lpetrich

Some Buddhist sects seem to have invented a sort of Buddhist Heaven; in Pure Land Buddhism, one can get reborn in the "Pure Land" or "Western Paradise".

I've been unable to find out what that realm is supposed to be like, however.

Is it like the Christian Heaven, which is presumably like the Book of Revelation's New Jerusalem? In that realm, one inhabits a city paved with gold and walls of precious stones, and wears a white robe and sings hymns of praise all day.

Or is it like the Islamic Paradise, that blatant exercise in wishful thinking? In that realm, one lives in a lushly furnished, gardened, and watered oasis estate with lots of nice food and drink, lots of cute servant boys, and a harem of lovely ladies.

It's certainly interesting that Buddhism, which started out as a theologically threadbare philosophy, got all this theological sort of stuff added on -- lots of gods, demons, heavens, hells, etc.

kctan

Easternised (as in China) version of buddhism (Jing Tu Zhong). The pure land here refers to a place which is free from any forms of suffering. The bugger get to listen to Amitaba (spelling ?) buddha preach to learn more about how to ultimately free oneself from reincarnation.

Jing Tu - Pure Land.
Zhong - Sect or society.

lpetrich

Amitabha / Amida

I seem to have a good memory for spellings.

Farren

Ipetrich, I have an annotated "Lotus Sutras of Pure Land Buddhism".
Since much of buddhism relies not on words but inexpressible experiences, this cannot be a "Correct" interpretation, but I think I'm close.:
Unlike Christianity (a religion, centred on God), buddhism is a system of thought, with no God (and no beliefs about creation). One central thesis is that there is a vast amount of truth that can only be learned by experience, not description (like me trying to post to you the "experience" of you hearing Sinead O' Connor if you've never heard her before).
Pure Land buddism, in this context, was a form of Buddhism designed to make a complex experience a simple idea to a medieval peasant who didn't have too much time for contemplation generally interpreted to be a vehicle to understanding. i.e. Call it heaven now and understand it to be freedom from atomic identity later

Farren

ps. KCTans statements about listening to the Amitaba preach are also symbolism. It refers to the interim state of acquiring greater understanding once your mind has been freed to a certain extent.

lpetrich

So the more philosophically-minded Buddhists, at least, tend to reject literalism.

But I wonder if there are some Buddhist sects that might deserve the label of "Buddhist fundamentalist".

Boro Nut

Judging by the statues I think ice-cool pile ointment would come close.

copernicus

Gerald Larue's Freethought Across the Centuries (Humanist Press, 1996) contains a very nice survey of the major human religions. The chapter on India discusses the development of Buddhism. The way he describes it, the Theraveda (a.k.a. Hinayana) sect considers itself to be in Buddha's direct line, conserving the oldest texts and following the earliest practices. I suppose one could consider them fundamentalists. The Mahayana buddhists seem to have developed the more theist-like version of Buddhism. That is, sects in that branch of Buddhism tend to believe in the existence of supernatural beings that minister to human needs. Here is a quote from Larue (p. 304):

[ November 22, 2001: Message edited by: copernicus ]

Echo

I have heard some buddhists refer to other buddhists as fundamentalists. Two examples that come to mind are Hokkeko and Soka Gakkai, two formerly affiliated lay organizations of Nichiren buddhists. On usenet and aol's buddhism folder, these groups and their detractors can be found arguing over who is or isn't a *true* buddhist.

boneyard bill

I agree with Echo. The Nirchiren sect of Japanese Buddhism comes closest to our idea of fundamentalists. They tend to be strongly nationalistic, stress grace over works, and are dogmatically inclined.

Theravada (Originial Teaching) Buddhism would more accurately be compared with Orthodox Christianity rather than fundamentalism.