Buddhism, as opposed to Dharma, has been used to construct and bolster bullshit like national identity and nationalism. It still does this in some cases, most ironically with the whole Free Tibet crowd.
In the West, where Buddhism is mostly a white middle-class ego accessory, or in the case of "serious", by their own definition, practitioners, a hobby involving various rituals, buying ethnic shit and doing stuff we don't really understand.
When it comes to the online world this seems to be magnified somewhat. Opinions are given gravitas on the basis of who said it, rather than what was said. This is very sad and seems adharmic in some way.
Lack of anonymity is ego identity. Ego identity is yet another fetter to tie us to samsaric suffering, the degree of which we are mostly blissfully ignorant of.
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In the West, where Buddhism is mostly a white middle-class ego accessory, or in the case of "serious", by their own definition, practitioners, a hobby involving various rituals, buying ethnic shit and doing stuff we don't really understand.
Yup.
It seems most prominent with Tibetan Buddhists. It isn't enough to do tantra, they need to have a wardrobe of Tibetan garments (made by Tibetans of course and imported directly from India of course) and other accessories. Drinking butter tea, too, maybe?
A lot of Buddhism in white middle-class society is not really Buddhadharma, but just imported culture. That's fine. I like tsampa and prayer flags as much as the next guy. But I think it gets too much attention. You don't need to put up a thousand friggin' prayer flags in your back and front yard and announce to the world your dedication to the Tibetan cause. Loving kindness and compassion are far more important. However, the latter get less emphasis than the prayer flags.
"Opinions are given gravitas on the basis of who said it, rather than what was said. This is very sad and seems adharmic in some way."
Yep Yep and Yep. Some famous author could say some shit sentence, and get accolades. Someone unknown says something profound and nada.
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