Modus.Ponens wrote:In substance, yes. But the key motivation is: how can I best troll a bunch of buddhists?
This guy joined on 12th July and last visited on 19th July, making 18 posts, 17 of which were on this thread.
So there isn't much value in continuing to discuss the substance in this context, imo.
It is my understanding that a "troll" is a person who posts messages with the intent of getting people to bicker. I'm not psychic, so I can't guess that person's intent.
Regardless, even if this were the case it is a legitimate subject.
Such things are in the Pali Canon, and worse, such as the Buddha advising masters and slaves how to behave with each other instead of coming out against slavery.
Someone who has been posting here for years could have brought up such a legitimate subject.
While the academics among us can guess that the Buddha was tailoring his advice to the environment he was in, we really do not know what his motivation was either or if such suttas were really his words or not.
So, we come back to my point, which is that the real questions is
"What do we do with our religion when we come across a piece of it that we find very objectionable to modern values we hold dearly?"