Jargon

 

Yep, you take that ol' Rubick's Cube and spin it, just so, and whaddayaknow?

It kinda unfolds before you:

“One other reason I don’t usually take issue with [Western guru Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s] teaching is that he doesn’t seem to be working any kind of new-age grift.  He offers his many books and translations for free, and to my knowledge never charges for his public talks.  I’ve never been to his monastery, but he doesn’t seem to piling up cash for an escape to a palatial estate once the Buddhism fad has passed.  One can easily read his works, determine what he has to offer, and decide whether to follow his teachings without spending any money at all. 

The reason I want to consider his teaching here is simply as an exercise in applying non-buddhist interpretive strategies.  I want to ask this simple question: What would we make of these teachings if they were offered by Geoffrey DeGraff from New York, if he dressed in chinos and an oxford shirt instead of saffron robes, if he offered his ideas as coming from some Western tradition instead of from translations of exotic ancient texts?  If we were to remove the charismatic power that derives from racist Western Orientalism, how seriously would we take these teachings?”

In other words, same whine, different bottles - all BS of the highest order - with a pathetic crazy or con man, smack dab in the center of it all, as they've been since time memorial.

Shocking...