Buddhism and the social sciences: Gordon-Finlayson versus Tutteji Wachtmeister Dai Osho

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Gordon-Finlayson versus Tutteji Wachtmeister Dai Osho

I repeatedly told Gordon-Finlayson to stop the blame game. Now that I have left the Soto Zen Buddhism Facebook group, I would like to make some comments to those of you who may have read that discussion.

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Hey folks,

I did receive messages of encouragement from many of you, but the venom in one of the messages from a commenter on the forum was so much that I decided that it would be best to leave. I don't have time for all this pointless banter. At the end of the day, it is just a pointless waste of time.

At the end of the day, as I made it clear to Gordon-Finlayson, I believe in equality for all. The sort of deliberately obtuse reading that Gordon-Finalyson gives my public message which was seen by many people gives the game away. It turns out that Gordon-Finalyson basically does not care for any sort of equality. And after Googling, it turns out that Gordon-Finlayson is some type of middle manager in some political apparatus. Anyway, this whole thing is just a waste of time. Best wishes to all. Don't forget to pay respects to His Holiness Tutteji Wachtmeister Dai Osho. He will shower you with His Bliss.

Best, Anand

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Also read:
1. The one in which Tutteji Wachtmeister Dai Osho says to Gordon-Finlayson & company: "Keep Calm and Ban Everyone" : http://tuttejiorg.wordpress.com/2014/03/18/keep-calm-and-ban-everyone/

2. The one in which Tutteji has for Gordon-Finlayson & company an "Update" : http://tuttejiorg.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/update/

3. The one in which Tutteji speaks about his argument with Soto Zen:
http://tuttejiorg.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/my-arguent-with-soto-zen-or-how-i-learned-to-fear-the-x/

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About z-Buddhism

About z-Buddhism: http://buddhismandthesocialsciences.blogspot.com/2014/08/about-z-buddhism.html

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There are many Buddhisms. There is, of course, mainstream Buddhism. Then, there is X-Buddhism, a description of which is available at the following website: http://speculativenonbuddhism.com/. And then, there is Y-Buddhism. Somebody suggested Y-Buddhism as an alternate type of Buddhism (I have not looked into the details of Y-Buddhism, whatever that may be). In this blog, we will describe Z-Buddhism.

Z-Buddhism is, hopefully, the last Buddhism you will ever need. Z-Buddhism interprets Buddhism in conjunction with what know from the sciences as well as the social sciences.

Z-Buddhism does not build up from X-Buddhism or Y-Buddhism. It instead builds up theory as it ought to be done - correctly and right the first time. While X-Buddhism seems to be building up some theory to deal with Buddhism intelligently, it really seems to be the sort of "theory building" you see in European continental philosophy. This type of theory building involves using words that few people can understand and it must be said that it is not clear that anything useful is being contributed by a theory merely by the use of impressive sounding words - hermeneutics, substratal matrix, visible informant, et cetera. Gayatri Spivak, Slavoj Zizek, and Homi Bhabha are just three intellectuals guilty of using terms that serve no real purpose other than to obfuscate. The excessive use of these words is often indicative of a poverty of theory itself. This does not mean that X-Buddhism itself is lacking in any way. It is merely a warning to be careful about certain types of theories. Indeed, the obfuscatory words of deconstructionists such the people behind X-Buddhism (or more famously Zizek, Spivak and Bhabha) may even play a role. By not revealing its hand, but yet speaking against the "Machine", it is able to critique whatever "Machine" it is that it chooses to pit itself against.

Again, the excessive use of complex-sound words is often indicative of a poverty of ideas in a theory. This is because of the following reason: good social scientific theories are based on a set of hypotheses. This set of hypotheses can be stated in relatively simple terms. So theories, which are built up from good hypotheses, can also be stated in relatively simple terms. An example of such a theory is the theory of disruptive innovation. Although the theory itself has fallen into question, the techniques of good theory building were used to build the theory - although extra care should have been taken in making sure that the theory was novel as well as accurate. A better theory is the theory of evolution. What is noteworthy about this theory is that it can be explained in relatively few and simple terms (viz., life arises due to evolutionary forces.)

Let us move on to the motivations of theory building. The motivation of theory building is to shed light on the world. The conflict of Religion with Science is well known. Christianity has come under attack because it conflicts with science. The theory of creationism has been throughly debunked and indeed this "theory" has been entirely superseded by the theory of evolution. What is an emerging truth is that Buddhism also has a conflict - not with the Sciences, but with the Social Sciences. Z-Buddhism tells the story of what this conflict is and how it is being resolved (if at all that is possible). Some of the conflict between Religion and Science are essentially unresolvable. It is simply the case that the theory of creationism is wrong. Similarly, it is possible that some of the issues with Buddhism from the perspective of the Social Sciences may never be resolved.

Like the DNA which consists of three intertwining strands, the world of religious studies consists of three strands - at least, it ought to. The first strand (let us color it red) is the strand of Christopher Hitchens and others who are against Religion in every form. The second strand (let us color it green) is the strand of Religion itself. Different religions such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism are part of this strand. The third strand (let us color it blue) is that of the scientist and the social scientist. Thus far, only two strands have been proposed. This work should be seen as the third strand that is oftentimes ignored.

In Z-Buddhism, we will look at some of these issues, and resolve the ones that may be resolvable. So that's Z-Buddhism. It is the last Buddhism you will ever need.