Talk:Zhang Zhung culture
From Academic Kids
How could they have been Buddhists before the "Shakyamuni Buddha"? Isn't that like saying "They were Christians that predated Christ?"
- This claim does have its improbable aspects, I will grant you that. While a Western historian can discount this claim on the face of it, the beauty of it is that it tempts the rival Nyingmapa sect (the sect in Tibetan Buddhism which prides itself on being the oldest) to assert the claim is not true, when both sects take it as an article of faith that the Buddha indeed did have previous lives before appearing as the Shakyamuni Buddha. Welcome to Buddhist metaphysics! What we are seeing here is Tibetan Buddhist one-upmanship of the finest kind. (There is a whole class of stories dedicated to the prior lives of the Buddha known as jataka). I felt slightly guilty about including this claim in the article, but it is so much fun I couldn't resist. — technopilgrim 17:31, 8 Apr 2004 (UTC)
