Buddhism Develops Own Brand Intolerance Now?

[cronus]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21820476

Briton denies Buddha tattoo was 'disrespectful'

A British tourist is "shocked and upset" after being deported from Sri Lanka for displaying a Buddha tattoo on his arm, he says.

Antony Ratcliffe, 42, from Nottingham, was turned back at Colombo's main airport on Friday for allegedly showing a lack of respect for Buddhism.

The authorities are tough on perceived insults to Buddhism - the religion of the island's majority ethnic Sinhalese.

But Mr Ratcliffe says the "inoffensive" body art was meant as a tribute.

'Officer went crazy'
The Briton, a former infection control officer for the ambulance service and a keen amateur photographer, was stopped as he tried to leave Bandaranaike International Airport during a 12-hour stop-over en route from London to Malaysia.

Despite having a valid two-day tourist visa, Mr Ratcliffe said he was frogmarched to a detention area after immigration officials spotted the Buddha's head tattoo poking out from the sleeve of his T-shirt.

"As soon as he saw it the chief officer went crazy. You could see it on his face, he looked really angry and said I would have to go back to London," Mr Ratcliffe told the BBC.

(continued, what would Buddha do?)

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

he'd do nothing of course...

[klr]

So ... either this is an excuse to bar him from the country (which is bad), or the reason given is genuine, which is worse, because it means Sri Lankan Buddhists are intolerant of free expression to the point of violence.

[FBM]

Don't know about Sri Lanka, but here in Korea tattoos are considered to be self-mutilation, which they say the Buddha forbade. People with tatts aren't allowed to ordain, but that's about it. The hypocrisy there is that there is an old Korean tradition of monks cutting off 4 fingers of one hand (only a few extremists do this) to show their lifetime devotion to attaining enlightenment (they can't re-enter society and work afterwards). There's so much cultural accretions and traditional bullshit involved in Buddhism these days. I guess Buddhists read the Pali Canon about as much as Christians read the Babble.

[PsychoSerenity]

I went along to a Buddhist meditation session last week just for the sake of a new experience. I suppose from having spent time on these forums I'm more attuned to spotting religious nonsense than the average person, but I was surprised at how obvious it was. There was a full kind of shrine to the Buddha at the front with all the little statues, - fine I thought, it's just decoration, it doesn't mean anything. But then there was a prayer to the Buddha asking him to end our suffering and such, and we were asked not to put the prayer sheet on the floor afterwards because it contained the Buddha's words. It was beginning to seem rather at odds with some of the things I'd leant about Buddhism so far e.g. the "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him" sort of thinking. Then we were told about karma as if it were a very definite thing, like a scoreboard totalling all the good and all the bad of our lives that physically dictates our future. Then there was a guided meditation where we were told to practice believing that wishing to take other's suffering away from them would actually have an effect - not just on ourselves and how we might treat to people in the future - but an actual effect to reduce the suffering of those that we wish it upon. Nobody else seemed to mind, and I just quietly sat through it all feeling slightly awkward.

[FBM]

You stepped in a big pile of accretions there, PS. I hope you washed up afterwards.

[Svartalf]

Buddhists have been capable of violence for centuries... Zen buddhism was a warriors' religion after all, and even other flavours of it had monasteries with impressive armed forces...

[FBM]

Buddhists have been capable of violence for centuries... Zen buddhism was a warriors' religion after all, and even other flavours of it had monasteries with impressive armed forces...

Korean monks were instrumental in fighting off the Japanese. I'm pretty sure there was some killing involved.

Anyway, if you read the Pali Canon, you'll find out that the Buddha made exceptions for "just" wars, the fighting of which would prevent greater future suffering. Like most things Buddhist, it leaves the judgement as to how to apply that up to you.

[Rum]

Institutionalised, especially state supported religion of any kind is the worst sort in my view. More evil has been done in its name than almost anything I care to think of.

[Svartalf]

ut think of the development COE clergymen and their wives have given to the English Art of Taking Tea.

[Azathoth]

I will take any excuse at all to post this