Issaradīpani — Buddhist and Philosophical Critiques of Classical and Fundamentalist Abrahamic Theology

[thomaslaw]

@Dogen

I also wonder when tackling the subject of Fundamentalism, would this book get into the fundamentalist perspective of Buddhism as well. There are quite a few Theravadins who believe that two kids growing alone in the woods would start to speak Pāli because commentaries say so. Some Theravadins think the Buddha never had to shave his hair. The list goes on and on. It would be hypocritical to criticise one religion for literalist fundamentalism whilst ignoring such problems within Buddhism.

Critical thinking is certainly important for any information, any studies, including Buddhist Studies.

Here regarding the Pali commentaries, I stated in Dhamma Wheel Buddhist Forum that “Buddhaghosa intentionally lied about the Pali Piṭakas and the language of the Buddha. The facts are: The Pali Piṭakas had not originated from the first Saṅgha council, that the Pali language of the texts was not identical with Magadhi, and the language spoken by the Buddha was not Magadhi or Pali. Buddhaghosa did that just for his own sectarian tradition.” Murder of Theravada began with Buddhagosa - Story behind this - Page 3 - Dhamma Wheel Buddhist Forum