Er, I'm a buddhist and I've never heard of "Living Buddha Living Christ". I'm not sure if I'd consider Christ enlightened either. I do agree that buddhism and Christianity can co-exist, simply because they have little philosophical overlap beyond the Goldern Rule. Maybe I should read the book.

Although people casually claiming beliefs gets on my nerves too (especially "I'm a vegetarian but I do eat fish. And chicken sometimes.") I think that most Christians are just as guilty of this as the fashion-religion trendies.

Argh, religion. It will be politics next...

Long Live Hakuna Matata and the Massive Resistance!

<wiping tears of laughter from face>

'I'm a buddhist and I've never heard of "Living Buddha,
Living Christ"' Well, since you are a Buddhist and you
have never heard of this book then it must not exist.

Ok, I'm kidding, sort of.

It is written by Thich Naht Hahn, who makes the claim, as do others that Christ could be considered Enlightened. Specifically he claims, in an interview on "Basic Buddhist Wisdom", that Christ would be considered a Bodhisattva.

PS - if someone is getting on your nerves thank them for the lesson in patience.

Right then, Thank you.

Brian - I just wanted to say that not knowing the book does not show ignorance of buddhism as a whole, and that there are a lot of very different versions of buddhism, but I didn't say it very well... I did look at the book's page on Amazon before I posted, and it does look interesting.

I like the advice.

You can be a Buddhist and not have heard of "Living Buddha, Living Christ". However, the guy was pretty shaky on his Four Noble Truths -- that's about as close to "first principles" as you get.

As for "Hakuna Matata and the Massive Resistance", well, that should be the name of an R&B or reggae band, don't you think?

He got three out of the four Noble Truths. I don't think he did that badly. Ask the next Christian you know to rattle off the Ten Commandments. If he can do that ask him how many books there are in the Bible.

Pat:
I was thinking the same thing shortly after I submitted my last comment. Then I thought that the smart-ass Christian (say, me) could invoke the Jesus Escape Clause and say that He boiled it down to two commandments: Love God and Love Thy Neighbour. However, you have a point -- I wonder how many of my Jewish and Christian friends can name the Ten Commandments.

As for the number of books in the Bible, that depends on whom you ask. The non-Catholic Christian will say 66, some Catholics will say 72 while others will say 73, and the Eastern Orthos will say even more. I guess the correct answer would be "at least 66".

And, silly me, I forgot: if you're Jewish, the Bible has 39 books.

So the correct answer is "at least 39".

Thats a great little description of the events. He has a lot of insightful commentary, but he's also a bit full of himself. I realize the number of people out there who were there for all the wrong reasons, or didn't understand their reasons, and so on, but he gets to the point where he almost assumes each person doesn't have their shit together.

The 'buddhist' deserved his 'test' I suppose, but knowing the book isn't a requirement for buddhism. Ask a Tibetan who's been a Buddhist for their entire life, living and breathing the teachings of Buddha, about that book, and they will have no idea what you are talking about. Doesn't mean they ain't buddhist. The guy turned out to not have his religion in order though, so his initial impression turned out to be correct.

One has to be careful though, I consider myself buddhist (and actually know the truths and the 8 fold path, and have read many books by Thik Nhat Han), and when I talk, especially at a social event, I slip into a real awful slang-ridden drawl. I might be pegged as a hipster buddhist at first, and it would be unfortunate to be incorrectly labeled at first glance. I know a few people who speak even more slangy, but who are far more understanding of buddhism than myself, who would have quashed his 'i'll toy with the fake-buddhist for my blogging pleasure' game. But maybe he'd be a good sport, and would have written about his positive interaction with a buddhist who really knew his shit. :)

Full of myself? Guilty as charged. If it were a crime, there'd be evidence enough to execute me a dozen times and for the Governor to pee on my remains afterwards. ;)

I'm sure there were people with their shit together at Reclaim the Streets. Otherwise, the event would've fallen apart after the third block, or worse, devolved into some kind of property damage-fest where everyone acts out their repressed rebellion-against-Mom-and-Dad fantasies on storefronts, cars (especially SUVs) and the cops. It's just that there were also a lot of people who didn't have it together; I ran into a lot of them, and they also ended up providing the most interesting stories.

Yes, there is a difference between knwoing the rules and regs and actually being a practitioner of a religion. This is especially true if the religion is part of one's cultural folderol, as Buddhism is with Tibetan culture. However, the Buddhist to whom I administered the "test" (more a smart-ass turn of phrase than an actual standardized test with the answers on the back) was a white guy in his 50s -- he had the look of the archetypal "seeker". It was a good bet that he grew up in North America where the religious influences on the culture tend to be Judeo-Christian. If he was the genuine article, he probably chose to be Buddhist rather than being born into it, and who's got more zeal than a convert? On the other hand, if he was simply claiming to be a Buddhist for coolness-by-association, I figured he'd only be able to answer a couple of Trivial Pursuit-level questions and no more. Buddhist poseurdom is a hot thing right now; that's why Timothy McSweeney's listed "Thinks of Self as Buddhist" in its hilarious Proposed Indian Names for Certain White People (see http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2000/12/08indian.html).

I'm sure I could administer the same test to people who call themselves Christians, especially in the Bible Belt, where people wear their beliefs as if they were frilly new dresses for the debutante cotillion. I could probably stump a lot of people with the Commandments or the Beatitudes.

I'm all for slang when it comes to discussing religion. As with anything else, if you can't talk about it in everyday language, there's a chance you might not understand it. Slang is also proof that you're not just parroting the textbooks. (I myself drop some dope stylee slangy religious flava in a posting I call "Sacrelicious!" at http://kode-fu.com/shame/2002_03_03_archive.shtml#10352145).

As for positive experiences with Buddhists, I've had lots, including one with a very cute one whom I called "Bootysattva" and who called me "Samsara Boy".

I think Phideaux meant the Buddhist was full of himself but you are too, which makes your blog and your adventures so much fun. There's too damned much self-efacing shyness around to suit me.

Joey, I'm actually a heavily trained, fallen away Catholic trying to evolve a Buddhist practice. Of course I've read a lot, starting with the mind-blowing _Tibetan Book Of Living And Dying_. I say evolving because I don't have the mental calm to meditate which, I take it, is the core of the dharma. But I'm learning and trying to practice compassion and oneness. And I try not too use too much jargon!!

Somebody or other said, "If you see the Buddha on the road, kill him." By which I think I understand that we're to look for good practice and evolving consciousness in ourselves, not in doctrine. I really like that.

I loved your piece on the street fair and I love even more your last post..."(without actual leadership the event would have) devolved into some kind of property damage-fest where everyone acts out their repressed rebellion-against-Mom-and-Dad fantasies on storefronts, cars (especially SUVs)". You're an entertaining writer.

I have to admit my first post was probably triggered by a previously hidden fear of someone springing a quiz on Buddism on *me*, and then discovering that I'm one of the trendy mock Buddhists too...