Mi'sen

There's this notion that Buddhism (including its Himalayan variants) is the "enlightened" religion — compatible with Western science, philosophy, psychology. Buddhists enjoy Western intellectuals' affection. Little do these intellectuals realize that their love is unrequited.

The Dalai Lama famously said that if Buddhism and science were ever found to conflict, Buddhism must be corrected. Everyone applauds. Alas, we still await the first correction.

To this day, Asian Buddhist teachers stubbornly adhere to Not Invented Here Syndrome (NIHS), and are ignorant/dismissive of much of what their Western admirers take for granted. "If it isn't in the scriptures, or part of the tradition, do we need it?"

They gleefully enjoy the fruits of western technology — computers, mobile phones, credit cards, Facebook. Western medicine? Big bang cosmology? Not so fast, friend.