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Sir: Your statement about "Buddhism's strident inner contradictions" is as naive as saying, "Once a man is an American, he must immediately recognize racial equality because the Constitution of the U.S. recognizes racial equality." Like Americans, Buddhists are human beings. Some of them practice the teachings of the religion; others do not. Buddhism forbids killing, stealing, adultery, lying, use of alcoholic liquor. But among those who don't practice the teachings, there are killers, thieves, adulterers, liars, drunkards. It is simply a case of man against religion—just as racial trouble in the U.S. is a case of man against an ideal. As for your statement that many Buddhists secretly believe they "can tame Communism," I have known several instances where Buddhists turned down some Communists who posed as friends of Buddhism by pointing out this or that common denominator in the two "isms" and by saying that Buddhism and Communism are the same. Buddhists call the trick the "Communist killing-by-clinching method." History shows that Buddhism has never been a prey to other isms. When Buddhism dies, it will die a natural death, as Gautama Buddha said, after it has completed 5,000 years.
TIN SWE
Rangoon, Burma
Sir: Although I am not a Buddhist, I interpreted your article on the subject as an unregenerate evaluation of the antinomies of a great religion. The adroitness of this article does not, in my opinion, redeem it from constituting an affront to the exponents of this faith. Antinomianism is not peculiar to Buddhism, but is rather an inherent pitfall in any religion. The deeper the spiritual insight one attains, the more dramatic the manifestations of this particular pitfall might become.
THOMAS C. McGOWAN
Centerville, Mass.
Sir: Perhaps Madame Nhu, the "Dragon Lady," was right after all. She said the Buddhists in South Viet Nam were trying to embarrass the government and cause dissension with their continual harangues and displays of public immolation by fire. Their actions have only served to point up some of the reasons Christian missionaries have tried for years to truly enlighten these unfortunate people. Unlike Madame Nhu, I do not propose fighting fire with fire, but I have to agree with her that as a group they are certainly exasperating.
(MRS.) ARLENE HALL
Joliet, Ill.
Death Down South
Sir: I suggest that Sheriff Lawrence Rainey and Deputy Cecil Price [Dec. 18] volunteer for the Peace Corps and serve in the Congo.
M. L. MASON
Littleton, Colo.
Sir: Just the thought of Mississippi scares the daylights out of me. But having a somewhat adventuresome spirit, I'm going to Mississippi this summer, merely to understand how it feels to be in a land where methods of controlling thought and action are probably as strong as those employed by Eastern European Communist states. For protection I'll get false membership cards in the Ku Klux Klan and White Citizens Council. I don't have the guts of Schwerner, Chancy or Goodman.
JOHN L. BAILEY
Pittsburgh
Sir: The "White Knights" of the K.K.K. could well be renamed The Simbas of the South.
MANETTE BUSTANOBY
Syracuse