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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aristocratic? Fairly clearly part of the Saddhu tradition of India, which definitely wasn't just for nobles.
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As I said, if you take his theories on race and such seriously, you end up internalizing extreme fascism.
Text: juliusevola.com/julius_evola/t