Quote:
Originally Posted by Gubei
WitnessAlot,
1) Buddhist flavor of WL’s teachings
WL doesn’t seem to have been exposed to the doctrines of Buddhist philosophies. I’ve read/listened to most of his works, and he sometimes talked about the Confucian teachings but not Buddhist teachings. The reason someone criticizes him of the similarity of his teaching with Buddhist is that Buddhist teachings, especially those of Mahayana Buddhism, are quite similar to some aspects of the NT teachings. Some new religions’ leaders or Theosophy leaders have claimed that Jesus was under the teachings of ancient India or Buddhism, but to my best knowledge, on the contrary, the Greek philosophies and/or Christian teachings might have been brought to Asia through the conquest activities of Alexander the Great. Currently, many people believe that the canons of Mahayana Buddhism were initiated in Bactria, a central Asia city, where Alexander the Great established his base for East conquest.
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Hi Gubei, thanks for clarifying the difference between Buddhism and Confucianism. I think it's fair to say that Witness Lee drew on a lot of different sources -- so many that he himself may have lost track of it -- but also added many of his nuances. The result is the "Witness Lee strange brew" that we all spent years/decades marinating in. And it evolved and morphed over time based on Lee's little whims.
As to number 2, personally, I think that religion and culture are usually inextricable to some degree or another. So the history of missionaries (and armies) carrying religions around the world throughout history is filled with this dynamic of cultural elements from one place attempting to supplant cultural elements in other places. The two things go hand-in-hand (i.e., the religious supplanting and the cultural supplanting).