doctrinal divisions, there are times when people proclaim that they are awakened, and they think Mara [the embodiment of evil] has arisen and that we have to combat Mara, and this is end-times. This is embedded in Buddhist scriptures. By invoking that 'Mara's here' or 'I'm Maitreya,' it strengthens the sense that we must really push back at all costs - including violence. ...

"In Christianity, your first rule is non-violent. But, if another virtue presents itself, it can trump the first interdiction. In Buddhism, you need to avoid harm. However, there are certain times when a need overrides that. ...

"When I lived in southern Thailand, a military monk explained to me, 'The Buddhists are like small ants against this great elephant. But, when we come together, we can push back against it. That's why I keep this Smith and Wesson behind my robes here.' ...

"[M]ilitary monks are soldiers who get earmarked to go to a monastery and become ordained. They retain the soldier status and retain a monthly salary and they carry a gun. And the argument is: who is better trained to protect these monasteries than soldiers, clandestinely, as monks? ...

"[S]omeone who's simultaneously a soldier and a monk, violates the Vinaya - the monastic guidelines. ...

"If you're not a Christian and you read about Christianity in the Bible, and then you look at how Christians behave, you'll see that as well. So, when I teach religion, I always tell people: You have to look at both the emic - the internal perspective - and the etic - the external perspective. ...

"The sanghas decide what is right and wrong in each tradition, and they can defrock who they want to. And you don't have the ability to say, 'This group is wrong.' The sangha has the authority. ...

"Politics have always existed in Buddhism. ...

"The idea of cleaving apart politics and religion is a modern invention. Before the 1800s, we had theocracies across the world in all different religions. It's only recently that we've tried to cleave these apart, and I think it's artificial. ...

"[T]here's the koan, 'If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.' The idea is that the Buddha is within you. The tathagatagarbha, buddhanature, is within you, not outside of you. Don't see it outside. Seek it within. It's not meant to be actual violence. ...

Rosenthal: "[G]ender discrimination is a structural act of violence. So, even though the Buddha might have allowed women to take robes and said that a woman can reach enlightenment, nonetheless the Buddhist patriarchal system is equivalent to support of violence against women."

Jerryson: "We have no evidence of what the Buddha actually said. The earliest examples of anything we have is from the second or third council, around the time of Ashoka - 150 years later. Often, people who are upset about what I'm saying say to me, 'Oh, Dr. Jerryson, you're wrong because the Buddha said this.' I say, 'The Buddha didn't say anything that you know about. It's what the tradition thinks the Buddha said.' There's no proof beyond the inside perspective of what happened there. ...

"[W]omen must be ordained twice, where men are only to be ordained once. So men get ordained within the male sangha, women have to be ordained within the female sangha and then the male sangha. When women do transgressions they have to visit the male sangha and speak about them to the male sangha. ...

"[T]he way it's written in the scriptures, in the doctrine, a male monk is always higher than a female monk.

"In some traditions, women cannot be awakened on their own. They have to be reborn as a man. In Pure Land Buddhism, they go to Pure Land as a male and then become awakened.

"Beyond these examples, we can look to the current debates about whether or not women can be allowed to be ordained. ...

"Monks are given free rides in Thailand. Transportation money. They're allowed to get income money from the state. Women don't get this. And, in fact, women who do ordain, who are not part of the Thai sangha, are attacked in Thailand. There's been arson attacks against them, death threats. ...

"Right now, there are so many rapes taking place in Buddhist monasteries. Female monastics get raped and sexually assaulted by male monks and they can't report it to the authorities, who are male. ...

"I think there is a problem in Western academics. Most of the scholars who teach Buddhism are former or current monastics. If you're an academic, you should wear the academic hat, and then take it off when you want to discuss Buddhist issues. But, too often, Buddhist teachers can get away with things that people teaching Christianity and Judaism can't do. They can preach religion in their classes, do meditation classes. If you did Christian prayers in the classroom, you'd get kicked out. ...

"Please don't dislocate these people from being Buddhist because of the atrocities they're committing. Help them feel heard, respect their views, and then disagree and explain how you see it as violent.

"I don't think it's my job to promote things like we see with [Buddhist scholar] Robert Thurman. He once got in a fight with [Buddhist scholar] Donald Lopez, saying you shouldn't critique the depiction of Tibetans because it will hurt the Free Tibet movement. I would say to Robert Thurman, 'That's not our job.' If you want to do that, do that as a monk. Our job as scholars is simply to explain as best we can." <www.bit.ly/33XjOJa>

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JUDAISM

"The millionaire trying to sell Messianic Judaism to the world" by Itamar Eichner -- profiles Kirt Schneider <www.bit.ly/2rZw7aO> "one of the world's largest and best-known Jewish-Messianic preachers. ...

"Worldwide, some 300,000 Christian believers identify themselves as Messianic Jews, of whom 175,000 to 250,000 are in the United States.

"Orthodox rabbi and author Tuvia Singer, one of the leaders <www.bit.ly/2P5Pw2L> of the movement against Messianic Judaism and its missionary work, says there is no real data on the number of Messianic Jews.

"The estimate of a quarter of a million in the U.S. is probably correct," he says. "In Israel, I estimate that there are no more than 10,000. Halacha (Jewish law) states that if your mother was Jewish, you remain Jewish, but because they believe in Jesus you can no longer call them Jews. ...

"According to Singer, the concept of messianism developed after evangelicals gathered in Switzerland [an apparent reference to the 1974 International Congress on World Evangelization in Lausanne] 'and asked why the church had failed to convert Jews to the religion.' ...

"Schneider became famous in the Christian and Messianic world as a result of his weekly television programs, which are broadcast on more than 30 Christian channels in almost 200 countries around the world - including the Christian channel that airs on the Yes satellite and Hot cable companies in Israel. His shows have 1.6 million viewers every week in the U.S. alone.

"Schneider's organization is a communications empire: He has 1.5 million followers on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. It was no surprise then that in September 2015, he was invited to the Trump Tower in New York along with another 40 evangelical religious leaders - to bless the real estate mogul turned politician, whose lawyer Jay Sekulow is a Messianic Jew. ...

"Schneider admires the ultra-Orthodox Jews and their way of life, and also studies Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism)." Ynet News, Nov 5 '19, <www.bit.ly/2Pj30r0>

We recently discovered One for Israel, a Messianic Jewish ministry <oneforisrael.org> and have been impressed with their collection of conversion-to-Yeshua video testimonials. Here's an example featuring James Tour, a synthetic organic chemistry scientist who specializes in nanotechnology. <www.bit.ly/2rYyue7>

For a look at Messianic Judaism in our past issues, visit <www.bit.ly/2t2o2Ti>

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