[Buddha-l] Buddhism, the second largest religion in the world

[Richard Hayes]

On Monday 05 March 2007 23:40, Michel Clasquin wrote:

> Are we looking at the Ganges itself only, or at the entire
> riversystem with every tributary counted? And in the same vein, how
> far does the Ganges delta extend into the sea?

I'm not sure, but I do know for a fact that the Mississippi, el Rio Grande (or 
Rio Bravo), the Amazon, the Danube and the Nile are all part of the Ganges, 
so I think we can get busy counting all the grains of sand on them. I take it 
that when coming up with accurate statistics on the number of Buddhists, a 
grain of sand should be defined as any geological feature in the universe 
smaller than a planet. (Pluto, unfortunately, does not count as a planet, 
because no mention of it is made in the Pali canon.) 

-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico