Have you ever let the fear of controversy stop you from writing?

Buddha isn't even a god if you are a Buddhist. Just do your research and you should be fine.

 

he's not a 'god' no matter what religion one follows...

 

...or just write whatever you want, no matter how badly it might offend people. That's actually better, IMO.

 

Poking fun at supernaturalism is one of the funner forms of satire I've experienced. Polemics have a bigger audience than one might think, especially online. It's nothing to be discouraged by at any rate. Controversy seems to sell, if anything.

 

It is not.

But, the Buddha is one of the guys you could insult and he wouldn't mind.

 

i like ideas that get frowned upon

i currently have an idea for a controversial film/tv drama, i just havent got the help to put it into a script. i have spoken to a few tv/film companies who say, in these times, daring ideas is what makes them try harder to push it through to be made

 

Primarily, we were talking about dangerous versus daring.

 

bj... producers don't buy ideas... so, until you get the thing written, you've nothing to sell...

if you need help writing it, drop me a line... if it's violence-free, i can help you get a script into submission shape...

love and hugs, maia
maia3maia@hotmail.com

 

Well -- that's not entirely clear in some forms of Buddhism, especially in Chinese varieties. As one woman explained it to me, Buddhism doesn't have gods, and the main god it doesn't have is Buddha. (Read Journey to the West and tell me Buddha isn't portrayed as a god in that!)

 

Those are bastardizations of Buddhism. People have made a big deal out of the Chinese kicking the Tibetan Buddhists out of Tibet, but if you look at how they conducted themselves there, I'd kick them out too.

Many years ago I met a troop of Tibetans who traveled to raise money for Tibet and they did not impress me as nice people. They were smoking, looking like rock stars, and arrogantly introduced themselves as the reincarnation of famous Lamas. I've very good at spotting liars, and saw them as hustlers.

In Zen Buddhism there's a saying: If you meet the Buddha, kill him.

That's because a real Buddha (just a type of person) would never tell you he was a special type of person. Jesus said the same thing in that you are supposed to practice your religion in secret. Thus, any Buddhist running around claiming to be anything other than a person is using the religion as a control mechanism.

 

I think I need to err on the side of caution here and say that people will be offended no matter what you write. The question is, will their response offend you? There is a group that opposes everything, no matter how benign it may seem. You'll need to look above what those people say, and focus on articulate discussion about the entire work.

You have no obligation to censor your characters or their actions. After all, if nobody could write about Hitler, Jesus, Buddha, or the Ninja Turtles, where would be as a society? Characters are characters, whether people agree with them or not. I have many characters who I hate and want others to hate. There are some that I know people will hate, while others will understand. The purpose of any character is to be a person of interest. If they don't inspire some sort of emotion, you have failed as a writer.

That said, there should be an agreeable message with your writing. Senseless violence, hate, etc will obviously be met with scorn very quickly. The overall theme of your story reflects what you believe as an author. A character is nothing but a device to convey a part of the message.

If your character makes a tough decision, then it is a decision they need to make. Just expect to be met with scorn from those who disagree with it. Ironically, even those who may like the story may disagree with these decisions. It's really unavoidable, no matter what you do or write. If you focus on the message of the book/story/article, and receive praise based on the literary work as a whole, then you've succeeded.

In summary, some people just suck. Listen to what people think of the story instead of isolated paragraphs. Make your character do whatever it is they need to do for the story to work. Be prepared for a certain number of people to hate, ridicule, and mock your work simply because they can.