The Global Buddhism Rise

August 10, 2006 (Press Release) -- Buddhism has developed over 2,500 years and the philosophy and practices of Buddhism have developed in accordance with time, place, and culture as its ideas have spread. Even though the historic Buddha is said to have lived approximately 2,500 years ago, Buddhism is often viewed in the West as the most modern of world religions.

Yet, in many of its cultures of origin, a number of people now view Buddhism as old-fashioned, irrational and too much tied up with superstitions. This is one factor that works against an appreciation of fundamental Buddhist philosophy and practices. The other is the Western view that Buddhism is too deep and so abstract that no one can ever understand it.

But the Buddhist approach to life is essentially pragmatic and practical. It directly addresses fundamental human problems and approaches problem solving in a concrete way. One of the foundational tenets of Buddhism is that, if we want to make progress towards wisdom, we have to recognize the root causes of human suffering.

The essence of Buddhism is timeless and universal, but its practice adapts according to context. Buddhist tradition is rooted in India and other parts of Asia, but, in the latter half of the 18th century, Buddhism (along with many other Eastern religions and philosophies) came to the attention of Westerners. Soon, Western scholars began to learn Asian languages and translate Asian texts.

Despite the growth and spread of Buddhism in countries across the face of the world, there are few places on the web that present a truly 'global', international context in which to discuss Buddhism and Buddhist philosophy and practices.

Such a context requires - in fact, demands - tolerance of differences, openness to both spiritual and intellectual discussion, readiness to experiment, and willingness to open the 'architecture' of the experiment to comment from an international community of members.

If such a context is to develop, the Global Buddhism site now represents the best probability for that context on the web.

The Global Buddhist site already has in place:

* Continuously updating News and Announcements - including syndicated and original content created by members as well as press releases of interest to the community;
* Extensive Dharma Library with integrated software for member submission of Library content;
* Personal Blogs - private or public for integration into the overall content structure of the site;
* Traditional Discussion Forums integrated with the overall content structure of the site;
* Image Management software for galleries that include community and member album space;
* Directory of Buddhist Web Links;
* Wikispace for building multi-lingual, intra- and inter-sectarian definitions of terms and concepts;

As membership grows, the site is prepared to implement other services, such as:

* National and/or language specific discussion Forums;
* A meeting component;
* Directory of Modern Buddhist Teachers;
* Catalogue of Buddhist courses, retreats, and schools;
* Additional member services to fill demand;
* Nalanda Tracker - providing easy access to Buddhist materials in the public domain.

http://www.globalbuddhism.com