Equality does not require the fence of etiquette.
July 6, 2024, Psalm 553
During the May Day holiday, the scenic spots everywhere are crowded, and the temples burn incense and worship the Buddha in long queues. I saw a video on the Internet of believers burning incense in a temple, and someone next to them came to preach, either saying that the posture of burning incense was wrong, or that the number of roots was wrong. The believers followed the advice of the "experts" and started over again as a sign of piety. I think it's ridiculous, because the believers and "experts" are laymen, and they don't understand the essence of Buddhism, which is supposed to be "indecent".
Etiquette is meant to limit people's behavior. Chinese Confucianism is the most propagandistic of etiquette. It can be said that the entire Confucian system is a set of great etiquette system, and etiquette stipulates the order of respecting the elders and the inferior, and with order, society can operate benignly. At the heart of Confucian etiquette is the emphasis on the inequality of all people. This is not the case in Buddhism, the core of Buddhism is that everyone is equal, and since everyone is equal, there is no fixed model of respect and inferiority between people, so the etiquette that embodies respect and humility loses the basis of existence. Why does Buddhism have various precepts to regulate people's behavior? The precepts and rituals of Buddhism are intended to regulate the faster entry of those believers, not to deliberately create differences between people.
The rites of Buddhism are fundamentally different from those of Confucianism, and the rites of Buddhism are to standardize behavior and achieve equality of all beings faster. Confucian etiquette is to deliberately create inequality between people. It can be said that the need to create rituals that make everyone unequal is the fundamental contradiction between Buddhism and Confucianism.
Buddhism is supposed to be "indecent", so all kinds of Buddhist laymen say "this is not good", "that is not good", "this is not right", "that is not right", precisely because he is a real layman. Equality does not require the fence of etiquette.