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Buddhism

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Engaged Buddhism in Asia Pg. 379-381
People from the western world think of Buddhism as a religion where people take the time to look at one’s self but in modern Asia this is not so where the Buddhist liberation movement is working to achieve equality among people and to provide them with basic needs as much as it means taking the time to think about one’s self. This focus on one’s self is where things such as karma and ignorance is placed second to focus on things such as greed hatred and new methods of solving peace, poverty and injustice. This liberation is called mundane awakening and includes everyone from villages to nations.
For liberation to be possible ten basic needs must be met according to George Bond. These are clean environment and water, clothes, healthy food, simple housing, health care, communication facilities, energy education and access to cultural and spiritual resources.
Modern Buddhist liberation movements are using there organisational efforts to reform social and political conditions as they offer and practise new spiritual advise. As war and genocide of ethnic hatred and caste violence, and of economic gap and dreadful conditions figure prominently in engaged Buddhist writings as these are the new focus of the liberation movement.
According to, Walpola Rahula “Buddhism is based on service to others” (pg. 380). He based his decision on the time when Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gautama as he spent his time giving practical advice to villagers who were poor, unclean, illiterate and not healthy who needed an improvement in there material wellbeing and happiness rather than courses in science as taught in the Abhidhamma which is the Buddhist book about science and psychology.
Kenneth Kraft has agreed with the idea that this mundane awakening in Buddhism started with Siddhartha but was hidden. These principles such as equal

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