Thanks so much for going into such detail! I can now see the comment that was made in much clearer context.
I suppose all orthodoxies are similarly constructed. Taking Judaism as an example, it seems to me the Talmud attempts to reapply the basic Judaic tenets for each era, each culture, for each circumstance and indeed for each student who studies it, a dynamic set of studies that never stops growing. What becomes an accepted set of 'laws' for one group in a country in time is not necessarily viable in entirety to other groups, and the teachings are discussed and studied and built upon to help each group or individual to arrive at their own levels of acceptance. Labelling them Orthodox or strict or Progressive or Liberal doesn't detract from the underlying basis for the faith; it simply shows the diversity the followers have found in the interpretations, each to their own time and culture.
I shouldn't be surprised (and I'm not, now that I think about it) to find that Buddhism has a similar history of differing interpretations and degrees of orthodoxy.
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branchandroot
Re: Women in Buddhism
Date: 2003-03-06 07:43 am (UTC)I suppose all orthodoxies are similarly constructed. Taking Judaism as an example, it seems to me the Talmud attempts to reapply the basic Judaic tenets for each era, each culture, for each circumstance and indeed for each student who studies it, a dynamic set of studies that never stops growing. What becomes an accepted set of 'laws' for one group in a country in time is not necessarily viable in entirety to other groups, and the teachings are discussed and studied and built upon to help each group or individual to arrive at their own levels of acceptance. Labelling them Orthodox or strict or Progressive or Liberal doesn't detract from the underlying basis for the faith; it simply shows the diversity the followers have found in the interpretations, each to their own time and culture.
I shouldn't be surprised (and I'm not, now that I think about it) to find that Buddhism has a similar history of differing interpretations and degrees of orthodoxy.