[Buddha-l] sam harris at the aspen institute

[Richard Hayes]

On Thursday 16 August 2007 13:10, curt wrote:

> And as everyone who has read the first chapter of Rick Fields book "How
> the Swans Came to the Lake" knows, the earliest pioneers of Buddhism in
> the West were all flaky occultists, just like Gerald Gardner.

Rick Fields oversimplifies the picture considerably. There were not only swans 
coming to the lack, but ducks and geese. While a lot of early American 
enthusiasts of Buddhism were spiritualists seeking messages from the Other 
Side, others were drawn to the "Nobody here but us scientists" mantra, and 
yet others were captivated by the sheer beauty of Asian (and especially 
Japanese) art forms. It could be argued, I guess, that all these people were 
flaky in one way or another (since, after all, every who has hair has 
dandruff), but there were at least as many hostile to occultism as there were 
enamored by it.

By the way, Curt, have you read the interview with Bob Sharf in the Summer 
issue of Tricycle yet? He says a lot of thinks that I suspect you would agree 
with. I agree with almost everything he says, and the one thing I disagree 
with is a relatively trivial matter. If time permits, I'll say more about all 
this. (Time may refuse. It's the beginning of a new semester here, and I no 
longer have the luxury of using my time as I would like. "The woods are 
lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep" and all that.)

-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico