PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

11-Dec-2014

Contact: Jennie Eckilson jeckilson@cell.com 617-386-2121 Cell Press @CellPressNews

The ascetic and moralizing movements that spawned the world's major religious traditions--Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Christianity--all arose around the same time in three different regions, and researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on December 11 have now devised a statistical model based on history and human psychology that helps to explain why. The emergence of world religions, they say, was triggered by the rising standards of living in the great civilizations of Eurasia.

"One implication is that world religions and secular spiritualities probably share more than we think," says Nicolas Baumard of the Ecole Normale Suprieure in Paris. "Beyond very different doctrines, they probably all tap into the same reward systems [in the human brain]."

It seems almost self-evident today that religion is on the side of spiritual and moral concerns, but that was not always so, Baumard explains. In hunter-gatherer societies and early chiefdoms, for instance, religious tradition focused on rituals, sacrificial offerings, and taboos designed to ward off misfortune and evil.

That changed between 500 BCE and 300 BCE--a time known as the "Axial Age"--when new doctrines appeared in three places in Eurasia. "These doctrines all emphasized the value of 'personal transcendence,'" the researchers write, "the notion that human existence has a purpose, distinct from material success, that lies in a moral existence and the control of one's own material desires, through moderation (in food, sex, ambition, etc.), asceticism (fasting, abstinence, detachment), and compassion (helping, suffering with others)."

While many scholars have argued that large-scale societies are possible and function better because of moralizing religion, Baumard and his colleagues weren't so sure. After all, he says, some of "the most successful ancient empires all had strikingly non-moral high gods." Think of Egypt, the Roman Empire, the Aztecs, the Incas, and the Mayans.

In the new study, the researchers tested various theories to explain the history in a new way by combining statistical modeling on very long-term quantitative series with psychological theories based on experimental approaches. They found that affluence--which they refer to as "energy capture"--best explains what is known of the religious history, not political complexity or population size. Their Energy Capture model shows a sharp transition toward moralizing religions when individuals were provided with 20,000 kcal/day, a level of affluence suggesting that people were generally safe, with roofs over their heads and plenty of food to eat, both in the present time and into the foreseeable future.

"This seems very basic to us today, but this peace of mind was totally new at the time," Baumard says. "Humans living in tribal societies or even archaic empires often experience famine and diseases, and they live in very rudimentary houses. By contrast, the high increase in population and urbanization rate in the Axial Age suggests that, for certain people, things started to get much better."

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Affluence, not political complexity, explains the rise of moralizing world religions

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAy91661rm4

Gelek Rimpoche - The Indestructible Vehicle - Essence of Tibetan Buddhism 71
http://www.jewelheart.org/digital-dharma/ Vajrayana tries to utilize the experience that every human being will go through, such as birth, death, and the int...

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Gelek Rimpoche - The Indestructible Vehicle - Essence of Tibetan Buddhism 71 - Video

The Irrawaddy reports:

Columnist and National League for Democracy member Htin Lin Oo has been subjected to a lawsuit for contravening the Burmese Penal Codes statutes on religious offence, after a speech last month provoked outrage from Buddhist groups.

An officer from the Department of Immigration in Sagaing Divisions Chaung-U Township has filed a lawsuit against Htin Lin Oo under Article 295a, which prohibits deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings, and Article 298, which proscribes uttering words [...] with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings. Both charges are punishable by fines or imprisonment of up to two years for the former and one year for the latter.

The prominent author gave a two-hour speech to over 500 people at a literary event in Sagaing Divisions Chaung-U Township on Oct. 23, during which he criticized the use of Buddhism as fig leaf for prejudice and discrimination.

Buddha is not Burmese, not Shan and not Karen so if you want to be an extreme nationalist and if you love to maintain your race that much, dont believe in Buddhism, he said at the time.

If they accuse me of insulting the religion I will also defend that, Htin Lin Oo said. I didnt intend to target monks, I only intended to discuss those who dont obey the Buddhas words and do whatever they want. Everyone already knows that but they just ignore it.

He added that the Buddha instructed his followers to have mercy on all beings, and those who argue that some should be shown kindness to the exclusion of others do not live up to Buddhisms precepts.

There are both good people and bad people in all religions, he said. We cant insult other religions for having some bad people and also say that others cant insult Buddhism for having some bad people. I believe I did my duty.

Unsurprisingly, Im not an expert on Burmese law, but from this story this sounds like what might have been called a private prosecution in America a criminal claim but brought by a citizen (though here, a government employee) rather than by an official prosecutor. If anyone knows what the likelihood of a conviction here would be, please let me know.

Thanks to Prof. Howard Friedman (Religion Clause) for the pointer.

More here:
Volokh Conspiracy: Burmese author and politician facing possible jail for blasphemy

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kRy8LD_PEY

Ani Choying Drolma chanting different meditation mantras of Buddhism
Ani Choying Drolma #39;s concert on the opening ceremony of The Inner Path Festival in Delhi, India. Ani Choying Drolma was born on June 4, 1971, in Kathmandu, Nepal, also known as Choying Drolma...

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Ani Choying Drolma chanting different meditation mantras of Buddhism - Video

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Ganga and Tara interview Peter Mt Shasta on Tibetan Buddhism and the I AM Teachings
Ganga and Tara interviewed Peter Mt Shasta on the relationship between Tibetan Buddhism and the I AM Teachings. Peter explained that in the I AM Teachings, S...

By: Ganga Nath

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Ganga and Tara interview Peter Mt Shasta on Tibetan Buddhism and the I AM Teachings - Video

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Buddhism Karma Stories 17 - Two Children
A Buddhism karma story describes the relationship of two old men and two children.

By: Namo Amitofo

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Buddhism Karma Stories 17 - Two Children - Video

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12-02-14 "Buddhism: One Teacher, Many Traditions" at Dharma Friendship Foundation
Exploring how the life of the Buddha is understood in the Sanskrit and Pali traditions, and the similarities and differences between the core teachings in the different canons.

By: Sravasti Abbey

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12-02-14 "Buddhism: One Teacher, Many Traditions" at Dharma Friendship Foundation - Video

New Delhi's President Pranab Mukherjee releasing postal stamp commemorating Anagarika Dharmapala in October 2014

The fundamental flaw in Arundhatis article is confining the origins of caste exclusively to Brahmanic Hinduism. She also confuses Varna that was theoretically constructed from the Brahmin point of view, especially applied on to them by themselves and imposed on others, with Jaathi, which had altogether different origins. English has only one word, caste, for both.

From time to time there were revolts in South Asia against such oppressive religious constructs and the foremost of them could be seen in the Tamil Bakti movement, in which a woman Kaaraikkaal Ammai, a hunter Kannappan or a Paraiyan Nanthan were shown as attaining salvation straightaway through devotion, defying norms of Brahmanism, Buddhism or Jainism. It later inspired the rest of India but compromising elite oppression was always reconfirming itself.

Arundhati speaks of Dalit Sikhs, Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians, noting that conversion has not changed the status. But, if she wants to talk about Sri Lanka then there exist Dalit Sinhala-Buddhists too. [Dalit is of course a Marathi word, meaning broken people. But it is a word of Dravidian etymology and it has to be. The word, by D/ N interchange, is a cognate of Nalintha or Nalivu, meaning ruin, destruction, affliction, distress etc., in Dravidian.]

However, these are relatively minor issues in getting the thrust of Arundhatis article, Indias Shame written on 13 November and published in the December issue of Prospect Magazine.

Tamils have to read it carefully and absorbingly in understanding the inner mechanism and larger dimensions of the New Delhi-Colombo partnership and the role of Indias leading media houses in the genocide of Eezham Tamils, in the on-going genocide, and in the destruction of Eezham Tamil militancy that sought a new construction in South Asia, achieving something against caste and gender oppression besides ethnic oppression.

Unfortunately, intellectuals in India were blinded from seeing the dimensions when the unprecedented genocide in South Asia was taking place in the island.

C.V. Wigneswaran at World Hindu Conference

A diaspora delegate who attended the conference cited a fellow delegate from Colombo telling him that Buddhism is not a threat to Tamils but Islam and Christianity are worse threats. This is a typical talk that always originates from certain Colombo-centric sections envisaging reconciliation and partnership of traditional elite in the pursuit of material gains and domination. New Delhi Hindutva also thinks in the same way and it is prepared to export a new religion to suit the purpose. A small example is the Gitopadesha panel seen in the renovated hall of the Wesleyan Jaffna Central College, where the Indian consulate in Jaffna held an education marketing meeting recently.

Our forefathers had worked hard to preserve the Hindu society in the face of successive assaults by Portuguese, Dutch and English colonizers, who wielded their religions as weapons against the Hindus, Wigneswaran said at the conference.

More here:
Sri Lanka: Arundhati misses Buddhist casteism, Wigneswaran massages Hindu imperialism

The spike of popular interest in the mindfulness movement, with its enthusiastic endorsements among celebrities, politicians, CEOs and other movers and shakers, has made its champions extremely confident, even evangelical. Prophesying that the mindfulness movement has the potential to ignite a universal or global renaissance that would put even the European and Italian Renaissance into the shade, Jon Kabat-Zinn, the founder of Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR), is no modest innovator.Sparked by the unique confluence of science and the meditative disciplines derived from Buddhism, the global renaissance that Kabat-Zinn envisions promises to deliver much more than just stress reduction. This mindfulness movement, Kabat-Zinn proclaims in a recorded interview onInsights at the Edge, may actually be the only promise the species and the planet have for making it through the next couple hundred years.

Wow.

People who are drawn to mindfulness programs are there for a variety of reasons and in response to all sorts of promises, from pragmatic concerns to reduce stress-related disorders, to garnering better focus at work, and yes, even to bringing about world peace. But for some Buddhists, and we include ourselves in this group, there is a growing concern that the mindfulness movement has the potential to push to the margins contemporary Buddhisms dialogue with tradition, diminishing its capacity to serve as a challenge to materialist attitudes and values. The rapid mainstreaming of mindfulness has provided a domesticated and tame set of meditation techniques for mainly upper-middle-class and corporate elites so they may become more self-accepting of their anxieties, helping them to thrive, to have it allmoney, power and well-being, continuing business-as-usual more efficiently and, of course, more mindfullywhile conveniently side-stepping any serious soul searching into the causes of widespread social suffering.

Our concernshave nothing to do with complaints that Buddhism is being diluted or whether the mindfulness movement is an authentic and accurate representation of traditional Buddhist teachings, although those who venture to raise critical questions are often immediately pigeonholed as out-of-touch Buddhist purists. To be clear, we know of no one opposed to meditation being employed for reducing human suffering of any kind. But we do take issue with the troublesomerhetoric that the Buddhist tradition amounts to nothing more than an outdated set of cultural accretions. Author Sam Harris exemplifies this in his essay Killing the Buddha, when he characterizes the Buddhist religious tradition as an accidental strand of historyand tells those in the mindfulness movement that they no longer need to be in the religion business.Dan Harris, co-anchor of ABCs Nightlineand Good Morning Americaand the author of the best-selling book 10% Happier,decriesmeditations massive PR problem,code for shedding any associations with anything that smacks of Buddhism. This kind of deprecatory, at times hostile characterization of the Buddhist tradition betrays a terrible lack of understanding ofwhat it means to engage meaningfully with a religious tradition, and a nave belief in the unassailable authority of science as the sole arbiter of truth, meaning and value.

Science, however, is not the only game in town for questions having to do with human meaning, ethics and spiritual insights. Buddhism can and should engage in dialogue with Western modes of rigorous thinking, but that shouldnt be restricted to the domain of empiricism having to do with physical things and processes. To have a more balanced dialogue, we need to include, as Amedeo Giorgi, one of the worlds leading phenomenological theorists, points out, the qualitativehuman sciences(cultural anthropology, for example) as well as history, comparative religion, and philosophy.

Unfortunately, the current rhetoric hasnt enriched the conversation with tradition, because, to a large extent, the mindfulness movement seems actively uninterested in it. And the very logic of the movement provides no reason one should be interested.When mindfulness advocates deem it necessary to rhetorically engage in a war onthe Buddhist tradition, it is not just a matter of good branding. Rather, it amounts to an active attempt to dismiss the whole of tradition and replace it with, well, themselves.

Why has the mindfulness movement grown exponentially and gained increasing acceptance in modern culture? The reason is the science, Kabat-Zinn toldTime magazine. One of the foundational claims of the mindfulness movement is that science has proven that mindfulness is good for you. It is an idea expressed by mindfulness advocates that scientific studies have proven reliably that mindfulness has many benefits for improving physical and mental health, relationships, general well being, workplace efficiency, even sex. Neuroscientific studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of meditators brain states are frequently touted in the media as incontrovertible evidence that science has verified the efficacy of mindfulness. Whether its increasing the size of grey matter, shrinking of the amygdala, or quieting of the default mode network, reports of functional and structural changes in the brain (even if the neuroscientists themselves are more circumspect about the actual significance of their findings) have come to symbolize an official stamp of scientific legitimacy. Indeed, asProfessor Richard Hensonat the University of Cambridge points out, the pictures of blobs on brains seduce one into thinking that we can now directly observe psychological processes. In fact, Deena Weisberg and her colleagues found in their study The Seductive Allure of Neuroscience Explanations that even bogus and bad explanations for psychological phenomena, when couched in the language and dazzling visual imagery of neuroscience, are seen as more satisfying by most people.

It is, perhaps, not surprising that the mindfulness movement has turned to science for its authority. AsRichard J. Davidson, a pioneer in the emerging field of contemplative neuroscience, explains, There is a swath in our culture who is not going to listen to someone in monks robes, but they are paying attention to scientific evidence. It doesnt require sophisticated market research to figure out that branding mindfulness with the veneer of hard science is a surefire way to get the ear of the general public.

And it has, enormously. Branding mindfulness with the imprimatur of science is a common marketing strategy in a number of recent books in the mindfulness genre on theNew York Timesbest-seller list. Take the book Search Inside Yourself: The Unexpected Path to Achieving Success, Happiness (and World Peace), written by Googles top in-house mindfulness advocate, Chade-Meng Tan. Theinside front cover flapimmediately signals that the authority for mindfulness certainly cannot be the domain of bald people in funny robes. Rather it lies with the scientists in white lab-coats, as he cites study after study to back up his claims that mindfulness delivers greater happiness, prosperity, health and career success. And when it comes to mindfulness, he insists, everything can be completely secular. Mindfulness is, in his view, a way to have it all success and profits, wisdom and compassion all in the playful spirit of fun and joy.

Media-savvy entrepreneurshave become fond of denigrating Buddhism, viewing it as a culturally archaic and superstitious container in which the scientifically efficacious practice of mindfulness has been preserved. Dan Harris says, I always thought mindfulness practice was for people who live in yurts, or collect crystals as it turns out, there is all this science that says it can boost your immune system, reduce your blood pressure, and rewire key parts of your brain. These are all familiar tropes of the mindfulness movement: that science, in validating mindfulness practice, has liberated it from the flaky, foreign, irrational, outdated and spooky metaphysics of religious tradition.

Read more here:
Mindfulness truthiness problem: Sam Harris, science and the truth about Buddhist tradition

Buddhism was introduced to Sri Lanka on Poson Poya Day with the arrival of Arahat Mahinda, the son of Emperor Asoka. Establishment of the order of nuns commenced with the arrival of Arahat Mahinda's sister Sangamitta Therini to Sri Lanka.

Charming Princess Sanghamitta married a Prince named Aggribrahama at the age of 16. They were blessed with a son, who was named Sumana. Renouncing a royal life, Sanghamitta entered the Sasana when she was only eighteen years old. Emperor Asoka's brother Prince Tissa, and Prince Aggribrahama entered the Buddhist order as well. With this Sri Lanka was esteemed world over as the Centre of Theravada Buddhism, with 'Maha Viharaya' in Anuradhapura established as the oldest continuing Buddhist monastery.

Sanghamitta decided to enter the sasana as a Bhikkuni under the guidance of therinis Ayupali and Dhammapali, the two elderly nuns. Arahat Bhikkuni Sangamitta arrived in Sri Lanka and established the order of the nuns or the Bhikkuni Sasanaya on Unduvap Poya Day. Further, she brought with her a sapling of the Sacred Jayasrimaha Bodhi tree from Buddhagaya, where Prince Siddhartha attained Enlightenment.

The Bo-sapling was brought to Sri Lanka; it was presented to King Devanampiyatissa, the ruler of Sri Lanka. The sapling was the southern branch from the Sri Maha Bodhi in India. The sapling planted in 288 BC, is the oldest known living human-planted tree in the world. It is one of the most sacred relics of the Buddhists in Sri Lanka today and respected by Buddhists population world over. Mahamegha Park at Anuradapura became the headquarters of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. The impact created by the two visitors some 24 centuries ago yet remains the most influential by any envoy, foreign delegation, or a diplomat on the lives of the people of this Indian Ocean Island. It changed the cultural, social, and spiritual patterns in a revolutionary change in Sri Lanka. Actually, Buddhism was deeply rooted here only after the arrival of Sanghamitta theri on Unduvap Poya Day.

The Sri Maha Bodhiya, Anuradhapura becomes the centre of attraction on Unduvap Poya Day, with both the Jayasri Maha Bodhi and Ruwanveliseya premises flooded with devotees who flock from various parts to observe sil.

The arrival of Sanghamitta was the result of King Devanampiyatissa's queen Anula and other ladies of the Royal family showing an interest entering the order. They conveyed their desire to Arahat Mahinda Thera, who advised the king, Devanampiyatissa to invite his sister Sanghamitta Theri (nun) to establish the order of the nuns [ Meheni sassna].

Sanghamitta theri and her delegation was headed by Bodhigupta. They were accompanied by, according to the historical reports available, by eleven nuns including ambassador Artitta and members of various castes or trades, who specialized in various fields of arts and crafts. They brought with them "Ashtapala Bodhis" the eight Bo-saplings, which was distributed to eight provinces. Therefore Unduvap poya is important to us Sri Lankans in many ways.

The name of Sanghamitta , a role-model for all woman folk is celebrated throughout the island by holding traditional Sanghamitta Perahera to remember the theri on this poya day.

The sacred Sri Maha Bodhi tree is over 2260 years old. Thus this tree is the oldest tree in world in the recorded history. As the Anuradhapura era ended, the historical city of Anuradhapura including the Maha Viharaya was covered with the thick jungle and went in to ruins. But, the bhikkhus of the Maha Viharaya protected the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi and the Maha Viharaya temple through centuries, facing all kinds of difficulties without proper quarters, food or robes, living among the wild beasts.

The Maha Viharaya thus protected so far with great sacrifices, is being restored to its former glory now. It is the responsibility of the Buddhists world over to preserve this great world heritage for the future by restoring the sacred historical places of worship in the Maha Viharaya while spreading the light of the pure Theravada Buddhism to the world.

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Theri Sanghamitta's gift to Sri Lanka