[Buddha-l] RE: The Body in Buddhist Practice

[Richard Hayes]

On Monday 30 October 2006 11:03, Phra Achan Dhammarato, Buikkh wrote:

> The only exception to this would be when
> someone claims that the Suttas contain (even filled with) something
> (caricatures) without substantiating these claims.

That has never happened here. The claim that there are caricatures of Brahmins 
and parodies of Upanisahdic myths has been amply substantiated several times 
over the years. It was in no way a malicious or careless claim; rather, it 
was an accurate description of several suttas found in the Sutta-pitaka, and 
also an accurate claim of a tendency that one finds in nearly every Buddhist 
culture (with the possible exception of the one in North Carolina).

> I do so at my peril of ad holmium attacks

What exactly is an ad holmium attack? I'm guessing that it is some kind of 
fallacy or attemtp to distract attention from the substance of an issue. But 
no fallacies or distractions have been carried out here for years, so you can 
rest assured that your holmium will never be in peril in these precincts.

> but would do so in the defense of the suttas as being a 
> practical guide to the end of suffering and not a listing of jokes and
> cariatures.

You dramatically mispreresent what has been said. No one claimed that the 
suttas are not practical guides to reducing dukkha. No one said that the 
suttas are a list of jokes. What was said was that offering satires, parodies 
and caricatures is a very old practice in Buddhism and can be found in the 
Pali canon. Humour is very much in evidence throughout the suttas, although 
in fairly short supply in the vinaya and abhiddhamma pitakas.


-- 
Richard P. Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico
http://www.unm.edu/~rhayes