DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - relationships, everyday life and buddhism.

**PriernPayorse** · 09-21-2012, 09:54 AM

I think that this will be a difficult topic for you. In my opinion it will be hard to draw meaningfull parallels between a given religion and relationships. I think that culture is more important here. To be sure, Thai culture is influenced by Buddhism, but as someone pointed out, it may be quite different culturally from other predominantly Buddhist cultures (ie, Bhutan, or Sri Lanka). Think about all of the nations that are predominantly Christian. Compare dating in the US to dating in Chile, or Tuvalu, and I think you will find that other aspects of culture besides religion affect things like dating, to a greater degree. In many ways, dating in Thailand is not a lot different than it was here in the US a 50 years ago, or so. There is still for example, a widely held expectation that you will marry your first "serious" (ie, sexual) girlfriend/boyfriend. This is changing, but I think it has little to do with Buddhism. You may want to refine your topic. Good luck!

-mike

09-21-2012, 09:54 AM	#1
PriernPayorse Join Date Nov 2005 Posts 550 Senior Member	I think that this will be a difficult topic for you. In my opinion it will be hard to draw meaningfull parallels between a given religion and relationships. I think that culture is more important here. To be sure, Thai culture is influenced by Buddhism, but as someone pointed out, it may be quite different culturally from other predominantly Buddhist cultures (ie, Bhutan, or Sri Lanka). Think about all of the nations that are predominantly Christian. Compare dating in the US to dating in Chile, or Tuvalu, and I think you will find that other aspects of culture besides religion affect things like dating, to a greater degree. In many ways, dating in Thailand is not a lot different than it was here in the US a 50 years ago, or so. There is still for example, a widely held expectation that you will marry your first "serious" (ie, sexual) girlfriend/boyfriend. This is changing, but I think it has little to do with Buddhism. You may want to refine your topic. Good luck! -mike
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