Myanmar: the state mocks its own religion

[householder]

It's widely covered in the English-language press there and presumably in Myanmar-language news and social media too; it was certainly a hot topic locally when the initial incident took place from what I understand.

[Cittasanto]

It's widely covered in the English-language press there and presumably in Myanmar-language news and social media too; it was certainly a hot topic locally when the initial incident took place from what I understand.

It would be interesting to see how much this is used in any campaigns.

[Ceisiwr]

Does anyone else find this disturbing?

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/03/18/wo ... &referrer=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

The most disturbing part about it is that people are allowed to open bars in Burma. People are always going to drink alcohol, but it never was an accepted part of Burmese culture. Now it has become normal for young people to visit bars and discos instead of tea shops and pagodas. Secular westerners are polluting every civilized culture in Asia with their irreligious, disrespectful behaviour, and immoral ways of life.

This is disturbing, but unless the illegal immigration is addressed by proper and fair regulations, then there will be no end of the problems.

[Phena]

Secular westerners are polluting every civilized culture in Asia with their irreligious, disrespectful behaviour, and immoral ways of life.

Oh, it's those evil western secularists creating all the problems.

Let's have a look just across the border in Thailand. Seems this Buddhist South East Asian nation has been doing a good enough job polluting its own culture, with the amount of bars and booze they have. (Mekong, SangSom, Sang Tip, Singha, etc, etc, etc anyone?)

Casting this as a problem Westerners have created rather then a universal human issue (dukkha and avijja) is such a facile analysis.

[SarathW]

The most disturbing part about it is that people are allowed to open bars in Burma. People are always going to drink alcohol, but it never was an accepted part of Burmese culture. Now it has become normal for young people to visit bars and discos instead of tea shops and pagodas. Secular westerners are polluting every civilized culture in Asia with their irreligious, disrespectful behaviour, and immoral ways of life.

This is disturbing, but unless the illegal immigration is addressed by proper and fair regulations, then there will be no end of the problems.

I think alcohol and prostitution was there in Buddha's time too.
No doubt Westerners spread the hard drugs to countries like China and Sri Lanka.
Westerners have left these countries for some time now.
So it is time to take some responsibility for ourselves.
We always see the problems (climate change etc) as external.
We should recognise that the problems are part of external as well as an internal.

[waterchan]

Utterly foolish behavior from the authorities, alas. Sigh.

religious countries
- no matter which one -
encourage the thoughtful
to pick up & run

Well, the US is probably the most religious country in the developed world, but I think I get your point. All the educated people have left the country and those that haven't are weighing their options. The country suffers from an unfathomably MASSIVE brain drain. My cousin graduates from university at the end of this year and she was asking me about work opportunities here in the UK. As I reflected on the education standards over there, I couldn't help but think, "Not a cold chance in hell."

I am confident that this sentence reflects neither the position of the informed, devout practising Buddhist community, nor the opinion of the upper-middle class and beyond. But in a country like Burma it's difficult to come out and condemn things like this in public. There's a significant risk of getting into trouble with the authorities or getting bullied by the angry mob of nationalists and religious purists.

Nothing more destructive than a crowd with the wrong idea.

[mal4mac]

No doubt Westerners spread the hard drugs to countries like China...

Yup. British East India company:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_o ... pium_trade" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;