[Bejemoelemymn]

I believe Buddhist "acceptance" can nurture to some of the "ills" existence.

[N9u9ie4p]

It is always so easy to take correlations as causality by taking things at face value and making decisions about a multi-faceted phenomenon by basing it on things that are the most obvious about a culture or nation e.g. I observe that countries which are economically and politically backwards are made of a significant number of predominantly Buddhist ones, therefore Buddhism must be the cause of it all. Or terrorists are mainly if not all Muslims, hence elements within Islamic teachings cause terrorism. Simply because that that is the most immediately obvious about the culture that is being scrutinised. But if we do get down and serious, and start a serious academic research on the topic at hand, what we may find out is that there may be specific social ills within those particular cultures/nations that coveriate more with the issue of economic and human rights backwardness; factors which are not so easily observed or even realized by one who does not live or immerse long enough in that culture/nation, than these issues' coveriation with religion itself.

Furthermore, if correlation is going to be taken as casuality (which is one of the most fatal mistakes in research statistics), then are we going to say that Taiwan and Singapore are among the First World Nations but lag behind many European nations and the USA in terms of economic wellness and what some Westerners deem to be individual rights, because both Singapore (42.5%), (Singstat, 2005) and Taiwan (35.1%), (Wikipedia) have the Buddhism (which intermix with Taoism) as their most widely practised religion, which means half of population with the non-Buddhism concepts leads to the economic and democratic advances, AND the other half which comrises Buddhist ideologists account for the less developed aspect of their culture/nation? Conversely, Bhutan with its hugely Buddhist population has often been lauded as one of the countries with people of the highest happiness index, but are we simply going to jump in and say that because they are mostly Buddhist, Buddhism must be making people happier? Absolutely not, cos the fact that the higher percentage of Buddhist among Bhutanese is correlated with higher happiness index among Bhutanese does not equate Buddhism causing happiness among these people, or happiness making people Buddhist.

Moreover, when advancement in life is only measured only in terms of material wealth and individualist concepts, it may only provide a lop-sided view of the entirety of happiness. Happiness is meaured not only in terms of material wealth and good physical health, but also in terms of the level of mental well-being.

In addition, multiculturally speaking, what may be the ideally sufficient degree of democracy and liberty to some may not sound like a good definition of human rights for people of some cultures.

[77Dinaartickire]

"There has never been a Buddhist war."

There is historic documentation that in 621 CE monks from the Shaolin Temple of China fought in a battle that helped establish the Tang Dynasty.

David

[mikeyyuiok]

I believed it's not about a religion that causes this as there got many factors need to be consider for...things are not as simple as you thought of, like you can't judge a person by just one look. Don't tell me by the first impression when you meet a person that you can straight away judge him/her whether good or bad? It's through interactions of a few times and so on to get to know him/her own personality. Therefore i believe we shouldn't see things not just on the plain surface...use your heart to think and observe more

I would like to share a story related on using your heart to think...

When the Buddha was at the Jetavana Vihara, his disciple Radha once asked “Enlightened One, when you expound the Dharma before many people, you have always mention “impermanence”. Through I listen to it every day, I’m still unable to understand the truth of impermanence.”

The Buddha said “The truth of impermanence forms the basis of the Dharma. Without understanding the truth of impermanence, one cannot enter the primary stage of truth, so you have to listen carefully. The five aggregates namely form, consciousness, sensory feelings, volition and conceptualisation are all impermanent. Do you understand?”

Radha scratched his head and said “Enlightened One” the “form” you talk about includes all things that can be seen but everyday, many things i see are the same! Why do you say they are impermanent?”

The Buddha replied “Flowers bloom in spring, have you seen how a flower in bud and have not bloom yet look like? Have you seen the flower that have not bloom?”

“Yes! But…flowers in bud are flowers, aren’t flowers that bloom wilt still flowers?”

“Yes , the name is “flower”, but in the process the name that corresponds to the form is different.”

“Enlightened One, i still do not understand the truth behind it” Radha said.

“That is because you are not using your heart to think.” The Buddha further explained “Form has to be felt. Upon seeing a flower in bloom, you have to think about why the flower blooms. Upon seeing a flower in bud, you will also have to think about why the flower is in bud. You even have to find out the form that the flower takes before it is a bud or shoot.”

Radha scratched his head and said “Is it a seed”

The Buddha said “Yes, a flower’s earliest form is a seed. After the seed enters the soil, it will grow shoots and develop branches upon ripening of the cause. It will then grow buds and bloom. After the flower blooms, it will wither and the seeds will fall to the ground. This is the cycle of impermanence”

Radha said “Enlightened One, all these are too deep for me. What must be used to feel?”

The Buddha said “You have to use your heart to think and understand. Everything in the world is in the aggregate of volition. This is like the flower seed which bears fruit when combined with elements like sunlight, soil and air during the process of growth from the seed to wilting of flowers.”

The Buddha encouraged Radha “Knowing that a seed entering the soil will go into a perpentual cycle is the first step. Continue to use your heart and you will be able to understand the meaning of life through things.”

[johnteriz]

IMHO... On the other hand, Buddhism has always been portrayed as the religion of peace. "There has never been a Buddhist war."

[myspauyijbv]

Having lived in a Buddhist country for a number of years I have like most been affected by it and become aware of the tolerance of all things different associated with it, the lack of strong opinions and become aware of the intolerance back home more acutely.

I have also come up against how people in the west see Buddhism. Most ordinary people with little interest in religion just see it as a more placid more moderate form of spirituality preferable in many ways to the local brand of outspoken god botherers. Some though get enamoured seeing it through rose colour spectacles as a kind of more enlightened wisdom. Few of these want to face the mixed animist truth that really exists in the east.

Looking at Buddhist countries though, the strong ones such as Tibet and SE Asia and the weak ones such as the Far East, with few exceptions in both politics and history I see what are consistently among the worst countries on earth.

How many Buddhist democracies are there? How many Buddhist countries aren’t military dictatorships, divided by huge class divides where people show nothing but disdain for the less fortunate than themselves, where civil freedoms are in small measure and the military don’t gun down political opponents in the street.

There are of course exceptions. Japan has a short lived democracy, but no wealthfare, China has a tertiary welfare system but owes it to its communist past. But on the whole it’s pretty grim for the Buddhist world when compared to secular Europe and the Christian Americas

So here’s the question. Can Buddhist culture and heritage be in anyway responsible for the ills of the countries?

[N9u9ie4p]

Sorry, it should be Singstat (2000) and not 2005

[ceagstuntee]

Let's ignore entirely the particulars of what country professes which religion because it's totally irrelevant to the issue of development.

The Greeks believed in many Gods and briefly ruled a large part of the world and their culture has continued for over two thousand years to be the a fertile seed source for many other nations and empires to draw on effectively.

The Romans borrowed much of their religion from Greece but added Emperor worship to the mix, then mixed it up with early Christianity and they ruled a vast empire for centuries.

Medieval Europe described itself as Christian, one God who is somehow 3, it was always at war within and rapacious in it's attentions elsewhere, while simultaneously producing astonishing intellectual and cultural and eventually industrial/economic fruits starting with Greek ideas and then going in all kinds of amazing directions.

The Americas hosted many mighty empires, many of which endured far longer than the recent cultural dominations of christian Europe and Nth America. Generally their Gods were bloodthirsty and warlike.

China has an astonishing history of stability and empire (Vastly pre-dating Europe, the Greeks, the Americas.) in which Confucian thinking, primarily ethical in focus, has been the dominant "religious" element, overlaying all kinds of tribal animisms.

The Middle East flourished culturally in the early centuries of Islamic hegemony.

That's just what I know off the top of my head. My point being that empire, economic growth, cultural fecundity, social stability, are qualities that have been demonstrated in societies based on many different religious platforms.

For a more reasoned and fascinating explanation of the fates of human societies, take a good look at Jared Diamond's Pulitzer Prize winning book "Guns, Germs and Steel." Awesome book, so many fundamental insights in it you'll be chewing it over for a good year or two.
Peace,
Mikel.