Swat valley, Pakistan;
the Switzerland of the East. Within this valley there is a famous place once known as Uḍḍiyāna or Oḍḍiyāna, a sacred seat of religious practice in both Tantric Śaivism and Buddhism.
@DeepaShreeAB
@LostTemple7 @V_Shuddhi @rightwingchora @desi_thug1

In fact, on the Buddhist side, the great Indian Siddha and transmitter of what came to be known as Dzogchen, Padmasambhava, is said to have originated from within this valley.
For the Śaivas we have the Krama lineage, whose promulgator, Jñānanetra, received the fully enlightening transmission of Maṅgalā, a beneficent form of Kālī, at this same sacred seat (pīṭha).
Interesting, both of these esteemed masters were active in the 9th century, Padmasambhava likely being the older contemporary. Their shared geographical pedigree notwithstanding, the Krama lineage of Śākta-inspired Śaivism and the esoteric teachings of the Nyingma
lineage of Tibetan Buddhism that sees Padmasambhava as its founder, have some fascinating commonalities that have yet to be fully explored.
These include the use of poetry or cryptic orally-transmitted statements to detonate a sudden and all-encompassing realization of Reality itself and a remarkable emphasis on the charismatic Guru in the transmission of enlightened awareness.
.
~ Ben Williams

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I just finished Eric Adler's The Battle of the Classics, and wanted to say something about Joel Christiansen's review linked below. I am not sure what motivates the review (I speculate a bit below), but it gives a very misleading impression of the book. 1/x


The meat of the criticism is that the history Adler gives is insufficiently critical. Adler describes a few figures who had a great influence on how the modern US university was formed. It's certainly critical: it focuses on the social Darwinism of these figures. 2/x

Other insinuations and suggestions in the review seem wildly off the mark, distorted, or inappropriate-- for example, that the book is clickbaity (it is scholarly) or conservative (hardly) or connected to the events at the Capitol (give me a break). 3/x

The core question: in what sense is classics inherently racist? Classics is old. On Adler's account, it begins in ancient Rome and is revived in the Renaissance. Slavery (Christiansen's primary concern) is also very old. Let's say classics is an education for slaveowners. 4/x

It's worth remembering that literacy itself is elite throughout most of this history. Literacy is, then, also the education of slaveowners. We can honor oral and musical traditions without denying that literacy is, generally, good. 5/x