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The only Buddhist region in Europe
- elros 5y agoBald has been there couple of years ago, that's when I first heard about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR_eA_c_Yts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR_eA_c_Yts
- DoingIsLearning 5y agoOn thing that really surprised me watching his channel is just how empty all these periphery russian republics appear to be. I understand that there is economic struggle as in many other parts of the world. But I was really surprised by the general lack of actual people against the large swaths of land.
- ajb 5y agoRussia's population is half that of the US, in twice the land area
- enkid 5y agoAnd ~80% of that lives on the ~20% of land in Europe, making the rest of Russia very sparsely populated.
- brudgers 5y agoAnd a lot of the US is pretty sparsely populated.
- eigenket 5y agoAlso the US has five times the population of the UK, and 40 times the area.
- arethuza 5y agoAnd its not like the UK has a uniform population density internally - we have a greater area of peat bogs than built up areas: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/news/nr/land-cover-atlas-uk-1.744440 https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/news/nr/land-cover-atlas-uk-1.74...
- yorwba 5y agoMost of the planet is sparsely populated: http://www.luminocity3d.org/WorldPopDen/ http://www.luminocity3d.org/WorldPopDen/
- KingMob 5y agoAnd the population of the solar system is heavily concentrated on just one planet.
- burntoutfire 5y agoAfaik it's either due to climate (too cold or not enough rainfall) or soil not very conducive for farming (which is the case for Siberia). Populations explode in arable areas, which in Russia means mostly the European side.
- string 5y agoJust a friendly heads up: I used to be a huge fan of this YT channel until I saw some pretty damning evidence that the guy is a predatory sex tourist/pick up artist. I really enjoyed the content (the editing is a breath of fresh air on YT), but ultimately unsubbed and stopped watching. I'd encourage others to look into it and make your own judgement, of course.
- mettamage 5y agoI know many pick up artists that are in a long-term relationship. The group that call themselves pick up artist is too heterogeneous to describe them as people that have ill intentions. People that don’t know about hackers assign similar ill intentions to hackers, much in the same way as pick up artists. But at HN we know that a hacker (criminal) is not a hacker (curious techie). The same goes for pick up artists (womanizers that are systematic about it with questionable ethics). You have a lot more pick up artists (men not being able to find relationships for years and deciding to fix that problem). Both groups have members in them that do stupid and/or criminal things which is unfortunate.
- 8fGTBjZxBcHq 5y agoNo dude they are not the same. PUA stuff came out of a deeply misogynist internet subculture with close ties and many overlaps with far right activists, "red pill" violence, and ethnonationalism. Plus it's just inherently manipulative and gross. I know no one on HN likes to hear a value judgement but seriously go take a look. And I'm sure someone will jump in with like "but it's not manipulation just acknowledging reality/it's empowering for shy nerds/whatever" and ok sure sure sure but no.
- mettamage 5y ago> I know no one on HN likes to hear a value judgement I get it. When identity, sex and romance are concerned then emotions in oneself can run high. I definitely see it in my own comments. I feel closely to 3 groups which are: pick up artists, hackers and feminists. I am not alone in this, though definitely not a "majority". Whenever any of them are blanket statement attacked without any nuance, I offer a different perspective. I mostly have this with feminism since the idea of a pick up artist isn't used that often in Europe. > Go take a look. I did: * Double Your Dating (the page on humor is cool, "attraction is not a choice", don't remember anything else) * Juggler Method (learned about disqualification -- aka not taking things too seriously but then more methodically -- and statement of intent -- aka answering "why are you talking to me?" <-- and answering that truthfully and respectfully) * Mystery Method (high level overview, peacocking and getting yourself in a sociable mood, discarded the rest -- no negging, no routines, Mystery Method is tricky, I had to read this very critically since he seems a bit deluded and IMO most people that read this book read it in the wrong way and start to become negging routine people. IMO, not a good thing. When I read this book I followed a course on ethics because being sharp on that subject is required.) * Pickup 101 (lots of playfulness and improv) * RSD (mostly Tim's stuff, which is high energy optimistic positivity, didn't connect with the rest, Tyler seems too "Cartman-like" to me) Communities I've been part of: * Almost all Dutch communities (had friendships with some of the members, mostly spiritual or super down to earth types) * I've been to the 21 Convention in Stockholm (in 2008, which was the time where this was an active thing in my life) That's the stuff I connected with. I read much more stuff that I didn't connect with. Some companies are deeply misogynist, but the participants aren't (well some are). The participants are the majority of the whole culture, a culture that's mostly silent (and a few loud people that then goes on to have all the media portrayals). I've seen a few things happen in people their development path: * Some people become misogynistic while they weren't at first * Some people came in misogynistic and "sharpen their ways" * Some people become spiritual (a subset even celibate), because they realize it's not about finding love and so on * Some people develop a lot of hobbies and start to learn how to enjoy life (I love this group, you can tell they get a lot out of it) * Some people find a relationship * And finally there are some people that are still stuck with their old problem after years I have no numbers, but to insinuate that most pick up artists are misogynistic requires that you've been in the seduction community and spoke to all kinds of people from all walks of life that did not take the center stage and did not appear in the media. Because it's those people that make up the 99% of the culture. > many overlaps with far right activists, "red pill" violence, and ethnonationalism. Another thing: US and EU differ. My perspective is EU, I make no claims about the US since I only know the "media side" from there. And yea, that's not a great side to see. > Plus it's just inherently manipulative and gross. No it's not. Before I did this, I was too serious with people. I still am. Now I am aware of it and can account for that. This means that people have more positive experiences with me. Moreover, it taught me more about empathy from an emotional point of view (through meditation, the most life changing thing I've experienced). Being optimistic, being positive, empathetic and doing meditation all came because I took a few pages from the pick up artist playbook. There's a lot in their playbook, these were the most important things that I took from it. I do agree that there are gross/manipulative ideas in there. I did my best to filter those out. I see a lot of men do that (and unfortunately also a sizeable group that didn't and straight up got culted into some pickup company's philosophy). In other words: it depends, it's more nuanced, it's not inherently anything because reality is more complex than that.
- apples_oranges 5y agooff topic, but people keep mentioning youtubers here in a way that makes me wonder: Hm, should I know that channel? Am I completely out of the loop?
- zmix 5y agoYes, it would be more helpful, if they would not talk about these Youtuber's as they'd be our next door buddies but be a more explicit: The Guy's channel is named "Bald and Bankrupt", he is from the UK and travels a lot, which he documents on Youtube. The link to the video is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR_eA_c_Yts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR_eA_c_Yts
- TigeriusKirk 5y agoI dunno, but I was hoping the comments on the story would offer some insight into the region. But half of them are gossip about some random youtuber who went there once.
- Archelaos 5y agoI always find it quite embarrassing when right-wing politicians here in Germany come up with this or that does not belong to Europe. In all cases this only shows their geographical and historical ignorance. Kalmykia is a good example. Most of these politicians have never understood that Buddism has been part of Europe for centuries. My favorite example, however, is that they mostly do not know that we have had a permanent Muslim settlement in Europe since the Middle Ages, which is on the same latitude as Edinburgh and Copenhagen: the territory of the former Khanate of Kazan.[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khanate_of_Kazan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khanate_of_Kazan
- MomoXenosaga 5y agoDoes it matter? Germany is a secular state religion is irrelevant.
- hulitu 5y agoWell, it is not. The catolic church has a lot of economic and political power in Germany.
- publicola1990 5y agoMore than the Protestants?
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- helsinkiandrew 5y agoHeadline on the page is "The only Buddhist region in Europe"
- pilsetnieks 5y agoI don't quite get why "country" in the title here is in quotes - even though not an independent state, it's a country the same way Wales or Scotland is a country.
- qwerty456127 5y agoI wish this could be shown higher. Sadly they have already replaced "country" with "region" despite it in fact is a country like Scotland is (or at least a state like California is). By the way Tatarstan, another country in the Russian Federation even is officially a "sovereign state integrated with Russia". There even are such things as citizenship and constitution of Tatarstan.
- marto1 5y agoThat's correct. The республика(republic) in question - Kalmykia, is part of the Russian *federation*.
- wesleywt 5y agoI love how their home page has the Doge meme.
- askesum 5y agoWhat's the big deal:"a piece of Asia on the European continent", Europe and Asia are two parts of one continent, Eurasia
- m_mueller 5y agoagreed, and even more sensible would be to just think in regions. Bosporus, Black Sea and the Mediterranean are natural boundaries for the European region, the Himalayas are the natural boundaries between East/Central and South Asia, the Saharan / Arabian / Afghan and Kazakh deserts and steppes are natural boundaries of the Middle East / North African region. Whenever a civilization has tried to cross over from one of those regions into the other, big world events ensued.
- tomcooks 5y agoI believe that this separation has more to do with the main religion in those two areas, which are very important in the context of this article.
- jefurii 5y agoI'm not that knowledgeable about that part of the world, but I think the surrounding countries are mostly either Eastern Orthodox Christian or Muslim.
- 01100011 5y agoI can't help but think that the whole distinction between Europe and Asia is based on European pride and racism. It definitely makes sense to divide them from a cultural perspective, but a geological one? Come on.
- tompccs 5y agoThe Ural mountains divide Europe from Asia. It can also be argued that the division of Europe from the Mid East (East Med) is between Christianity and Islam.
- siraben 5y agoThe title should correct the spelling to "Buddhist" from "Buddist" EDIT: now it has been corrected, thank you!
- est 5y agoFun fact: Lenin's grandma is from Kalmykia and have Mongol origin
- MeinBlutIstBlau 5y agoWell that explains the death tolls
- dang 5y agoIf you continue to post unsubstantive and/or flamebait comments like this one and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27285538 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27285538, we're going to have to ban you. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and sticking to the rules when posting here, we'd be grateful.
- qwerty456127 5y agoIt seems weird Buddhism is such a minor religion in Europe while it is so rational, based on individual experience (rather than belief) gained through reproducible applied self-regulation techniques, backed by neuroscience and explained with consistent philosophical logic.
- foxyv 5y agoA lot of secular buddhists tend to identify as humanists instead. It's a very popular saying: "Don't use buddhism to become a buddhist. Use buddhism to become a better whatever you are."
- brink 5y agoAs a child I had a subconscious assumption that Christianity wasn't rational, and maintained that view into my mid-twenties. Thankfully, I had the drive to do research on it, and an open enough mind to accept it, because I was ready to reject Christianity completely for a short period. I know this view isn't popular, but today, I see Christianity as the most rational philosophy/religion out there. I think it's been wrongfully misconstrued as irrational by people who don't really understand the religion, inside and out.
- tomcooks 5y agoCould you explain what's rational about Christianity? Moreover, do you refer to a specific branch or Christianity as a whole?
- cyberbanjo 5y agoOn that subject the blog undivided looking touches on using applied history and theology to rationalize Christianity. It appeals to my sense of mrationality at least. http://www.wall.org/~aron/blog/ http://www.wall.org/~aron/blog/
- andredz 5y agoI would recommend that blog as well; it is among my favorite places on the internet. Aron's writings have had a huge and very positive impact in my life.
- u9rptDjqLl0Pdcz 5y agoAlso of interest is the Mari Native Religion which is practiced in the Mari El Republic of Russia[0]. I believe this is the only example of an indigenous religion surviving with continued practice into the modern day. RT made a documentary about it[1]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mari_Native_Religion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mari_Native_Religion [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ_2kpTJvj0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ_2kpTJvj0
- boxed 5y agoHinduism? Seems like a pretty big one to forget :)
- throwaway894345 5y agoIs Hinduism indigenous? Wasn’t that a product of Aryan migrations from the north? (genuine question: what constitutes “indigenous”? if one native american tribe drives out another in a particular region, is the conquering tribe still indigenous? What about cases where people mix to become a new people? Is it correct to say that the Irish, British, Germans, Italians, etc are indigenous Europeans?)
- yowlingcat 5y ago> Wasn’t that a product of Aryan migrations from the north? I know this isn't a great answer, but "yes and no" -- it is certainly true that the Proto-Indo-Europeans brought with them Rigvedic religion. But that religion itself was syncretized with other beliefs across Central Asia and South Asia over quite a long period of time. While it is often dramatized as a "violent" invasion (no doubt reminiscent of later "violent" "Aryan" invasions), the truth is more bland, which is that the nomadic Indo-Aryans and their ancestors had a rich level of cultural exchange with more settled civilizations. Some of it by the sword, but some of it otherwise.
- throwaway894345 5y agoYeah, which I guess beckons my other question: what makes something indigenous considering how frequently changes are produced gradually by cultural exchange, gradual migrations, etc?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- hangonhn 5y agoTangentially related, there is a Greek influence on Buddhism in East Asia because Buddhism arrived in China via the Greek Bactrian kingdom. The Buddha as depicted in East Asia is wearing Greek robes and there are elements of Greek philosophy in Buddhism as practiced in East Asia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhism
- tombh 5y agoIndeed, before the Greeks The Buddha would most commonly only be depicted by his absence, an empty chair or foot prints most famously. It's amazing that the iconography of a religion so ancient and "exotic" is so significantly shaped by European culture.
- routerl 5y ago> It's amazing that the iconography of a religion so ancient and "exotic" is so significantly shaped by European culture. It's more an instance of convergence and mutual influence. Hellenistic philosophy (read: immediately after Socrates) went down a few different lines. The one with the largest influence in the West was the Academic line, concerned with empirical observations and theory making. But another major line was about how to live well, and focused primarily on ethics and the virtues. Today, the most well known school in this line is Stoicism, and this approach to philosophy really has a lot of overlap with Buddhism. The Bactrians were extremely well primed to be receptive of some "wisdom from the East" (like the type Pythagoras was supposed to have received) that covered a lot of the same topics as Hellenistic philosophy. By the time Buddhism was meaningfully re-introduced to European academics (starting around the 17th century, but culminating with Schopenhaur in the 19th), several writers once again remarked on the similarities between the Hellenistic and Buddhist traditions.
- skywal_l 5y agoEven the "live well" philosophies were heavily influenced by India. Democritus, the father of antique materialism which lead to Epicurus and Lucretius was heavily influenced by gymnosophists when he traveled to India. Realized this when I was talking about it with an Indian Colleague and when I mention the principals of materialism she immediately recognized elements of her own religion.
- ardit33 5y agoClickbait article. That's not really South East Europe though, but more far east, in the Asian border. Barely Europe. Southeast Europe is usually thought to be Greece, Albania, Croatia and the rest of the Balkan countries.
- tom_mellior 5y agoYou're right that there is a well-established term "Southeast Europe" to refer to the countries you mention: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeast_Europe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeast_Europe But there is also the fact that Europe continues far to the east of those parts, so there is another southeast corner somewhere else.
- Grammrr 5y agoKalmykia is really hot and has camels. People are usually shocked to know about this region of Russia