buddhism comes in later, translates itself with taoist terms but buddhism brings in a more sophisticated theology. and an organization creates a church, creates monasteries and taoism then in a sense responds to this and becomes itself richer. and confucianism mean while was the kind of religion of the state of in a sense wealthy people. and you have people making eclectic combinations of all of these thoughts. in a way, kind of like we do now because rather than maybe before one grew up as a certain profession and this was truth and against the others where as now we live in a relativelistic kind of religious world where individuals are sort of expected to think through on their own and acquire pieces and aspects of different confessions and in their own life philosophy so, it's a more open and flexible place, it's along period of history. >> you know the - and this is also and helen i want to [laughter], this is you've obviously done studies in the current political situation in modernity. and we're looking to china of course speaking of the ethical and social dimension as hopefully be

a priest decides he is going to show the powers of mystic buddhism and he appears and on the alter with different sorts ofornmen of owns and then progresses through profound things and all of these are tongue twisters but it's the first round of tongue twisters nothing happens and the priest is very upset and blushes extraordinary red and he tries again. the second time the chants are much shorter and he begins to lose his patience and again nothing happens. third time nothing happens and he basically says how much time to turn to the wonderrous powers of the lotus set raand he does chanting and the parody is something like if anyone is old enough to remember and the mouse before vatican two and you don't understand anything and it's mumbo jump bow and this is a parody of that. the second and third pieces before the intermission i will not introduce. i think the program notes are sufficient and rather than lecture i would much rather you enjoy the performance. the one thing i would like to emphasize about the first piece this is indeed a comic piece and in most instances westerners have

, i have a problem giving the 35,000-year-old master and ramtha equal stature with christianity, buddhism, hinduism. i mean, you name any of these others, the earth based religions and so forth, i have a hard time considering them in the same category- with the others, i really do. and so, you know, that said, i guess- i guess that's all i have to say right now. >> but you know, that's a good point in its own right, and just so no one gets confused looking back on our ramtha class, my instinct and what, you know, i found very inspirational is that you could kind of put yourself at the start of a new religious movement. you know, we're talking about religions with millennia behind them when we're speaking, of course, buddhism, christianity. that's not a place we want to enter into comparisons- i believe you're quite right there- but that impulse is what we were looking at. now i notice that i didn't get to some folks, and we will, but in the interest of getting on to a very interesting piece that i wanted to share with you here about doctrine and interpretation- and i mentioned it to chris

the ritual has hardly changed since buddhism was introduced into tibet in the seventh century. in a monastery next door, they are using the tools of the 21st century to mark the latest expression of tibetan despair. there has been another self immolation, and they spring into action. they are told he threw his body into a truck, still raising his arms and shouting "free tibet." he died the next day. once they hear from three different sources, they send the news to to the support groups and journalists. >> our greatest concern is to protect our sources inside of tibet. we are very aware of the risks they are taking. since 2008, people there have been arrested for simply being in touch with us. >> four years ago saw an abrupt downturn in chinese treatment of tibetans. beijing's olympic torch was met in nearly every city on its journey -- london included -- by demonstrations in support of freedom for tibet and the dalai lama. as news of the demonstrations reached the rooftops of the world, tibetans rose up against their rulers, and the protests spread from the tibetan autonomous

she practices buddhism and plans to pray for her mother for 49 days. >> my mom meant the world to me.joined a self-help group in san jose called concerned committee members. they pay $35 a month on promise when they die their survivors will receive death benefits. some of them pay since the group launched in the year 2000. but we found bishops wondering if they will ever see the money. his mother-in-law died in jewel and they were told they would get $10,000 by last november. he is still waiting. >> then i called, nobody answer. that is why i come here. i see office closed. >> they suspect she and other surviving members will never get paid. >> i feel angry and betrayed. >> members claim that they have disappeared. hees he has been evicted by his landlord for not paying his rent. >> i was very upset. >> david lee was raised by his granddaughter. she was the member of the vietnamese-chinese community center in chinatown since 1986. she paid more than $11,000 into found fund. when she died the center offered to pay $1400 of the promised $9,000 in benefits. >> i was very disappointed at

now religion may step in, whether it's christianity in our society predominantly or islam or buddhism or daoism, they may give you a different sense of obligation. nevertheless, following up on obligation comes responsibility- if you're obligated to do something, then you have the responsibility in order to act on that. but we find that for whatever reason- you know, whether we want to go theological and say it's simply original sin or we're just selfishness or, from an evolutionary point of view, it's survival of the fittest. nevertheless, the third step in this is dissonance- it's kind of the opposite of harmony. we do not live up to our obligation, we do not follow through on our responsibilities, and it puts us into a state of wrong, of guilt, and anxiety. and one of the frightening things is in our current society, we're finding younger and younger people grow up who don't have that sense of dissonance, who can do the most frightening kinds of acts. nevertheless, you have this sense of dissonance. ethical process ends then with religion in particular, but society, whether through

what i do is looked systematically through three faiths, christianity, buddhism, and jew dayism asked myself one question. what here might we use or inspire smit is that stuff here we left behind that we could, in giving up the side of religion, nevertheless have benefited from that, and that's the starting point. i look at areas like community, education, ethical structure, art and architecture, the notion of an institution which, of course, the faiths are, and a few other things besides. >> host: and you have some sort of very specific proposals. you would like to see some secularized into the wider society. can you expond upon those? >> guest: sure. religions are giant educational machines. in the secular world, we take education really seriously, and a lot of money is devoted to higher education, and when people try to understand why we educate, one answer is skills for jobs, for the economy, you know, to compete, to be a competitive economy, that's simple enough, but there's another more noble sounding ambition creeping in the passages of politician speeches or graduation ceremon

so what i do is look systematically through three faiths, christianity, buddhism and judaism. asking myself always one question, what here might inspire? is there stuff you read left behind if we could intervene up the doctrinal side of religion nevertheless have benefited from. that is my starting point. so i look at areas like community, education, ethical structure, art, architecture, the notion of institution and a few other things besides. >> host: do have some very specific or postals, examples from religious life as she was charged with the ec secularized and incorporated into the wider society. perhaps you can expound upon some of these. >> guest: one of the area to look at his education. religions are giant educational machines. in a secular world, we take education really seriously. and a lot of money is devoted to institutes of higher education. what people are trying to understand why we educate, one answer is skills, for jobs, for the economy, to the beach, and be competitive. but there is another more noble sounding ambition, which creeps in during the in during

it's a -- buddhism. it's not a christian faith so i was being interviewed by turkish television and they say what's the big fuss about electing a mormon? i said would there be a fuss in turkey if you elected a catholic or baptist? and their eyes were just -- i say this will be the first person who is not -- either not from the christian faith or no faith. jefferson was -- if i were beginning to describe jefferson, he would be a unitarian on steroids. host: this is michael girth's column on the gender gap issue. romney's woman problems. he says g.o.p.'s main problem is not the concept tiff issue but it is the perception of it becoming too ideal catch. independent voters have seen a party confirming its most damaging stereotype. the composite republican candidate reflecting the party's means has been harsh on immigration, confrontational on social issues and silent on the struggles of the poor. how many women find that profile appealing on eharmony? guest: well, i think that is unnecessarily harsh. i think

other religions such as buddhism, hinduism, they don't have the same awareness of pain that christianst see, in hinduism you have an indoctrination of reincarnation and that doesn't just mean we live successive lives, but means that your fate in this life is based on the stuff you did, supposedly in previous lives. so, if you're a poor guy and suffering in this life, it means that you were a bad guy in one of your earlier lives. so there's no problem of pain, everybody is getting exactly what they deserve. in judaism and christianity of course we have an idea that god is omnipotent and all powerful and pain and suffering in the world and the problem is one of reconciling god's power and goodness with the fact of evil and suffering in the world. and that's what the book god forsaken attempts to reconcile or tackle. >> and personal suffering, not just natural disasters, but the book is "god forsaken", thank you for joining us. >> it's a pleasure. >> some churches are offering more than faith today. they're handing out free gas. >> they made bold decisions to cut the state's without raisi