Conferences have been organized and books written about the date of the Buddha. Yet, the reasonings by contemporary scholars are often so speculative that a few ancient stones, or two palm-leaf fragments, make them fall to pieces. Buddhist practitioners have remodeled their religious practices by following the dictat of self-assertive western academics, only to later find out that the views they propounded were coarse and unfounded speculations. Academic hypotheses are work in progress rather than certainties, hence it seems unwise to employ them to reshape Buddhist practice.
Posted on: Wed, 27 Nov 2013 04:12:36 +0000