Buddhist Sunday School Lessons (Venerable Sumangalo)

His Holiness said that often we give so much importance to the secondary things and neglect the fundamental thing which is human warm heartedness.

As soon as he alighted down from the airplane in Monterrey, His Holiness was received by Tsewang Phuntso, Liaison Officer for Latin America...

Now we'll try the walking meditation. How to do it? Well, first you find a level track about 15 to 20 paces and walk back and forth noting the parts of the steps in the walking. Don't worry, it's all explained in the diagrams that follow, and there's a flow chart with more instruction as well - we look after you very nicely here.

Buddhism teaches that we should try to develop our intellectual capacity to the fullest so that we can understand clearly. It also teaches us to develop love and kindness...

“Who and what am I?” “Why do I exist?” Each of us, during some part of our life, wonders about these questions. While we’re aware of our own being, we don’t actually know how or why we came to be. Our existence poses a great mystery. Our view of who we are and why we’re here, consciously or unconsciously, affect every moment of our lives.

In the year 563B.C. on the border of modern day Nepal and India, a son was born to a chieftain of the Sakya clan. His name was Siddhartha Gotama and at the age of thirty-five, he attained, after six years of struggle and through his own insight, full enlightenment or Buddhahood. The term 'Buddha' is not a name of a god or an incarnation of a god, despite later Hindu claims to the contrary, but is a title for one who has realised through good conduct, mental cultivation, and wisdom the cause of life's vicissitudes and the way to overcome them. Buddhism is perhaps. unique amongst the world's religions in that it does not place reliance for salvation on some external power, such as a god or even a Buddha, but places the responsibility for life's frustrations squarely on the individual. The Buddha said:

Although different people have different views of what Buddhism is, I think it’s difficult to say, “Buddhism is this, therefore it should be like that.”

Buddhism has awakened considerable interest in the West, and there are many persons who enjoy positions of some note in western society who are either Buddhist...