Moving beyond human experience
I have always been more or less of the opinion that modern Buddhists are more interested in trying to find effective ways of coping with the samsaric world, including trying to bring Buddhism closer to modern science (whatever science today means), than trying to understand the real message of the Buddha that can be found only in the canon.
Their strategy seems to be, take parts of Buddhism that resonate with modern values while leaving the rest out of the picture, if not sometimes raising doubts with regard to rebirth, for example.
Where this all ends up, or maybe I should say, what this accomplishes is to glorify our present day world as if this is the best of all possible worlds when, in fact, this is not true. The lives people are leading right now are screwed up in a number ways (how about health, for example?).
Lets face it, modern society is decadent and has been so for some time. In addition, those who run the machinery, i.e., those who hold the reigns of power are, for the most part, corrupt. The average person seems to forget that the 20th century was the century of genocide and annihilation (if you add the Cold War to this).
Modern religious values are equally decadent. The modern soul believes that it is privileged to offer its verdict on all religions, moreover, that the goal of religion is to find God, or the absolute (which ever you prefer), in human experience. We Buddhists already see this in the expression everyday Zen or ordinary Zen both of which are really saying: Our human, everyday experience is the Buddhic life.
Why the modern soul chooses to locate religious experience in human experience is puzzling to say the least. It is even more puzzling when a Buddhist like Thich Nhat Hanh says: "Religious experience is inevitably human experience. It has to do with the human consciousness, both individual and collective (Living Buddha, Living Christ). This is almost like saying the words of ordinary beings are the same! as thos e of the Buddha! But this is wrong from the standpoint of the Nikayas and the Mahayana canon. First of all, it should be obvious that the Buddhas awakening is very important because it transcends all human experience. Instead of being bound down to his human experiences a Buddha awakens to his true nature which is transcendent.
While the Buddha was smart the modern human being is not so smart. Using Pierre Teilhard de Chardins words, We are spiritual beings having a human experience which, let me add, is bringing us nothing but sufferingand still we cling to the human experience, refusing to transcend it. So does this mean the human race is masochistic? Think about it.
