Posted by Stuart Gilman (65.92.106.129) on October 04, 2002 at 06:40:10:

In Reply to: Baha'i archives inaccessible -- not for long! posted by Jonah on October 03, 2002 at 20:14:05:

Re: Jonah and Dawud's remarks:

In the year 1012 A.D. an attempt was made to catalogue all the Buddhist writings that were in the archives of the time in China. Since Buddhism accepted all the writings and sermons of all its Masters from the first Buddha through to the sixth Patriarch and beyond, the estimated number of "official" writings was more than 100,000 and contained more than 20,000 handwritten texts, beginning in Sanskrit, then Hindi then chinese. The estimated date of the dhammapada (words of the original Buddha) is about 5000 b.c. Buddhism reigned for a mere five hundred years before Hinduism regained control of the Indian people. Religious power and political power were synonymous for most of human history so the exile and diasporization of Buddhism, like Baha'i and Judaism, is expressed by migration , linguistic changes in texts, political constraints (censorship), the need for secrecy, clandestine brotherhoods, inner circles, etc... Much of Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu mysticism is not true mysticism but an attempt to disguise the TRUE MESSAGE at times and places when to openly articulate one's religious beliefs could result in death.

Today, the Pali Canon, some 110 large volumes of Buddhist texts, are housed in Sri Lanka and represent the largest official collection of Buddhist writings. Not a single word of the 110 volumes is in question.

Now, if we agree that the Manifestation dates from 1844 then Baha'i is a mere 166 years old. Bahaâuâllah himself wrote a few thousand pages in his lifetime, if we include letters as well as records of sermons and talks. Much of this material is still untranslated (into English.) The secrecy of the archives is to ensure that the emerging translations and publications are correct in text and spirit, a very difficult task. Validation or Authenticity are other major concern.

There is no ãreprehensibleä suppression of Bahaâi texts. This is another empty, provocative statement that demonstrates that wisdom of humility requires the greatest effort by us, Caucasian Christians or Jews, especially North American vintage, where our extreme egocentricity and narcissism presents a great challenge for our own selves when we wish to find salvation, love, peace and harmony according to Bahaâi.

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