Eastern Enlightenment lets go of meanings imposed by motivation. Its goal is liberation. Western Enlightenment lets go of meanings imposed by religion and superstition. Its goal is rationality.
I suspect that monasteries and religions are economic and political institutions and thus may not have interests that are fully aligned with what you intend. A religion or monastery that leads its clients efficiently to deliverance would perish. Instead, it must sell the promise.
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I wouldn't dismiss 2500 years of cultural practice, with terms like 'efficiency', or discuss the 'deliverables' of their monastic traditions. Or speculate about what they 'sell'. We can do better than applying western consumerist interpretations of 'quaint oriental beliefs'.
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I don't think that they are "quaint oriental beliefs". Yet the Buddhist practices of today are largely not the same as 2500 years ago (they are evolving and culturally exchanging too), and we don't do Western schools of thought justice if we dismiss them as consumerist etc.
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