RE212 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Vihara, Buddhist Philosophy, Middle Way
Document Summary
In a lesson about buddhism, we might expect first to see an image of its founder, the. We shall see his image shortly, but it is more fitting to begin with this image from thailand. Just after christmas, 2004, an enormous tsunami or tidal wave erupted in the bay of bengal, in the indian ocean. Within hours, the tsunami cast towering and fast-moving waves over the coastal communities of most surrounding states, including indonesia, thailand, india and sri lanka, killing a quarter of a million people. The tsunami even took lives along the coast of africa. Doubtless you have seen videos of the tsunami and its awful effects. For one, the tsunami affected some countries with predominantly buddhist populations (such as sri lanka and thailand). More importantly, many buddhists faced the task of rebuilding hundreds of communities communities already poor and dependent on the precarious economy of tourism quite literally from the ground up.
