- Aug 27, 2008
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The term "extremist" is accurate when someone has extreme views. Extremism is not valued in Buddhism.
We practice the "middle way".
What it sounds like you are doing is overlaying a Judeo Christian judgment into Buddhism. Seeing that if there is "Right Speech" there must be "Wrong Speech".
There are many different teachings about how to speak skillfully. What you're trying to do is kind of scold Buddhists if they don't hold to your idea of what Right Speech is.
That would be as bad as me telling you how you should be acting if you are a "good Christian".
So who in Buddhism gets to decide what is or is not extreme? You keep using the word "extreme" as if it's axiomatic, but refuse to address the fact that "extreme" is merely a subjective adjective. You also tried to define the word "extreme" by using the word "extreme" in the definition, which makes no sense.
And of course there's "Wrong Speech."
"Sometimes we speak clumsily and create internal knots in others. Then we say, 'I was just telling the truth.' It may be the truth, but if our way of speaking causes unnecessary suffering, it is not Right Speech." - Thich Nhat Hanh
If something isn't "Right Speech," then it must, by definition, be "Wrong Speech." That quote can also tie into the things you said about Bryan Fischer and the others in one of your previous posts. You were "just telling the truth," as you saw it, about them, but you called them names.
Thich Nhat Hanh describes one aspect of "Right Speech" as "Not speaking cruelly. We don't shout, slander, curse, encourage suffering, or create hatred." Calling someone an "extremist" is a way of slandering them, and creating hatred.
I'm not scolding Buddhists in any way shape or form, I'm scolding you for calling names and not adhering to a Buddhist principle. As for telling me how to act like a "good Christian," feel free. I'm not a "good" Christian, or a Christian of any sort so it makes no difference to me.
Well, I don't need your scolding. I'm a grown up.
Tim McVeigh was an extremist. Fred Phelps is an extremist. Osama Bin Laden was an extremist. Bryan Fischer is an extremist.
It is not slander to tell the truth. It is not creating hatred to tell the truth. It is not creating suffering to oppose extremism.
It is quite the opposite and fully in accord with Buddhist principles to oppose extremism non-violently.
So, in other words, you weren't really interested in any kind of discussion whatsoever.