Expert: Joe McSorley - 10/5/2008

Question


Hello my name is Michelle and I am going to ask you several questions bout

Buddhism for my philosophy class.

1.   How do you think the practice of Buddhism has changed the United

States (or any other nation)?

2.   If a cat was struck by a truck, had severe injuries and was going to die a

long painful death, what would a Buddhist do? Even though killing living

beings is against the principle ideas of Buddhism, would it still be wrong to

put this animal down even if it is seen as the “humane” thing to do?

3.   Given the current state of the United States’ economy (or any other

country’s), how would a Buddhist react?

4.   How do Buddhists view American politics? In general do they support a

certain candidate or is it something they steer away from?

5.   How do Buddhists view other religions and philosophies, specifically

Christianity?



Thank you for your time and effort in answering my questions

Answer
Hi Michelle,
 You are asking me questions about Buddhism in general but my expertise is in Zen which does not hold to some of the practices of the other sects.  I will try to give you some answers.

1.   How do you think the practice of Buddhism has changed the United
States (or any other nation)?

I don’t think it’s had any effect in the US but clearly it has changed nations like Tibet. Read some of Tibet’s history and you will see how and why.


2.    If a cat was struck by a truck, had severe injuries and was going to die a
long painful death, what would a Buddhist do? Even though killing living beings is against the principle ideas of Buddhism, would it still be wrong to put this animal down even if it is seen as the “humane” thing to do?

I don’t know what rule of life in death in Buddhism you are talking about here.  If Buddhism cannot kill any living thing then we’d all starve to death.  Plants are living beings and we kill them to eat them. If I walk across my lawn I kill hundreds of creature just by the very fact of my existence.  If I scratch my head I am killing the small creatures that inhabit all of our skin.  A cat being hit by a car is a very unnatural thing.  In nature there are not cars to hit cats.  Animals in nature are felled by predators or disease and the predators kill their prey rather quickly.  To let a cat languish would show no compassion at all.  I cat that is hit by a car in the country would soon be eaten by a predator and there is nothing wrong with that it’s nature’s way.  To put one out of its pain is no different.

3.    Given the current state of the United States’ economy (or any other country’s), how would a Buddhist react?
It’s according to the Buddhist in that situation.  Buddhism is not some monolithic static state, it’s to see things as they are and deal accordingly.  When you stub your toe do you react as a Christian or a Jew? It makes the idea of a Buddhist reaction nonsensical.



4.    How do Buddhists view American politics? In general do they support a certain candidate or is it something they steer away from?

There is not one static Buddhist viewpoint of things to answer this question.

5.    How do Buddhists view other religions and philosophies, specifically Christianity?

And again, the same answer, there is no one Buddhist viewpoint.  One would hope that all religion would be about finding ultimate truth as opposed to just following some prescribed ancient path but often religions are the root of problems in society. This also begs the question; what is Christianity?  If you went back to 200 AD and observed Christians they would be nothing like today’s Christians.  The concepts of being born again and Christ dying for our sins were not yet developed.  All of this plus the problems with translations in the Bible create a quagmire of problems.  In today’s world you have the Evangelicals, Fundamentalist, Catholic and many other groups that are at odds with each other as to what Christianity really is.  How can a Buddhist have an idea of what it is when the Christians themselves can’t agree?


  Take care,
        Joe