Wei wrote:

> I am sure you know that it
> is ridiculous to characterize any religion with a several thousand year
> tradition as a religion of "aceticism and renunciation".

But the worldview of a religion as manifest in its scripture can indeed be
abstracted, even though as an institution in time the religion resists this
sort of characterization and may bear little resemblance to its doctrine.

St Francis, following the teachings of Christ in a fundamentalist mode,
urged men to give away their worldly possessions and become beggars. One may
praise this worldview if one thinks there is some value to be found in
reminding those who are caught up in the workaday world that there is more
to life than getting and spending. Or one may feel that there are better
ways of reminding people of that truth than an institutionalized class of
moochers.  Didn't the mendicant movement get rather out of hand during the
middle ages?


> Pound read the detailed "Histoire de la Chine", which served as the basis
of
> the China Cantos. He should have known better.
> The Histoire de la Chine gives
> ample evidence to show that Confucians did not oppose and try to destroy
> Taoists and Buddhists because they preached passivity.  On the contrary,
it
> was because they ACTIVELY  tried to alter the system.   During the Tang
> dynasty, the Buddhists were partly successful in inaugurating a more
> tolerant regime.  The Tang dynasty Buddhist rulers ACTIVELY worked to
change
> the laws so that non-Confucians and other practitioners could enjoy
> religious freedom.  The Taoists throughout Chinese history inspired
numerous
> ACTIVIST peasant rebellions against Confucian autocracy.
> They actively sought to change the social order for a more just
> redistribution of wealth.
>

I will read the book when I find the time and examine Pound's use of it.

> The Tao of heaven is to take from those who
> have too much and give to those who do not have enough.

If the Tao of heaven is about redistribution of wealth, it's clear to me why
Pound would have approved of the confucian suppression of Taoists:  Pound
was adamantly anti-communist.

>
> Taoism encourages active giving.  Just acts of redistribution.  I suggest
> that Pound's aversion to Taoism and Protestant Christianity--- WHILE
> JUSTIFIED on occasion by reference to alleged overemphasis on
> "renunciation"---  really stems from his elitism, his anti-democratic, and
> anti-egalitarian tendencies.

If you would change "anti-egalitarian" to "anti-communist" I would agree.  I
think you need to address Pound's perceptions of communism in the 30s.
You're skirting a major issue.


> The Norse "quit" their religion not long after exposure to Christianity.
I
> don't think this was because the Christians they encountered were
> "weaklings".

It was certainly not the core teachings of Jesus that caused the germanic
tribes to accept Christianity.  A religion very different from its holy
scripture was foisted upon them, and pagan who refused to convert often met
with violent deaths.

Tim Romano