Comments on: The Light of Asia into western eyes

By: Alan Little

Alan Little — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 13:46:40 +0000

> in that climate mortality was heavy

one third of all Europeans in Calcutta in the late eighteenth century died each monsoon season, according to William Dalrymple in his (excellent and highly recommended) White Moguls

Interesting review of what sounds like a fascinating book. Thanks.

By: Ian Robertson

Ian Robertson — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 01:42:35 +0000

Fascinating! Many thanks.

By: Findlay Dunachie

Findlay Dunachie — Fri, 29 Jul 2005 14:35:38 +0000

Verity

Christianity and Buddhism both have strong potential for encouraging benevolence and even love. Most of history testifies to the failure of such potential to deliver, but the message has never quite got lost: God is love, for Christians.

Moses and Muhammad? Yet the Jews have discarded their genocidal history. Can we wait for the Muslims to catch up and discard their hatreds?

Watch your arithmetic! 2000 years = 80 generations, at 25 years per generation; 2500 = 100.

Luke

Thanks for the book recommendation
___________________________________________

Many thanks to the supervisor who put in the link I asked for “Soldier Sahibs . . .” And for linking the whole poem “The Light of Asia” by Sir Edwin Arnold (and much more). I must replace my lost copy.

By: Verity

Verity — Fri, 29 Jul 2005 14:05:36 +0000

Tony Blair got Glen Hoddle fired for believing in karma. He sat on a TV couch and said it was inappropriate for Hoddle to have a religion that was different from his own. And when asked if he thought Hoddle should be relieved of his post, Tone nodded and said, “Yes.”

Only Tone ‘n’ Cher can decide what people can believe. Blowing yourself and dozens of others up for allah – very inconsiderate and serious, but Cher can understand it. Believing that one’s actions in one life will have repercussions in the next life – don’t approve! Sack him!

By: Luke

Luke — Fri, 29 Jul 2005 10:47:01 +0000

You should read Pankaj Mishra's recently publiched 'An End to Suffering' - an excellent book about the Buddha in his world and how his legacy and thought were influenced by the tensions and turmoils of his age - tensions that Mishra shows are with us still. Seriously, I recommend the book highly.

By: David B. Wildgoose

David B. Wildgoose — Fri, 29 Jul 2005 10:12:03 +0000

Excellent Review, Thanks Very Much.

By: Agent Smith

Agent Smith — Fri, 29 Jul 2005 01:49:26 +0000

When a football coach, whose name I have forgotten (perhaps everyone else has) made such a suggestion a few years ago

That would be ex-footballer, popstar and manager, Glenn Hoddle. Currently manager of Wolves.

By: Verity

Verity — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 23:07:14 +0000

Findlay, what is interesting is how one person becomes the definer, or the embodiment, of a certain strand of spiritual thought. Jesus Christ, from an obscure, totally ordinary family and Guatama Buddha, a prince.

And the lessons they taught and that are associated with their names live today, 2,000 and 2,500 years later. That’s a long, long time – hundreds of generations – to be an influence on the human race. Why them?

By: gudone

gudone — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 20:26:23 +0000

On the subject of buddhism, and in the light of the current terrorist threat, i here quote Alan Watts (60′s Zen maestro), from his essay on The Value of Psychotic Experience …..

Now in Arabic countries, where the Islamic religion prevails, a person whom we would define as mentally deranged is regarded with a certain respect. The village idiot is looked upon with reverence because it is said his soul is not with his body, it is with Allah. And because his soul is with Allah, you must respect this body and care for it, not as something that is to be sort of swept away and put out of sight, but as something of a reminder that a man can still be living on Earth while his soul is in Heaven. Very diffent point of view.

I gather he was suggesting this was a good thing. Shame all the village idiots are over here with us now