Si modo
Diamond Member
To the bolded: That is Daoist, not Judeo-Christian.You are wrong about your interpretation of "right speech" as meaning never use the term "extremism" or never call anyone "extremist".
Most non-buddhists, knowing nothing of buddhism, presume that buddhism means "always be nice".
I consider it an extremist idea to eliminate all government except for the military and the police.
Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association radio program says otherwise.
His views are extremist. He proposes that the only people who should be able to get contraception in the US would be married couples.
Martin Ssempa is a Christian minister who drafted the "kill gays" legislation in Uganda. I call him extremist.
I know a little more than nothing about Buddhism, and, in my opinion, referring to someone as an "extremist" is definitely not in keeping with "Right Speech." I'd certainly be interested in why you think it's acceptable, but in my view it's little more than name calling.
As for the term "extremism," my complaint isn't necessarily about its context in the idea of "Right Speech," but that there's no objective measure of what is or isn't "extreme."
And we've yet to adequately address my original point, which could be summed up as there is no "Buddhist position" on economic policy. You'll have communist Buddhists and free market Buddhists.
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".
But I understand how that would confuse you. You view judgement as bad, thus it must be Judeo-Christian.
Yet, that, the bolded, is one of the fundamentals of Daoism.