phil wrote:I think it's great, I read his books before I came across the Dhamma, and I left them behind, but they helped at the time. I have no concern about the Dhamma being diluted or corrupted because it already is. If what he writes/says about his experiences brings more people into a big wide gate that vaguely leads in the direction of "Buddhism", more people will eventually make it through the narrow gate into Theravada, I say.
Hi again
Kind of related to what I wrote above, I found this from a member TG3(?) in the "Dhamma and my Marriage" thread in the Personal Experience corner. I think it is a good example of how people can be brought to the Buddha's teaching in many different ways.
"May I go off topic for a moment on my own thread? I came across Buddhism in a rather odd way, never imagining the important role it would one day play in my life. Several years ago I saw a news article on a website about the Taliban in Afghanistan destroying a large Buddhist statue carved into the side of a mountain. Having heard about Buddhism through the many years of my life but never having investigated it (I was "areligious," if I may coin my own word), I was curious about the statue and why the Taliban thought it so important to destroy it. I have since surmised the latter but it was in following the links to the former that I began to learn just what Buddhism was all about. I researched it from time to time for a while and about a little over a year ago, I became in my own estimation, "a Buddhist." "
I'm sure Deepak Chopra's writing about his experiences with ordination will lead to even more people discovering the Buddha's teaching than the Taliban blowing up those statues. Well, here's hoping...
And thanks for letting me post your comment out of context TG3.
Metta,
Phil
