Rhino Horn Sutta

I'm reading this sutta. In the 3rd section it says:

When feelings for friends and loved ones

are tied up in selfish love, you miss out on the goal.

Seeing this peril in intimacy,

live alone like a horned rhino.

The sutta is basically about saying if there's nobody around to really practice with, then practice alone. I think people need a push to gather in sangha and time in sangha is wonderful. But sometimes there is no sangha around and conditions are not ripe to gather. 

Not every country has freedom of religion. I saw a horrible photo of women in the subway waiting for a woman who doesn't cover their head, so they could confront her, in Iran. Here is footage of a woman being hassled for a loose hijab. The freedom of religion is not to be taken for granted. 

The Christo-fascists like Mike Johnson, the speaker of the house of representatives, in the USA, are trying to do away with the separation of church and state, and install Christian nationalism. We judge other countries that aren't Christian and enforcing strict religious rules for everyone, and we're doing it here. I prefer a secular society where everyone can go about their own business, and nobody is trying to make anyone follow their conception of religion. Religious freedom seems like a basic right, but in troubled times people think they can force other people how to worship and express their spirituality. It's a desperate mistake. I wish there was more knowledge about other religions, and how there's so much variety that it's really hard to say one sect of one branch of religion is the one true sect. It's really difficult to see that kind of behavior.