Interest in Dhamma - growing or slowing ?

[Alīno]

Good morning !

Do someone know if the interest in Dhamma grows or slows down ?
What do you think or observe ?

[JamesTheGiant]

Do you mean in the world, or in my own mind and personal interest ?

[SarathW]

What do you mean by Dhamma?
Are you talking about Buddha Dhamma?

[JamesTheGiant]

What do you mean by Good Morning?
Do you wish us a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether we want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?

I feel a moderator coming on...

[Alīno]

Haha!^^
Sorry to not be enought clear

I mean Buddha Dhamma practice in the world / internet / in your perception...
And good morning because it's morning where I am

[JamesTheGiant]

In my country it's growing very very slowly, mostly due to immigration.
Now it is 1.5% and in 30 years it should reach 2% if trends continue. So basically Insignificant!
On a personal level the interest is growing.
But I see the young people around me, in my class, are less interested in any sort of spiritual things. They love their phones and snapchat and clothes and pointless gossip. This is a well known trend in NZ, and is supported by the census results.

[Sam Vara]

I think that this is a valid question, but one that is extremely difficult to answer. The answer is dependent upon what one defines as an "interest in Dhamma"; the tools that someone might use in order to investigate it; and whether or not one hears of the conclusions.

For example, there has been a massive increase in "interest in the Dhamma" if we define it to mean that people are superficially informed about it, and will spend a few minutes Googling or reading a site like this, or incorporating an idea or two into a vague sense of spirituality. But of course, others will say that is no interest at all.

Likewise, unless a real increase in interest is somehow captured in a survey or other measurable set of results, then we won't know about it.

Finally, such a survey or conclusion could be in existence, but we don't get to hear of it.

In my tiny corner of the world, I think that lots more people are becoming superficially interested in the Dhamma, in the sense of hearing about it and incorporating it into a vaguer set of beliefs and practices. I am meeting more of them, and encountering more interest on the internet, but again that might be because I look for it more!

[justindesilva]

Good morning !

Do someone know if the interest in Dhamma grows or slows down ?
What do you think or observe ?

My observation re this post is that interest in budda damma is increasing in asian countries and in the west too. With the availability and improvements in E media people are able to access documents such as Tripitaka
along with chinese mahayana scriptures.
Even dammawheel is an example along with other buddhist blogs.
In sri lanka there are 4 main TV channels dedicated to Buddhism.

[SarathW]

When I am looking at my family circle and friends I could not find a single person (excepts me) is interested in Buddhism.
More to the point a few young members became Christians.
Others are still struggling to improve their daily living.
When I speak about Buddhism they start yawning.
When I read media reports I can see Westerns are introducing meditation and mindfulness into schools and workplaces.
But it is not Buddhism.
The only silver line I see is the Dhamma Wheel.
In 2014 only 80 users on average were in the forum in a given moment.
Now I see it is grown to average 450 people.

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=21202

This is a remarkable progress!!!

The efforts of Ven Bodhi, Sujato and Thanissaro are pretty impressive. I think Mahayana is very appealing to many Westerners.

I was reading an article which said:
----------------
In fact, Arthur C. Clark a futuristic visionary, in one of his books, mentioned that Buddhism will be the only religion that will survive by the year 2050 and that scientist cannot hammer it down or destroy it.

------------------------

It seems I was wishfully thinking. At this stage, I have only a very slim chance to find this out myself.

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=16297&p=232330&hilit=

[paul]

From a DW perspective western buddhism which is new and different to traditional Asian Buddhism, has grown from almost nothing over the past fifty years to become established in many aspects of society, particularly psychology which is logical, and this is an indication that dhamma ideas are already changing the course of the world through expressions such as the mindfulness movement. This is because there is a new outlook in this millennium, particularly on the human relationship with the cosmos necessitated by global warming, and Buddhism is the only heritage that is appropriate as it deals with the mind, which is the currency of the computer era. A culture from 2500 years ago picks up continuity in these times. There are many mental abilities documented in the texts which have fallen into obscurity, but these will be resurrected as indicated by the jhana teachers arising. The momentum will swing more and more to the mind and away from a material perspective, but this is only the beginning and there are many problems to be overcome, as is readily seen.

[budo]

I think the interest in "pragmatic dharma" is growing, but I wouldn't consider that Buddha Dhamma. Quality vs quantity, the more the "dharma" spreads, the more corrupted it is.

I would say true Buddha Dhamma as the Buddha taught it 2500 years ago is nearly extinct, and Early Buddhists are closest to it but even they are slightly misled, and everything spreading out from there is more and more wrong.

[chownah]

I think the buddha taught that the dhamma would be lost. If we believe what the buddha taught then it seems that while the dhamma may grow or slow from time to time it is over the long haul declining and will eventually stop. If we don't believe what the buddha taught then its seems that the dhamm as declining. Seems like either way the result is that the dhamma is declining over the long haul at least if not currently.
chownah

[SarathW]

I think the interest in "pragmatic dharma" is growing, but I wouldn't consider that Buddha Dhamma. Quality vs quantity, the more the "dharma" spreads, the more corrupted it is.

I would say true Buddha Dhamma as the Buddha taught it 2500 years ago is nearly extinct, and Early Buddhists are closest to it but even they are slightly misled, and everything spreading out from there is more and more wrong.

I personally disagree with the highlighted statement.
It is just my opinion.

[Bundokji]

I would answer yes, especially in the west, and my answer has to do with analyzing the conditions that led to it.

It is not a coincidence that modernism, which is associated with scientific explanations of the world, left very little room for superstitions to explain phenomena. All of the sudden, the world can be explained by certain laws, and the human is no longer the center of the universe, but rather, an expression of it existing in a tiny corner of it. Creation became a process rather than an event triggered by a supernatural entity.

Our scientific discoveries as well as the modern explanations of the world left humans with less meaning. The hardship we used to experience before the emergence of technologies and different discoveries, and the supernatural explanations we had to explain phenomena gave our struggle a certain meaning. The futility of existence can be best experienced when we have the luxury of time for ourselves, and when we have our basic needs met. It does not come as a surprise that monasticism was created to meet these conditions, hence monasticism in our modern age is often frowned upon or less understood than the times of the Buddha for good reasons in my opinion.

It also should not come as a surprise that modernism was followed by postmodernism, and that some of the notions in postmodernism seem to fit some Buddhist notions as a glove. The objectivity promoted during modernism improved our lives in many ways, but increased our feelings of alienation and emptiness, hence the role of subjectivity and the lack of essence is often expressed and emphasized by post modernists. The individual became more important than ever. He/she is no longer a mere member of the group. There is more room to express our individuality than ever.

If Buddhism is a doctrine that emphasize the role of the mind in constructing reality, and if it focuses on the individual, then it ought to gain interest in our age. All in my opinion.

[budo]

I think the interest in "pragmatic dharma" is growing, but I wouldn't consider that Buddha Dhamma. Quality vs quantity, the more the "dharma" spreads, the more corrupted it is.

I would say true Buddha Dhamma as the Buddha taught it 2500 years ago is nearly extinct, and Early Buddhists are closest to it but even they are slightly misled, and everything spreading out from there is more and more wrong.

I personally disagree with the highlighted statement.
It is just my opinion.

I personally disagree with your opinion.