How should we then live?

It is important to realize what a difference a people's world view makes in their strength as they are exposed to the pressure of life.

Francis Schaeffer
How should we then live? The rise and decline of western thought and culture

What have I been doing in the last week or so? Well, for one I've been re-reading the text above, which I first encountered in college, as well as an eclectic mix of other Western-oriented commentaries like McNeill's History of Western Civilization and various books on Western philosophy ... all with the aim of intensifying the differences in what I experienced in Asia.

But I'm not equipped with the tools of a sociologist, so I'm mostly going on very limited observation and a lot of intuition here about world views.

One subject that I have tried to write about more than once, but have failed at, is "superstition." McNeill writes of Buddhism in China becoming "heavily encrusted with magic and superstition." Wikipedia defines superstition as the irrational belief that future events are influenced by specific behaviors, without having a causal relationship. I don't mean to be pejorative and, in fact, on subsequent inspection it's not clear to me the differences between magic, superstition, and some religious attitudes.

This recalls a famous Zen story:

When Bankei was preaching at Ryumon temple, a Shinshu priest, who believed in salvation through the repetition of the name of the Buddha of Love, was jealous of his large audience and wanted to debate with him.

Bankei was in the midst of a talk when the priest appeared, but the fellow made such a disturbance that Bankei stopped his discourse and asked about the noise.

"The founder of our sect," boasted the priest, "had such miraculous powers that he held a brush in his hand on one bank of the river, his attendant held up a paper on the other bank, and the teacher wrote the holy name of Amida through the air. Can you do such a wonderful thing?"

Bankei replied lightly: "Perhaps your fox can perform that trick, but that is not the manner of Zen. My miracle is that when I feel hungry I eat, and when I feel thirsty I drink."

I'll finish this later ... I'm hungry.