Bill!, Tribalism has been the history of Humans. And with tribalism, violence and the old "us-versus-them" has also been a key part of our heritage.
Some religions embrace violence and killing, and use it for "religion's" ends, in spreading the religion, and to make a display of "righteousness" against Infidels. Some religions attempt to dissolve a tendency toward violence by dissolving tribalism. They do this by showing to each member that the tribe is not a collection of individuals, but instead that the individuals all partake of the consciousness of the tribe. That is a radical difference. I think the Zen sangha is tribal, but it is not opposed to other sanghas because we recognize that there is an even larger "tribe": all the instantiations of Buddha Nature. All the 10,000 Things are members of our tribe with us (and, ha ha, this allows us to say that all our "fights" are just "internal" squabbles ...which they are). ;-) Christianity does this "larger inclusion" too, in its teaching that we are all "Children of God", and that all things are "His Creations". Thus, we cannot/should not fight each other tooth and nail, because we would then besmirch the intent and substance of "God Himself". And this is yet different from the peaceful-seeming Nature religions of the Native American tribes. It's well known that those tribes were warlike against other tribes. They competed for territory, for hunting ranges, and for women-folk. Their religions' "Great Spirit" may not have been the SAME "Great Spirit", from tribe to tribe, I don't know. And each tribe had its OWN origin-stories, as originating from its own Tribal God. So, the American Indians were free to compete and slaughter each other, probably with the Gods' consent. Their tribe was not as extensive as the tribe of the Zen sangha. Islam is not only a religion of a tribe, but it is a fractionated religion among fractionated tribes, the worst situation of all. I sing, with the Grateful Dead's Jerry "Captain-Trips" Garcia, the line: "It's a shame those boys can't be more copacetic". --Joe > "Bill!" <BillSmart@...> wrote: > > Mike, Merle, Joe, et al... . . . > I think religions in general foster an 'us versus them' attitude, but that's > much more pronounced in monotheistic religions that have to maintain they > literally have the 'keys to the kingdom', in other words are custodians to > the only way to salvation. > > ...Bill! ------------------------------------ Current Book Discussion: any Zen book that you recently have read or are reading! Talk about it today!Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: zen_forum-dig...@yahoogroups.com zen_forum-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: zen_forum-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/