DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - Should Buddhists Be More Socially Engaged?

**Natashasuw** · 07-05-2012, 09:13 AM

If you look at forums like this, you find an almost total absence of critical engagement with social structures and the reality of daily life for the people of the world. We live in a world where (roughly) the richest 500 people are as wealthy as the poorest 500 million; 30,000 children a die because they're too poor to buy the necessities of life (and, I believe, they're too poor because we're too rich); the horrors which climate change is going to unleash on the world are at the edge of human imagination, they are so awful. So why, or how, can this, and the 10-mile-long list of similar or worse facts, pass by without comment

Hi Lampang,

Thank you for your comments and for posting Bhikkhu Bodhi's article.

I don't think anyone in this forum is unaware of the suffering and problems in the world and I'm sure many of us are already doing whatever we can for others. Personally I've worked for years with disadvantaged inner city teenagers and their families and have been involved in a range of voluntary unpaid charity activities.

However at BWB we're primarily a Buddhist learning community for the discussion of the teachings of the Buddha and not a political or social action site aiming to try to change the world.

There are "engaged Buddhism" sites on the internet which people can join for that purpose if that's their main requirement.

07-05-2012, 09:13 AM	#8
Natashasuw Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 525 Senior Member	If you look at forums like this, you find an almost total absence of critical engagement with social structures and the reality of daily life for the people of the world. We live in a world where (roughly) the richest 500 people are as wealthy as the poorest 500 million; 30,000 children a die because they're too poor to buy the necessities of life (and, I believe, they're too poor because we're too rich); the horrors which climate change is going to unleash on the world are at the edge of human imagination, they are so awful. So why, or how, can this, and the 10-mile-long list of similar or worse facts, pass by without comment Hi Lampang, Thank you for your comments and for posting Bhikkhu Bodhi's article. I don't think anyone in this forum is unaware of the suffering and problems in the world and I'm sure many of us are already doing whatever we can for others. Personally I've worked for years with disadvantaged inner city teenagers and their families and have been involved in a range of voluntary unpaid charity activities. However at BWB we're primarily a Buddhist learning community for the discussion of the teachings of the Buddha and not a political or social action site aiming to try to change the world. There are "engaged Buddhism" sites on the internet which people can join for that purpose if that's their main requirement.
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