we're talking about openmindedness in monotheism. As Galileo and the Church were both monotheist and we are discussing the issue of the church's openmindedness, I think it is on topic but I am willing to concede it is not about Buddhism.
On Buddhism itself, my knowledge is two pronged.
One is the knowledge obtained in school from books, about Gautam Buddha and his arrival in India from Nepal, his enlightenment in Bodhgaya and his travels around the country.
The other is from news articles in India and elsewhere. The original Pali canon was written in Sri Lanka, where the Buddhists consider themselves the "original" Buddhists. This was where Emperor Asoka went for his retirement after he gave up war and became a Buddhist.
So far so good.
After this however, changes in Buddhist theocracy led to a split society, the monks and those who serve them (the Bikshuk). This system evolved differently in different cultures. In Japan, it led to the Shinto Buddhism which was warrior oriented, in Korea the monks practised taekwondo and preserved the temples, in Sri Lanka they became an ethnocracy and separated themselves from immigrants, in Tibet, the king adopted Buddhism and enforced it on the people. In both Nepal and Tibet, the locals, ie the Kamaiyas and Banpos became bonded laborers under the ruling aristocracy, which in Tibet included the Lamas, who were the supreme God-heads. The majority of the population in Sri Lanka, Tibet and Nepal thus degenerated into a serfdom, which mirrored the landowner system of European aristocracy.
Currently, the majority Sri Lankans, Buddhist Sinhalese have been fighting with the ethnic Tamils for land since the British left. The ethnic Tamils have formed a terrorist group called LTTE, which sent a suicide bomber to kill Rajiv Gandhi, the prime minister.
In Tibet, the communists abolished the serfdom, in Nepal, the kamaiya system was recently (2000) abolished.
IMO, there is not much openmindedness in traditional dogmatic Buddhism. However the brutal murders of Buddhists under communist regimes in Tibet, Vietnam, Cambodia, as well as the bombing of Japan followed by the US ban on Shinto religion has led to a turnabout in traditional roles. Priests are no longer given as much sacred status, which has relieved the roles of the Bhikshuks.
On Buddhism itself, my knowledge is two pronged.
One is the knowledge obtained in school from books, about Gautam Buddha and his arrival in India from Nepal, his enlightenment in Bodhgaya and his travels around the country.
The other is from news articles in India and elsewhere. The original Pali canon was written in Sri Lanka, where the Buddhists consider themselves the "original" Buddhists. This was where Emperor Asoka went for his retirement after he gave up war and became a Buddhist.
So far so good.
After this however, changes in Buddhist theocracy led to a split society, the monks and those who serve them (the Bikshuk). This system evolved differently in different cultures. In Japan, it led to the Shinto Buddhism which was warrior oriented, in Korea the monks practised taekwondo and preserved the temples, in Sri Lanka they became an ethnocracy and separated themselves from immigrants, in Tibet, the king adopted Buddhism and enforced it on the people. In both Nepal and Tibet, the locals, ie the Kamaiyas and Banpos became bonded laborers under the ruling aristocracy, which in Tibet included the Lamas, who were the supreme God-heads. The majority of the population in Sri Lanka, Tibet and Nepal thus degenerated into a serfdom, which mirrored the landowner system of European aristocracy.
Currently, the majority Sri Lankans, Buddhist Sinhalese have been fighting with the ethnic Tamils for land since the British left. The ethnic Tamils have formed a terrorist group called LTTE, which sent a suicide bomber to kill Rajiv Gandhi, the prime minister.
In Tibet, the communists abolished the serfdom, in Nepal, the kamaiya system was recently (2000) abolished.
IMO, there is not much openmindedness in traditional dogmatic Buddhism. However the brutal murders of Buddhists under communist regimes in Tibet, Vietnam, Cambodia, as well as the bombing of Japan followed by the US ban on Shinto religion has led to a turnabout in traditional roles. Priests are no longer given as much sacred status, which has relieved the roles of the Bhikshuks.
