[Buddha-l] A question for Jewish Buddhists

[Richard P. Hayes]

In my advanced undergraduate course on Buddhist philosophy in India we have 
been discussing dependent origination from a bewildering variety of 
perspectives. One of the readings we have looked at was from David 
Kalupahana's book "Causality". In that book (p. 131) Kalupahana makes the 
observation that in the Buddhist view of moral responsibility, "the effect of 
a deed is not determined solely by the deed itself but also by the nature of 
the person who commits the deed." So, he goes on to say, if a great man 
commits an unskilful act, the effect is less serious than if a scoundrel 
commits the same act. He cites the example of a pinch of salt thrown into a 
small cup of water as opposed to a pinch of salt thrown into the Ganges.

A Jewish woman in my class observed that in Judaism the exact opposite is 
said. She reports that in Jewish thought, the greater a person, the more 
damage is done by an indiscretion that the person commits. (This seems right 
to me. I have always found the Buddhist doctrine counterintuitive, which is a 
polite way o saying just plain wrong.)

So here's the question that the Jewish woman asked me and that I cannot 
answer: When Jewish people take up Buddhism, do they experience a conflict 
over this teaching about the relative seriousness of an indiscretion 
depending on the overall character of the person being indiscreet? (I know, I 
know, once cannot generalize. I am aware that if you ask a question of two 
Jews you will get at least three opinions and all that. But humor me on this 
one.)

-- 
Richard P. Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico