Real Story - A Kind Hearted Man And His Handicapped Pig

This is a real story about a man and his handicapped pig. The sow born with two legs and named Zhu Jianqiang, literally means brave and strong in Chinese belongs to a villager, Mr Wang Xihai who lives in Henan Province in China.

When Zhu Jianqiang was born almost 18 months ago, Mr Wang's wife had wanted to throw her away but was stopped by Mr Wang. He told his wife that despite the piglet's handicapped, she deserved to be given a chance to live on. The kind hearted Mr Wang however admitted that he didn't expect Zhu Jianqiang to live long and healthy as she is today.

Zhu Jianqiang was one of nine piglets born and she was the only handicapped one, born with two legs. A few days after she was born, Mr Wang decided to teach her to walk by lifting her by the tail. She was trained to walk for a short period everyday and by 30 days she was able to walk upside down.

Not long after that, the news about Zhu Jianqiang became the talk of the village and Mr Wang's house was visited by many people, some of them even offered hefty prices to purchase the pig but was flatly declined by Mr Wang.

Mr Wang said that Zhu Jianqiang determination to live despite her handicapped reminds us not to give up on our lives no matter how difficult our lives are and it is because of this that he would never sell Zhu Jianqiang to anyone.

Moral of the above story - When the world whispers to us " give up " and " not impossible ", our little heart shouts " you can do it ".

Buddhist Personality : Ah Hua

Name : Ah Hua
Nationality : China
Date Of Birth : 18th October 1981
Profession : Singer

Buddhist Population Of The World

The number of Buddhists around the world is grossly underestimated. The statistics found in nearly all encyclopedias and almanacs place the number of Buddhists at approximately 500 million. This figure completely ignores over one billion Chinese people who live in the People's Republic of China. China is officially communist (although many free market conditions are already in place) and does not keep records on religion statistics of adherents. Also, many western reference sources refuse to accept that a person can belong to more than one religion. In Asia it is quite common for one person to have two, three, or more religions. In China, it is common for a family to have a shrine in their home with statues and icons from Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism.

Currently there are about 1.3 billion Chinese living in the People's Republic. Surveys (Gach-Alpha Books, U.S. State Dept. report on China, Global Center for the Study of Contemporary China, BBC News, China Daily, and a report by Christian missionaries in China) have found that about 8% to 91% identify with Buddhism as one of their religions. If we use a percent near the upper end of this estimate, of about 80% it works out to about 1.1 billion Chinese Buddhists. To ignore over one billion people as if they do not count is a terrible mis-count and very misleading in the reporting of adherents. A Chinese Buddhist forum (bskk.com) currently has over 150,000 registered members and over 4 million posts, which is more than ten times the amount of the largest English language Buddhist forum (which also has Chinese Buddhists participating in the discussions). But to be fair, a more conservative estimate is also shown (see below).

Here are some studies that have analyzed or counted the number of Buddhists in China and the percentage found in the study:


U.S. State Dept. report Approx. 8% to 40% (the report lists 8% but then states that there are "hundreds of millions" of Chinese who practice various religions together, which includes Buddhism).
BBC News, 2007 Approx. 16% to 23%
ChinaDaily.com, 2007 Approx. 16% to 21%
Seanetwork.org article by Dr. A. Smith, 2004 Approx. 50% to 80%
Global Center for the Study of Contemporary China Approx. 23% to 98% (the report lists 23% but states that as many as 98% follow more than one religion, which includes Buddhism).
Buddhist Channel article, July 7, 2009 Buddhism thrives in China
Gach, Alpha Books, 2001 Approx. 91%

The counting of Buddhists in America is also a little problematic since the U.S. Census Bureau does not ask religious affiliation. There are studies that suggest the percentage of Buddhists in America is as low as 0.5% and others that suggest over 3%. Some of the lower estimates claimed that about half of all Buddhists in America are white, European ancestry, which shows that the study was flawed. Any personal observation survey of Buddhism in America by attending meditation groups and temples will demonstrate that the vast majority of Buddhists in the U.S. are still predominantly Asian or Asian ancestry. Immigration to the U.S. from Asia has been very high due to favorable economic opportunities and more open immigration for those with technical skills, such as in the medical fields. Immigration from Asia ranges from about 0.5 million to 7 million per year and certainly a sizeable percentage of these immigrants are Buddhist. See Asian immigration to the US

Some other reports at the low end are going by official statistics from Buddhist organizations that count and in many of these estimates it is based on counting only one group, The Buddhist Churches of America (which is one of the few that counts their members). The BCA is just one sect inside the Pure Land school of Buddhism, which is a further sub-set of Mahayana, which is a sub-set of Buddhism in general. As far back as 1995 a study showed that 1.6% of the U.S. is Buddhist. Only a few years later the number of Buddhist centers doubled, which suggests that the actual percent of Americans who are Buddhist is from 2% to 4%. See: R. Baumann, Univ. of Hannover Professor C. Prebish, Ph.D. has stated that 2% of the U.S. population is Buddhist and that most, about 80% of American Buddhists are of Asian descent (about 4.8 million out of 6 million American Buddhists), See: Utah State Univ., 2007
A conservative estimate of 2% is used for the number of Buddhists in America in the table below.

March 2007 update: Due to the debates and discussions that have occured, some reference books and encyclopedias are finally recognizing that there are Buddhists in China. Some have stated that the survey suggesting that 91% are Buddhist is exaggerated, but at least some are now showing a sizeable percentage, such as over 60% over at wikipedia. Therefore, included below is a liberal estimate using 80% and a more conservative estimate using a 50% figure.

Here is the Wikipedia estimate, which is compatible to the numbers shown here: Wikipedia List of religious populations

July 2009 update: The percentage and numbers for Buddhists in India has increased dramatically over recent years because there have many recent mass conversions of the dalit (untouchables) from Hinduism to Buddhism. See one of several mass conversions of over 50,000 and also this report: Newsweek 2008 India has 3.25% Buddhist

See also this article at The Dhamma encyclopedia for more statistics, links and sources: The appeal of Buddhism

The following is the more accurate listing of Buddhists around the world with the inclusion of the above-mentioned people (percentage of the total population who are Buddhist is shown in parentheses):
China, liberal estimate (80.00%) 1,070,893,447
China, conservative estimate (50.00%) 669,308,405
Japan (96.00%) 122,022,837
Thailand (95.00%) 62,626,649
India (3.25%) 37,913,134
Sri Lanka (70.00%) 14,933,050
Burma (90.00%) 43,323,967
Cambodia (95.00%) 13,769,578
Laos (75.00%) 5,126,207
Other Asian countries (16.00%) 213,492,875
Total Buddhists in Asia, liberal estimate 1,584,101,744
Total Buddhists in Asia, conservative estimate 1,182,516,701

USA (2.00%) 6,135,071
Canada and N. Amer. islands (1.10%) 368,447
Total Buddhists in N. America 6,503,518

Germany (1.10%) 905,657
France (1.20%) 773,215
United Kingdom (1.20%) 733,395
Other European countries (0.15%) 785,700
Total Buddhists in Europe 3,197,966

Total Buddhists in Latin America and S. America (0.15%) 868,929

Total Buddhists in Australia and Oceania (1.80%) 618,752

Total Buddhists in Africa (0.02%) 194,550
_______________________________________________________
Total Buddhists in the world, liberal estimate 1,595,485,458
(about 1.6 billion)
Total Buddhists in the world, conservative estimate 1,193,900,416
(about 1.2 billion

The current number of Buddhists is therefore, about 1.2 to 1.6 billion which places it nearly equal with each of the two largest religions of Christianity and Islam. Even with the conservative estimate, it is still much higher than the 300 to 500 million still being placed in many references. It is important to know the true number to provide an accurate history and to know that we are not “alone” in our thinking and our practice. What we really strive for is not more Buddhists, but more “buddhas” (enlightened ones) so that we can have true peace inside and for the world.

Vanished Buddhist Site Found In Pakistan

A Gandhara Buddhist site, which was lost to the world due to neglect after it was excavated more than a century ago, has been rediscovered in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar.
Officials of Directorate of Museums and Archaeology in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province and Tourism Corporation managed to identify and re-ascertain the exact location of the famous Shahjiki-Dheri Gandharan Buddhist site, local media reported.

An official said, located outside the Gunj Gate of the old Walled City of Peshawar is a site of extraordinary archaeological importance where an imposing 'stupa' – a structure than contained revered Buddhist relics – once stood.

The now urbanised area, known as Akhunabad, presents a sorry picture of a once renowned historic site said to be was one of a kind in Asia.

The stupa is said to have been built during the reign of Kushan Emperor Kanishka in the first century AD.

A Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang visited the site during 629AD-645AD and called it the 'tallest architectural building' in this part of Asia. It is estimated that the stupa was equivalent to a present day 13-storey-tall building.

With the decline of Buddhism in the region, the traces of the stupa and monastery faded away.

An official said that subsequent excavation work yielded priceless Gandharan statues and other objects which are on display in museums around the world. When the excavation work stopped, the significance of the area was forgotten.

Buddhist Personality : Hoang Nhat Minh

Name : Hoang Nhat Minh
Country : Vietnam
Date Of Birth : 1982
Profession : Singer

Indonesian Buddhists To Visit Sri Lanka

After a quarter-century of civil war ended in May 2009, Sri Lanka is back on track to lure investors and tourists. More than 100 Buddhist pilgrims from Indonesia will visit the island state this weekend, a Sri Lankan envoy says.

“For the first time, a large number of Indonesian Buddhists are going to visit Buddhist shrines in Sri Lanka. This tour was arranged by Hadaya Vatthu Foundation president Charles Hardono,” Sri Lankan Ambassador to Indonesia Maj. Gen. Nanda Mallawaarachchi told The Jakarta Post on August 26, 2011.

“The Sri Lankan Tourism Promotion Bureau has made special preparations to welcome them in Sri Lanka. I think it’s the right time, as Buddhists all over the world are celebrating the 2600th Sambuddha Jayanthi this year”.

Buddhists constitute around 1 percent of the population in Indonesia. Home to the world’s largest Muslim population, Indonesia also boasts the world’s largest Buddhist temple, Borobudur, a UNESCO world heritage site.

From the political point of view, Ambassador Nanda said, now was the right time as well.

Buddha's Life Story