Dalai Lama Tells His Facebook Friends That 'Religion Is No Longer Adequate'

[Ensapa]

The Dalai Lama’s statement makes me think that he is simply tailoring his message for these degenerate times. More and more people are shying away from institutionalized religion and from conversations with my peers, I surmise that people are not interested in religion, having becoming jaded or more skeptical about religion in general.

When the Dalai Lama talks about ethics sans religion, it is quite skillful that he is actually teaching the Dharma without couching it in religious terms, and while the speaker himself wears Buddhist monk robes, no less!

Since the Dalai Lama is so skillful, I hope he will apply his skillful means to lift the ban sooner than later… it’s time!

I am not surprised with people who are jaded with religion because religion over the years have been used to exploit and damage people, in fact most forms of religion have traces of these in them and thus when many people study about the history of religions or they gain bad experiences through religions, they shy away. Many mainstream religions these days are tainted with politics and tainted with many scandals that hurt people a lot and cause these people to be bitter in the long run. Many atheists i have met are not really atheists, but mainly people who are bitter about monotheistic religions, or for some, in religion in general. There is a huge difference in hating organized religion and denying spirituality sometimes. In any case, it seems that HHDL is targeting this because he realizes that religion is too tainted to various problems and issues. Case in point is the Dorje Shugden ban, and one can see how much damage it has caused to the Gelug tradition.

Perhaps, I am thinking, HHDL is subtly encouraging Dorje Shugden practitioners?

[hope rainbow]

Ethics we need indeed...
What is the difference between compassion in a secular sense and compassion in a spiritual sense?
In the first case it cares about life and dignity in this body and this seen world, in the second case, it cares the same but also extend beyond this body and this world.

Thus religion has ethics, that is a given. If it does not then it misses an essential aspect.

In a world without spirituality, if we looses ethics, we loose all, we fall in a chaos of survival war where everyone on his own against everybody else. So ethics is the only thing that can keep a secular world afloat.
And ethics includes secular compassion and secular wisdom I suppose, if such exists...

In Europe the state and the religion have been dissociated a long time ago now, and a secular ethic has been crafted with the "declaration des droits de l'homme" (the chart of human rights) among other foundation texts for a just and fair society.
The American constitution is not bad a trial at establishing some ethics for a nation to grow (it has not always shone though, despite this remarkable constitution).

Yet, I find that finances has today taken the role of what the organized religion had in the past within the political spheres, in the sense that it influences politics with the same strength and with covered motivations.
Of course, the motivation for religious leaders mostly was towards the spread of a doctrine of peace (well I hope so), when the motivation of the finance makers certainly leaves a lot to desire...

For ethics to come through, then the speculative finance worlds would need to either loose their grip onto the political world and ethics should also make its way into the high-flying speculation financial world!
Enlightened traders soon then?

[Ensapa]

Speaking in the line of this topic, there is a paradox that have came up in my mind:

There are some people who are religious but their ethics suck, and there are people who have no religion but they have great ethics. Ethics here would refer to how people conduct themselves in situations and whether or not they will do the 'right' thing, such as helping the old lady cross the street and showing altruistic qualities. So why is it that people who are religious (not all of them), who are supposedly more spiritual than people who do not profess to belong to any religion have less ethics than people who have no religion? It is an interesting paradox about this topic, no?

[DharmaSpace]

@Ensapa I wonder if this can be related to one's imprints, if one spent many many lifetimes doing spiritual actions and deeds, then in  life they will be inclined to do works and act in a beneficial manner. even though they are not religious or has a spiritual label.

A person like Trijang Dorjechang despite there are threats to his life, because of his relationship with Dorje Shugden it does not stop him from carrying on practicing with a lot of fervor and effort.

[Manjushri]

There will be a time when there will be no more Dharma. When religion is a thing of the past. When the minds of people are so wild that it is so difficult to tame.

I agree with His Holiness that religion is no longer adequate. Even in today's world, although religion is growing, I feel that its impact on people has diminished somewhat. Why? Because people has used the name of religion wrongly, therefore the perception that people have formed of religion is negative.

Religion and Ethics are closely related.  To me, religion is teaching you how to be a better person..so if that's the main importance of it, it can be easily taught and transmitted without it being under the label of religion.

[brian]

I think in this modern world, religion especially in the eyes of the public is just a place where they can sought for some mental peace. Temples or centers are places where they will find peace and just get away from the stress at work/home and become holy for a day or two during the weekends. It has degenerated over time and that itself i found most of my friends do not go to temples or monasteries, even though they are Buddhists, they do not engage in prayers or religious practices. All they care would be not to harm others and just be kind. It is like doing good for yourself and that's it. Most of them would doubt there's an existence of Gods or Buddhas and all of their concerns were actually their well being. Oh yeah, they do go to temples or monasteries only on holidays or trips and that's for sightseeing purposes.

[Ensapa]

I think in this modern world, religion especially in the eyes of the public is just a place where they can sought for some mental peace. Temples or centers are places where they will find peace and just get away from the stress at work/home and become holy for a day or two during the weekends. It has degenerated over time and that itself i found most of my friends do not go to temples or monasteries, even though they are Buddhists, they do not engage in prayers or religious practices. All they care would be not to harm others and just be kind. It is like doing good for yourself and that's it. Most of them would doubt there's an existence of Gods or Buddhas and all of their concerns were actually their well being. Oh yeah, they do go to temples or monasteries only on holidays or trips and that's for sightseeing purposes.

Well, I do have friends that go to the temple and like what you said, they only go there as a weekend getaway from the stress of work and they see it as a sanctuary and the minute 'politics' appear in the temple, they stay away from it and cry and make a big thing out of it and get upset. To them the Temple is no longer a place to learn the Dharma but as something to relief them from stress of daily work. Dharma has degenerated into this way because some Dharma centers lack proper foundation, or rather the committee members lack having a solid foundation to build their Dharma practice on, and with a shaky foundation, the Dharma center becomes merely a recreational center and it can be quite sad to see.

[brian]

I think in this modern world, religion especially in the eyes of the public is just a place where they can sought for some mental peace. Temples or centers are places where they will find peace and just get away from the stress at work/home and become holy for a day or two during the weekends. It has degenerated over time and that itself i found most of my friends do not go to temples or monasteries, even though they are Buddhists, they do not engage in prayers or religious practices. All they care would be not to harm others and just be kind. It is like doing good for yourself and that's it. Most of them would doubt there's an existence of Gods or Buddhas and all of their concerns were actually their well being. Oh yeah, they do go to temples or monasteries only on holidays or trips and that's for sightseeing purposes.

Well, I do have friends that go to the temple and like what you said, they only go there as a weekend getaway from the stress of work and they see it as a sanctuary and the minute 'politics' appear in the temple, they stay away from it and cry and make a big thing out of it and get upset. To them the Temple is no longer a place to learn the Dharma but as something to relief them from stress of daily work. Dharma has degenerated into this way because some Dharma centers lack proper foundation, or rather the committee members lack having a solid foundation to build their Dharma practice on, and with a shaky foundation, the Dharma center becomes merely a recreational center and it can be quite sad to see.

Yes indeed, many would not know that Temples or Monasteries are places where Dharma can be practiced and learnt. It has degenerated to this level that visitors would just take photos and burn some incenses only. Even care takers of centers do not understand the true meaning of a center, a temple or even a monastery. At this rate is going, many more people will not understand a word from Buddha's teachings soon. What is the use of building large statues in big centers monasteries when the sole use of these are just for recreational purpose only.

[Ensapa]

Yes indeed, many would not know that Temples or Monasteries are places where Dharma can be practiced and learnt. It has degenerated to this level that visitors would just take photos and burn some incenses only. Even care takers of centers do not understand the true meaning of a center, a temple or even a monastery. At this rate is going, many more people will not understand a word from Buddha's teachings soon. What is the use of building large statues in big centers monasteries when the sole use of these are just for recreational purpose only.

There are a few differences here. There are two types of temples - the first type is the type with big statues and lots of people going and visiting but nobody there teaches Dharma and the caretakers are usually just uneducated people but who have a lot of faith. Then there are those more modern "Dharma centers" which are opened by more 'educated' Buddhists where there are actually study and discussion of the Dharma, but not the way it is meant to be studied but rather for intellectual knowledge. Both types of Dharma centers are prevalent and they do show the degeneration of the Dharma in the countries they are in.