[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?