Religious Diversity

I live in Singapore and here there is no majority religion unlike North America, Europe, or East Asia, South Asia or Middle East. Here in Singapore, Buddhists make up around 30% of the population, Christians and Muslims around 20%, Hindus and Taoists around 10%, and there are other minority religions. Trying to integrate divergent Buddhisms is one problem because there's no dominant Buddhist denomination here in Singapore, whereas trying to integrate divergent Isms is another problem. Everybody's beliefs are different, so it's really difficult to integrate all the different books into one community. But we try our best, and generally we get by with a lot of compromise here and there.

I used to be a grassroot leader, still am, but these days I am a lot more lethargic. I would meet Muslims who would complain about Buddhists burning incense causing them to develop asthma, while I'd meet Hindus complaining about Taoists for littering when they burn joss paper. If we try to please one party, another gets upset, at the end of the day I literally gave up trying to be a goodie two shoe and just do what I can to put up a good show. To the politicians and local government, what matters the most are the votes, and Singapore being a democratic country on paper, as long as we win at least 60% of all votes and manage to keep the ruling party in power, to us it's a victory already.

I am still a practising Buddhist doing Zazen on most days, but I do get very lazy. These days I don't practise at all, and the less I practise, the less confused I am. I don't consider myself a good Buddhist, at most an ordinary nominal and agnostic one, and I get by.

It's not that bad being laid back, I don't get so critical of myself and others, and I enjoy myself a lot more too.