[Buddha-l] Re: Buddhism and blasphemy

[Benito Carral]

On Wednesday, February 8, 2006, Alex Wilding wrote:

> If  the  Muslims concerned had been mature enough not
> to care what other peoples' opinions of Mohammed are,
> we would all be a lot more relaxed now.

   I  think  that  this kind of ethnocentric thought is
one  of  the  reasons  of the increasing tension in the
world nowdays.

   There is a group of people who think that one should
not care about others's opinions (abortion, euthanasia,
religious simbols...). There is another group of people
who think that one should care about the same opinions.

   I  think  that  there is not a way to resolve such a
tension  (well, I think there is one but it is not pc),
so  I also think that we should focus in trying to keep
that tension in a minimum.

   So  I  would  paraphrase  your  words  and  say, "If
Westerners  had  been  mature enough to care what other
peoples' opinion of Mohammed are, we would all be a lot
more relaxed now."

   It  would be wholesome to remember the Buddha's word
on  right  speech,  but  we  should  ask  first  to the
hijackers  of the Buddhist history to know if they like
such teaching or if they have already written a new and
improved one.

   Best wishes,

   Beni