Every country that meets Buddhism molds it into their own indigenous religion, as America will. A very clear example of this is Japan, which threw out almost all the dharma, and just kept that essence, which spoke to them.

Nowadays, mindfulness has become a catch-all word, but the general principle of trying to be more conscious and aware in our daily life is very important. Along with this, it's helpful to contemplate some of the mind training verses which are designed to take and transform all of the problems we experience.

Monastic life cuts off the distractions and emotional entanglements one becomes involved in, in the lay life.

We all have our own karma and so different teachers will be meaningful to different students.

Yes, times are not good, but when were times good? This is samsara.

The problem is that our inherent ignorance keeps us in samsara and unable to benefit ourselves and others on a really deep level.

It's important to lighten up a bit!