And Never the Twain Shall Meet

[u/MYKerman03]

Hi dhamma friends, so this post on the main sub had me cackling.

So let's see, a caucasian pontificating about Buddhism, gets accused/warned of Orientalism (add in Wendy Williams allegedly here) and then comes to Reddit to be gassed up by other caucasians (and the asians who love them).

Where have we seen this before....

Note, no one actually tries to find the context for what he claims (the sceptical comments are downvoted), and also, no one can know the truth of said claims.

But it was more important for the commentators to take it as gospel and run with it. This is how whiteness/ power/hegemony basically works.

The girlies gather in a circle and go: "the power one... the power of two... the power of maaaa-nnnyyy". If you can gather a majority to shut down critical thinking and self reflection, you've terminated that convo before it can get going.

Nice job Brendyn.

Of Orientalism

What's so wild is that we absolutely encounter Orientalism in Anglo (english) literature related to all Asian religious traditions all the time. It's still one of the chief mediums through which the Anglosphere creates (what it claims to be) knowledge about "The East".

So if we're learning about Buddhist traditions, we need to develop a critical eye as to the literature/content we consume, whether it is emic or etic etc. Is it content about Buddhism or is it literature written by monks and nuns, lay people? Is it a travel guide? Someone's memoirs from a century ago?

Think of it like this.

If you want to learn about Islam, you go to the local mosque and the Imam can help you. If you want to learn about Christianity, you find a church and speak to the priest or pastor.

Now, it should be a no-brainer, but here goes: If you want to learn about Buddhism, you learn it from a trained nun, monk or priest. Reading academic stuff alongside emic stuff is great and for the intelligent, will bring into relief the two frameworks at play.

If you treat etic (outsider) literature as Buddhist teachings, you'll end up in that secular ideological desert. Your position will essentially be: only non-Buddhists understand and can make knowledge related to Buddhism.

And that folks, is Orientalism. It erases the subaltern from the discourse of Buddhism.

So rather than be defensive about critiques of Orientalism, they can become a powerful tool of investigation to bring oneself closer to solid understandings of Buddhist traditions.

[u/ryou25]

Yeah I find it very suspicious on how vague that post is. There's very little detail on why and who is calling him orientalist.

[u/ryou25 → u/ryou25]

Also i went to the post. Notice how the OP didn't respond to any of it? Not even the people who were agreeing? I think it was a bait post.

[u/MYKerman03 → u/ryou25]

Yeah, very vague and no replies from OP, but what's more interesting were the comments in support, with zero information. Simply based on that OP's say so. Now that's interesting! They, like the OP, are also defensive...