Fascinating article about Christian and Buddhist missions co-existing in the 700’s.
When Nestorian Christians were pressing across Central Asia during the sixth and seventh centuries, they met the missionaries and saints of an equally confident and expansionist religion: Mahayana Buddhism. Buddhists too wanted to take their saving message to the world, and launched great missions from India’s monasteries and temples. In this diverse world, Buddhist and Christian monasteries were likely to stand side by side, as neighbors and even, sometimes, as collaborators. Some historians believe that Nestorian missionaries influenced the religious practices of the Buddhist religion then developing in Tibet. Monks spoke to monks.
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Mixing a little eastern influence in with our western traditions… The Buddhist channel has an interesting piece entitled What Would the Buddha Buy?
What would the Buddha buy? Not too much, not too little. Picture him with his own reusable grocery bag slung over his shoulder, talking to a shopper about making mindful choices: “Do you really need it?” “Where does it come from?” “How will it affect the environment when you’re done?”
[snip]
The Buddha’s critique of mindless craving and needless suffering
pinpoints the precise moment during which real pleasure becomes
abstract desire – the want to want. In our addictive culture of
capitalism, it’s the exact same vital acupressure point that our basic
market economy capitalizes on. “Don’t get hooked,” the Buddha says.
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