14.12.09
Buddhism vs junk sufism
Context of The Shadow of the DL…
I am worried we may have alienated James with a critique of Buddhism, and this book on the Dalai Lama may well have a host of problems. But the book echoes with something that rings true to me, it is hard to say what.
But James has rightly pointed many times to the powerful early profundity of Buddhism, and I have welcomed that, even as I was getting ready to bring in a critique of Buddhism.
The point here is that if we critique Buddhism a host of sufis will egg us on, as they seek its destruction, due to its atheism.
In general, criticizing Buddhism can backfire, even the Chinese are against it, and in the process of destroying it.
So let me note that Sufism is pure shit compared to the stupendous history of Buddhism, which once got it right, with a teaching spawned in the Axial Age with a lot of dignity and grace.
By comparision Sufism is just a huge swindle by gnostic predators whose deceptions make it impossible to have a spiritual path.
The Tibetan question is something altogether different.
Anyway we can’t spare Buddhism our critique, but it is essential to consider its greater history in the history or religion.
The junk sufism inside Islam with its purloined mysticism from India called Sufism are degenerate phenomena compared to the mighty history of Buddhism.
James said,
16.12.09 at 3:17 pm
John,
You have misread my departure. As you’ve noted, my posts have decreased substantially in the past few months after 2-3 years of posting with extreme frequency. Again, this has nothing to do with the Shadow of the DL or anything like that (I’ve been kicked off many Buddhist forums for being critical so it has nothing to do with that).
To be honest, I hadn’t even read that much (since college) or had any opinion about Darwinian theory until about 4 years ago. My discovery of the blogosphere that revolved around this topic was mainly due to the fact that I was trying to kill time during work breaks and needed something else to do on the Internet. It has been intellectually entertaining to comment on the topics @ your blogs, but, in the final analysis, I’m not really invested in any academic or social outcome. My interests are rather fickle and change every few years and time is up for these subjects. That said, I still think you have the best sites for commentary on these topics. Take care.
The Gurdjieff Con » Note to James said,
17.12.09 at 4:50 pm
[...] Comment on Buddhism and Junk Sufism James said, 16.12.09 at 3:17 pm · John, [...]
Moss said,
04.01.10 at 6:45 pm
Checkout the links under ‘Sufis – just as violent as the rest’ at http://kwelos.tripod.com/religion_of_peace.htm
nemo said,
06.01.10 at 12:46 pm
Thanks for the link