Bhante Shravasti Dhammika's book "Broken Buddha"

[Brahmali]

@Bhikkhu_Jayasara

I would be interested in the opinions of Bhante @sujato and Ajahn @brahmali in relation to Bhante Dhammika’s article however.

Sorry for taking so long to reply to this, but here it is.

I have to admit The Broken Buddha was an eye-opener for me too. I had mostly been exposed to the purer part of the Buddhism, and I needed this to gain a more balanced perspective. In fact, even the “purer” part of Buddhism is often not as true to the Buddha’s teachings as some of us would like. I am thinking of such things as the proliferation of wrong view, but also the hierarchical structures that have taken the place of the early decentralised and democratic model.

At the same time, I agree with you that the creation of a new form of Buddhism, a Buddhayana, is not the right answer. Every time we create something new, we also create new divisions and new arguments. There is only one authority that has the ability to unite, and that is the word of the Buddha. So what we really need to do is to heed that word. If we did this fully, most of the corruption of Buddhism would vanish.

How do we get more people, especially monastics, to take the word of the Buddha seriously? I think education is the critical issue. Just understanding where to find the word of the Buddha and then reading it should make a massive difference. This is one of the great things about SuttaCentral: it has mainly been established for this purpose.

[Bhikkhu_Jayasara]

Thank you for your response Bhante

[sujato]

I can only agree with everything Ven Brahmali says here. The thing is, there are plenty of vital, dynamic, powerful things going on in Buddhism; it’s just that none of them are happening in the traditional institutions. Of course, you can never ask too much of institutions, but surely we might expect them to perform some basic functions like provide a competent education in Buddhist fundamentals: but even that is absent.

I don’t think there’s a complete answer to this. But to confirm, putting my energy into SC is indeed at least partially a response to this need, an attempt to raise the fundamental level of Buddhist education. It would be nice if Buddhists knew something about what the Buddha taught. Of course, this is only one project. We also need examples of positive and vital Buddhist institutions, like the BSWA. We need ground roots organizations. We need challenges and people bold enough to try something completely new. We need diversity, engagement, and equality: and we also need contemplation and wisdom. Oh, and a little common sense now and then doesn’t hurt either.

[vimalanyani]

I found your post just now… wish I could give it 10 likes