Julius Evola was, by any measure, a steaming pile of turd. But his analysis of early Buddhism is quite interesting, sans BS race theories.
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Pet peeves aside, his key point that modern Buddhism (except Zen) has very little in common with the original texts is not well-understood.
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He thinks Zen is the true inheritor? Interesting. The chan guys saw themselves as very distinct from the "lesser vehicle".
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He goes into a long rant about how it supposedly stemmed from spiritual transmission from Gautama to some prince or another, as I recall it.
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Oh... hrrrrm, I would tend to regard such stories as myth. It's really hard to know exactly what Buddha taught.
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Evola also believed the west and Buddhism had common Aryan ancestors, that it's an "aristocratic" pursuit etc. etc.
That's the BS part.
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Buddhism's pretty minor till Asoka makes it the state religion of all of India.
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The interesting part the text is the analysis of the techniques & ascesis, not his pseudointellectual ramblings on Aryans, class and so on.
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