Published December 12, 2014

Dec. 11, 2014: New Zealand citizen Philip Blackwood, center, is escorted by Myanmar police officers following a court appearance in Yangon, Myanmar(AP)

YANGON, Myanmar A New Zealand bar manager in Myanmar has been arrested for allegedly insulting Buddhism after posting an online advertisement showing a psychedelic image of Buddha wearing headphones, police said Friday.

The offense carries a penalty of up to two years in prison.

Police arrested Philip Blackwood on Wednesday along with two Myanmar nationals, including the bar's owner, Tun Thurein, and an employee. Authorities then shut the V Gastro Bar, a tapas bar and lounge, which had opened just two weeks earlier in an upscale Yangon neighborhood.

The image, which shows a neon pink Buddha wearing DJ-style headphones, was posted on the bar's Facebook page, and quickly spread online. An official from the Religious Department filed a complaint that led to the arrests, said a police official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not permitted to speak to the media.

The image has been removed from the Facebook page and replaced by an apology.

"Our intention was never to cause offense to anyone," the apology says. "Our ignorance is embarrassing."

The arrests come amid a surge of religious nationalism in Myanmar following violence between Buddhists and Muslims in recent years.

The three men are due to appear in court next week.

Read more:
Myanmar bar manager accused of insulting Buddhism - Indonesian cops name editor suspect in anti-Islam blasphemy case

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."

The researchers say that this transition is consistent with a shift from "fast" life strategies, focused on the immediate problems of the day, to those focused on long-term investments. They say that it will now be interesting to test whether other familiar characteristics of modern human society, such as high parental investment and long-term monogamy, might stem from the same historical change.

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The above story is based on materials provided by Cell Press. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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

Published December 11, 2014

In this Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014 photo, New Zealand citizen Philip Blackwood, center, is escorted by Myanmar police officers following a court appearance in Yangon, Myanmar. Blackwood, the manager of V Gastro Bar in Yangon has been arrested for allegedly insulting Buddhism after posting an online advertisement showing a psychedelic image of Buddha wearing headphones, police said Friday. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)(The Associated Press)

In this Dec.11, 2014 photo, Htut Ko Ko Lwin, center, an employer of V Gastro Bar, is escorted by Myanmar police officers following a court appearance in Yangon, Myanmar. The employee, a New Zealand bar manager and the bar's owner have been arrested for allegedly insulting Buddhism after posting an online advertisement showing a psychedelic image of Buddha wearing headphones. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)(The Associated Press)

In this Dec.11, 2014 photo, People, including Buddhist monks gather around a police vehicle to see a New Zealand bar manager and two-employers following a court appearance in Yangon, Myanmar. A New Zealand national, the manager of V Gastro bar in Yangon and two-employers of the bar have been arrested for allegedly insulting Buddhism after posting an online advertisement showing a psychedelic image of Buddha wearing headphones. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)(The Associated Press)

In this Thursday, Dec.11, 2014 photo, a Buddhist monk prepares to take a picture of New Zealand citizen Philip Blackwood, as he gets in to a police vehicle following a court appearance in Yangon, Myanmar. Blackwood, the manager of V Gastro bar in Yangon and two-employers of the bar have been arrested for allegedly insulting Buddhism after posting an online advertisement showing a psychedelic image of Buddha wearing headphones. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)(The Associated Press)

YANGON, Myanmar A New Zealand bar manager in Myanmar has been arrested for allegedly insulting Buddhism after posting an online advertisement showing a psychedelic image of Buddha wearing headphones.

Police say the V Gastro Bar in Myanmar's capital was shut on Wednesday after a complaint was filed against the advertisement, which was posted on the bar's Facebook page.

Bar manager Philip Blackwood and two Myanmar employees were arrested and are scheduled to appear in court next week to face charges of insulting religion, which carry a penalty of up to two years in prison.

The image has been removed from the Facebook page and replaced by an apology.

The arrests come during a surge of religious nationalism in Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist country.

More:
New Zealand bar manager arrested in Myanmar for advertisement showing Buddha in headphones

YANGON, Burma (AP) A New Zealand bar manager in Burma has been arrested for allegedly insulting Buddhism after posting an online advertisement showing a psychedelic image of Buddha wearing headphones.

Police say the V Gastro Bar in Burmas capital was shut on Wednesday after a complaint was filed against the advertisement, which was posted on the bars Facebook page.

Bar manager Philip Blackwood and two Burma employees were arrested and are scheduled to appear in court next week to face charges of insulting religion, which carry a penalty of up to two years in prison.

The image has been removed from the Facebook page and replaced by an apology.

The arrests come during a surge of religious nationalism in Burma, a predominantly Buddhist country.

Read this article:
Burma: NZ bar manager accused of insulting Buddhism

Utah woman becomes newest minister at SLC Buddhist Temple

By Megan Marsden Christensen

December 11th, 2014 @ 8:02pm

SALT LAKE CITY A Utah woman recently ordained became the newest minister to serve in the historic, 102-year-old Salt Lake Buddhist Temple this week.

Dr. Carmela Javellana, a full-time integrated psychiatrist, grew up in the Philippines as a self-described good Catholic girl, but when she immigrated to the United States, she felt an absence of her identity.

Javellana said that as a new immigrant, her need to find her place in American society took precedence over her desire for religion.

It wasnt until her mother died in 1999 that the reality of mortality hit her.

She turned to Zen Buddhism, which she described as being something she can trust.

Zen Buddhism, at its heart, meant practicing meditation.

Javellana said she was content with just sitting in meditation, but when she got a divorce, she felt a push to seek a better life.

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Utah woman becomes newest minister at SLC Buddhist Temple