[Buddha-l] Aung San Suu Kyi and the latest Burmese prosecutions

[Zelders.YH]

Richard wrote in response to Christopher Fynn :
>On May 15, 2009, at 1:54 AM, Christopher Fynn wrote:
> > It is rather depressing that several countries with a predominantly
> > Buddhist population and culture produce such authoritarian
> > governments.
>
>As is the case with so many depressing things, it is not at all
>surprising. The Buddha, after all, was an authoritarian teacher, and
>almost all Buddhist traditions have a deeply authoritarian structure.
>One can hardly expect to get much of anything but lemon juice out of
>lemons.


Of course the Buddha of the legend was a figure of great authority, 
but was an authoritarian figure ?
As an ideal example of governing the sangha he pointed to the ways in 
which the Vajjians took care of their affairs, the Vajjians forming 
one of those old Indic quasi-egalitarian republics in which matters 
were decided, if possible by mutual consent, in an assembly of adult 
(male) freemen, in which tradition and elders were held in respect. 
When at a certain moment dissent arose among the bhikkhus the Buddha 
just went away to the jungle and lived there for a while, certainly 
not the average authoritarian way to solve a dispute. The Vinaya 
contains many traces of that archaic ethos.

Herman