XPost: alt.books.cs-lewis   
   From: toomuchspam@spammer.org   
      
   Siwel Naph wrote:   
      
   > But... would anyone be AS apprehensive about going thru wardrobe two,   
   > into the land where everyone practised "Mere Buddhism"? Would anyone   
   > be apprehensive at ALL? (Maybe this is my realtive ignorance of   
   > Buddhism speaking here.)   
      
   This is a Buddhist character in a novel by someone who wasn't ignorant   
   about Buddhism:   
      
   As a magistrate his methods were simple. Even for the vastest bribe he   
   would never sell the decision of a case, because he knew that a   
   magistrate who gives wrong judgments is caught sooner or later. His   
   practice, a much safer one, was to take bribes from both sides and then   
   decide the case on strictly legal grounds. This won him a useful   
   reputation for impartiality. Besides his revenue from litigants, U Po   
   Kyin levied a ceaseless toll, a sort of private taxation scheme, from all   
   the villages under his jurisdiction. If any village failed in its tribute   
   U Po Kyin took punitive measures--gangs of dacoits attacked the village,   
   leading villagers were arrested on false charges, and so forth--and it   
   was never long before the amount was paid up. He also shared the proceeds   
   of all the larger-sized robberies that took place in the district. Most   
   of this, of course, was known to everyone except U Po Kyin's official   
   superiors (no British officer will ever believe anything against his own   
   men) but the attempts to expose him invariably failed; his supporters,   
   kept loyal by their share of the loot, were too numerous. When any   
   accusation was brought against him, U Po Kyin simply discredited it with   
   strings of suborned witnesses, following this up by counter-accusations   
   which left him in a stronger position than ever. He was practically   
   invulnerable, because he was too fine a judge of men ever to choose a   
   wrong instrument, and also because he was too absorbed in intrigue ever   
   to fail through carelessness or ignorance. One could say with practical   
   certainty that he would never be found out, that he would go from success   
   to success, and would finally die full of honour, worth several lakhs of   
   rupees.   
      
   And even beyond the grave his success would continue. According to   
   Buddhist belief, those who have done evil in their lives will spend the   
   next incarnation in the shape of a rat, a frog or some other low animal.   
   U Po Kyin was a good Buddhist and intended to provide against this   
   danger. He would devote his closing years to good works, which would pile   
   up enough merit to outweigh the rest of his life. Probably his good works   
   would take the form of building pagodas. Four pagodas, five, six, seven--   
   the priests would tell him how many--with carved stonework, gilt   
   umbrellas and little bells that tinkled in the wind, every tinkle a   
   prayer. And he would return to the earth in male human shape--for a woman   
   ranks at about the same level as a rat or a frog--or at best as some   
   dignified beast such as an elephant.   
      
   http://www.george-orwell.org/Burmese_Days/0.html   
      
   The character is also described as a lecher and rapist. It's a very   
   jaundiced novel, so I don't know how fair it is, but it's believable. But   
   would U Po Kyin have had as much success in raising an inquisition or   
   army to wage war on other Buddhists?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)