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Venerable Sumangalo
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Buddhist Sunday School Lessons (Venerable Sumangalo)
23/04/2020
20:05
In June of 1957, the senior members of the Youth Circle of the Penang Buddhist Association formed a committee to explore the possibilities of forming a Dharma school to convene each Sunday morning for the systematic instruction of Buddhist children in the truths of our religion. Fifteen members of this committee volunteered to prepare themselves to take over teaching duties. This group of volunteers found no great lack of material suitable for instructing adults in the Dharma, but when they turned their search towards lesson material for children, they found a most startling lack of anything remotely approaching the needs of a modern Sunday school. A certain amount of Buddhist literature for children was found in Chinese and Japanese language presentations, but there are few Chinese in Malaya who are completely at home in written Chinese. Moreover, even the children enrolled in the Dharma classes are well versed only in colloquial Chinese, in Penang usually the Hokkien dialect, and the
9. The Four Noble Truths
02/05/2020
18:37
All our Buddhist religion is based on what we call “The Four Noble Truths.” In plain language they are: All life knows sorrow (unhappiness). This sorrow has a cause. Sorrow can be brought to an end. The way to bring sorrow to an end.
8. The Five Precepts
01/05/2020
17:12
As a rule, these five rules are recited after the Three Refuges and are usually considered as a necessary part of the ceremony of becoming a Buddhist. Every one who understands these rules knows it is good and wise to follow them all, but many persons have weak characters and do not make a real attempt to be guided by these Five Rules that all Buddhists must follow. They are: The rule against killing. The rule against stealing. The rule against impurity. The rule against untruthfulness. The rule against intoxicating liquors and drugs.
7. The Refuges
30/04/2020
18:06
In order to become a Buddhist it is not necessary to go through any set ceremony or any form of “baptism” or to shave one’s head or adopt any special type of clothing. The followers of some religions require the male members to wear beards and dress their hair in a certain style. Still other religions require their followers to wear coloured marks on their foreheads and dress in a distinctive way. We have none of this in Buddhism. The only real way to be a Buddhist is to know Lord Buddha’s teaching and to follow it. But, as a rule, most people who decide to follow the Buddha’s teaching like to have some sort of simple ceremony to indicate that they have made this important decision. The ceremony we usually employ is known as “taking the Three Refuges and the Five Precepts.” This lesson will be about the Three Refuges and what they mean to us. It is not important whether the little ceremony is all in Pali, or Sanskrit or Chinese or English. What is in the heart is the important thing.
6. The One Main Teaching
30/04/2020
08:27
The Lord Buddha had told us he had only one main teaching and all of it concerns the cause of unhappiness and how to think and act in ways that will bring us freedom from unhappiness. All living things want to be free from pain and other forms of unhappiness. Even little worms on the footpath feel pain and thus are unhappy if we step on them. There are many forms of life, some low, others high, but even the least developed living things seek happiness in their own ways. If we go to a river or a brook, we see that some fishes like to be close to the top of the water, near the sunlight. If something frightens them away from the surface and they have to go deeply into the darkness of the cold water, then they are unhappy and return to the upper, sunlit, warm water as soon as they feel it is safe. If the fishes that like the deep, dark, cold waters are frightened into the warm, upper waters, then they are unhappy because each of the many, many forms of life is seeking happiness in i
5. The Life Story of Lord Buddha
29/04/2020
07:42
One fine day about twenty-six centuries ago, a son was born to King Suddhodhana and Queen Mahamaya of the country of the Sakyas in northern India. The child was named Siddhartha, Queen Mahamaya died. A hermit was called to the palace to predict the prince’s future. This sage foretold that Prince Siddhartha would become either a Buddha or else a ruler of the world. The hermit foretold that if the prince saw four certain sights he would renounce the world and become a Buddha. These four sights were declared to be an old man bent with age, a sick man in great pain, a dead man and a wandering beggar. The king desired his son to grow up to be a ruler of the world and decided to keep all knowledge of pain and sorrow from him. The Gautama family, into which Siddhartha was born, was very ambitious for the young prince.
4. Devotional Exercises
24/04/2020
21:30
The proper way to start any session of a Buddhist Dharma-school is by use of well-directed devotional exercises. The children should be taught the idea of reverence and the value of making personal devotions a regular part of every individual’s life, beginning in childhood. It is quite a good idea to introduce new formulas of aspiration, subjects of meditation, new songs and poems from time to time, but it is advisable to continue any practice until the children have committed that particular devotion to memory. As a rule, we carry with us all through life, the poems and devotions we learn as boys and girls. The importance of these devotional exercises to go along with each session of a Dharma-school cannot be over-estimated. Some classes have devotions only at the opening of the session each Sunday. In other cases there are both opening and closing devotions. The sample given here is rather a standard one, being widely used in many parts of the Buddhist world.
34. A Buddhism Catechism
14/05/2020
16:49
Ques. 1 What is your religion? Ans. I am a Buddhist. Ques. 2 What is Buddhism? Ans. Buddhism is the teaching of all the Buddhas. Ques. 3 What is a Buddha? Ans. A Buddha is a very wise man who has freed himself from all ignorance. Ques. 4 Is Buddha a God? Ans. No, He is far greater than any God or ordinary man. Ques. 5 Why is He greater than any God or ordinary man? Ans. Because of His own efforts He found the Truth.
33. Remembering Lord Buddha
11/06/2020
09:26
Every family ought to have its shrine, even if it is only a tiny one. It is really too bad that some families seem to think, because they cannot afford a costly shrine, they must go without any at all. When a small picture or image of the Buddha is given a position of honour in a home, that means the Blessed One has been invited to become a member of that family and to share the hosue. Quite often in Buddhist magazines or annuals or even on calendars, we find attractive coloured pictures of the Buddha. After everyone has finished reading the various articles, news items, etc., we usually throw away old magazines. Just think how easy it would be to cut out a picture of the Blessed One from such a periodical and put it in a frame. Such a picture could be the centre of the family shrine.
32. The Drawings in this Book
11/06/2020
09:21
We believe our two artists, Mr. Andrew Lim and Mr. Teoh Eng Soon have succeeded admirably in creating line drawings that not only illustrate the meaning of each lesson, but also “tease” us into seeking much deeper meaning in each picture than we might find after a hurried glance. If we go through the lessons and study each illustrations, we are likely to find they encourage us to think, and that is one of the most cherished aims of any Dharma school. It is recommended by the compilers of this book that one or two lesson-sessions be devoted to a careful study of the illustrations. Each pupil should be encouraged to find his own meaning in each picture. If the children have exercise books or paper suitable for pencil or crayon sketching, then it is suggested that they be given a chance to compete for prizes for the best pictures drawn in each age group on an assigned subject or on subjects chosen by each individual child. Experiences has shown that some amazingly good talent is ofte
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