This Poya I tried to take sil, as best as I could. With much accommodation, it’s been quite nice. I had one decent meditation, some awareness throughout the day, and some pleasant interactions with people I care about. I haven’t really used Facebook, checked mail or done anything that could be construed as work or entertainment, except when I kinda had to. It’s an interesting experience, and one I’d like to repeat.

Today is poya day. It’s a full moon day, a tradition older than Buddhism, but it’s now devoted to that. Ostensibly. More often than not it’s just a day off, a day for long weekends, a secular holiday. I’m Buddhist but I must admit that I’ve generally ignored poya in the past. Today I’m actually trying to observe.

Rumor is that Sri Lanka’s Pizza Hut is not serving halal food. They’ve clarified that their food is halal (not pork, prepared in a certain way), but that the certification has lapsed. This is still a major problem for the brand.

These are Tweets that can get you arrested in Saudi Arabia, and possibly killed: “On your birthday, I will say that I have loved the rebel in you, that you’ve always been a source of inspiration to me, and that I do not like the halos of divinity around you. I shall not pray for you. On your birthday, I find you wherever I turn. I will say that I have loved aspects of you, hated others, and could not understand many more. On your birthday, I shall not bow to you. I shall not kiss your hand. Rather, I shall shake it as equals do, and smile as you smile at me. I shall speak to you as a friend, no more.”

Boycy was asking me if Christianity or Islam was bigger (it’s Christianity). Looking it up, I was shocked at what’s number 3. Irreligion. What?

Nas said, ‘born alone, die alone’. That never quite made sense to me. You’re born with family, at least your mother, and you hopefully go out the same way. Even if family misses the death, that’s why we have funerals. Humans are a deeply altruistic species. Hence the word, altricial.

This is the Nawam Maha (Gangarama) Perahera editing into one minute. A big part of the Buddhist/cultural tradition is the experience – the heat, the smells, the crowds – but you can get a quick sense of it here.

Colombo has a perahera (elephant, fire and awesome parade). Well everywhere has a perahera, but Gangarama Temple in the city has a boss one. Briefly interrupted by war, the colorful Podi Hamduruwo has brought it back in style. I attended for the first time and it was pretty awesome, and well organized. The Kandy Perahera is a bit of an endurance event, but this one was more modern.

Richard Dawkins argues that religion is essentially ridiculous. As Alain de Botton says “I think it’s too easy to dismiss the whole of religion that way.” I think he proposes a new, respectful and ultimately more convincing atheism. “I think there is an alternative, being both very respectful and completely impious, of stealing from religion.” The video is worth a watch.

Richard Dawkins (scientist and popular writer) spoke at the Galle Literary Festival. His talk covered evolution, alien life, Buddhism and – of course – organized religion. I think that religion is part of human evolution, like any other trait, not something opposed to it. But anyways, here are a few videos and tweeted quotes from Dawkins presentation before we get into it. He’s damn interesting and the crowd was electric and packed.