Why the Future of Religion Is Bleak

Religious institutions have survived by controlling what their adherents 
know, argues Tufts Prof. Daniel C. Dennett, but today that is next to 
impossible
By DANIEL C. DENNETT April 26, 2015
Religion has been waning in influence for several centuries, 
especially in Europe and North America. There have been a few 
brief and local revivals, but in recent years the pace of decline has 
accelerated.

TODAY ONE OF THE LARGEST CATEGORIES OF RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION  IN THE WORLD—WITH MORE THAN A BILLION PEOPLE—IS NO RELIGION AT ALL, THE “NONES.” ONE OUT OF SIX AMERICANS IS ALREADY A NONE; BY 2050, THE FIGURE WILL BE ONE OUT OF FOUR, ACCORDING TO A NEW PEW RESEARCH CENTER STUDY. CHURCHES ARE BEING CLOSED BY THE HUNDREDS, DECONSECRATED AND REHABILITATED AS HOUSING, OFFICES, RESTAURANTS AND THE LIKE, OR JUST ABANDONED.

If this trend continues, religion largely will evaporate, at least in the 
West. Pockets of intense religious activity may continue, made up of 
people who will be more sharply differentiated from most of society 
in attitudes and customs, a likely source of growing tension and 
conflict.

Could anything turn this decline around? Yes, unfortunately. A global 
plague, a world war fought over water or oil, the collapse of the 
Internet (and thereby almost all electronic communication) or some 
as-yet unimagined catastrophe could throw the remaining population 
into misery and fear, the soil in which religion flourishes best.

That life as you understand.....

"That life as you understand, it really is uncertain that where you are putting your certainty may well one day let you down..

"So we start with seeing yes the body is uncertain, it’s not sure. We see that people get old and sick and although we know it’s going to happen to all of us, but we don’t know when.

Dhammapada 42

Beyond true and false

Western philosophers have not, on the whole, regarded Buddhist thought with much enthusiasm. As a colleague once said to me: ‘It’s all just mysticism.’ This attitude is due, in part, to ignorance. But it is also due to incomprehension. When Western philosophers look East, they find things they do not understand – not least the fact that the Asian traditions seem to accept, and even endorse, contradictions. Thus we find the great second-century Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna saying:

The nature of things is to have no nature; it is their non-nature that is their nature. For they have only one nature: no-nature.One can hear similar sentiments, expressed with comparable ferocity, in many faculty common rooms today. Yet Western philosophers are slowly learning to outgrow their parochialism. And help is coming from a most unexpected direction: modern mathematical logic, not a field that is renowned for its tolerance of obscurity. An abhorrence of contradiction has been high orthodoxy in the West for more than 2,000 years. Statements such as Nagarjuna’s are therefore wont to produce looks of blank incomprehension, or worse. As Avicenna, the father of Medieval Aristotelianism, declared:

Malay language vs Sanskrit

Is it sinful to be rich. by Ven. Dr Khammai Dhammasami

Published on Apr 19, 2012

Ven. Ajarn Dr Khammai Dhammasami, the abbot of the Oxford Buddha Vihara, the Buddhist philosopher preaching at the Thai Stock Exchange in Bangkok.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZInm_kdzJs

Losar - the biggest Tibetan Buddhist Festival - begins in Ladakh

by Shravan Nune, Jagrandosh, 14 Dec, 2015

Ladakh, India -- Losar, the biggest Tibetan Buddhist Festival began on 12 December 2015 in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir. The festival marks the beginning of New Year for Buddhists.

The annual festival is celebrated by people of the area with traditional and religion fervor. The festival begins with illumination of religious and residential places.

Buddhists of Ladakh celebrate Losar as their new year.

 Before the rule of Jamiang Namgyal (1555 to 1610) this day was celebrated on the first day of Ladakhi Buddhist Year which is based in the moon and sun (quite similar to Hindus).

However, the day was advanced by two days after Jamiang Namgyal decided to invade Skardu before the New Year.

Since then, Losar is celebrated on the last two days of the 10th Bodhi month that coincides with December of Christian calendar.

During this, people of Ladakh specially remember ancestors of their family. On this day, people visit graveyards of their family members and pray for peace of the departed soul. Apart from this, people also visit each other houses for exchange of Losar greetings.