The Buddhist Spirit of Irreverence

Among the various Buddhist schools, the Zen school is probably the most maligned one. In China, the Zen masters are often called “crazy” or “arrogant.” This happens primarily due to people’s ignorance and superficial understanding. It is also because most Chinese Buddhists have virtually no understanding of the founding spirit of Buddha. Because they don’t understand, they have made Buddhism into a religion.

Religion has to be one of the worst inventions of humankind. Why? Just look at two things that religion prizes — obedience and reverence. I re-read the book of Genesis last year. What does this book teach? What is the primary message? It is that of obedience. It seems that all the troubles humankind has got itself into have to do with disobeying God. This is treating humans as if they are little children, without any ability to think for themselves. Is this something we should teach today? The second primary religious virtue is reverence. Reverence is not necessarily bad. We should have a sense of reverence towards the earth and towards nature. This makes sense. But why should we have reverence towards everything? To me, reverence has to be earned. Some people and some things are just not worthy of respect, save reverence. Is intolerance worthy of respect? How about Nazism and Fascism? Is Hitler worthy of respect too?