Buddhism  for  Young  Students

Objectives:
     1. To teach the student about the rising of different Buddhist schools of taught
     2. To teach the student how buddhism was divided into main traditions 
     3. To  teach  the  student  where  Buddhism  spread  and flourished 
Consequences: 
     1. To student can describe  the various schools  of  Buddhism
     2. To  student can  explain  how  Buddhism  evolved  into  two  schools of  tought,
     3.  To  student  can  name  the  countries  which  recieved  Buddhism  and  where it was firmly
          established.
Buddhist    Sects
     The division of Buddhism can be traced back to the time of the Second Counci, a century after
the Buddha,s passing.    This separation arose from a laxity of discipline and differing interpretation
monastic rules by a group of monks called Vajjipatta at Vesli City.    Thess monks made ten propo-
sals against the Dhamma and the discipline of the Buddha, although the monks believed that their
views and practices were in accordance with the teachings of the Buddha.
       Another reason for the different schools of Buddhism is due to the different cultures, climates, and conditions of the countries in which Buddhism developed. Some of the rules of early Buddhism
could not be followed in all places.
       As time went on, the number of Buddhist followers both monks and lay people were increased
rapidly.    Seven hundred Arahants led by Venerable Yasa Kakandaputta held a meeting, for monks
only, at Valikaram Temple in Vesali/ Vaisali.   This event was regarded as the Second Council.  The
meeting dealt with the ten proposals of Vajjiputta monks.   The Secound Council concluded that the
ten proposals were undoubtedly wrong and harmful to the Buddha,s teachings.     There were other
matters in which the elderly monks could not agree.   Therefore, the meeting revised and confirmed
the Buddha,s teaching once again.    Meanwhile the Vajjiputta monks formed their own group.
       The group of Vajjiputta monks started the Mahayana School, differing from the original Order, 
called Hinayana or Theravada school.      The Theravada tradition, sometimes called the Southern
School of Buddhism, is the only surviving schoolof that tradition.     One must remember, however
Hinayana does not mean Theravada and there are also several other interpretations of the words 
Hinayana and Mahayana.      Today it is not considered good form to use the word Hinayana when
speaking of the Theravadan School.
     By the time of King Ashoka the Great, there were eithteen or twenty different schools and many
sub-schools arising out of the Mahayana and Theravada Traditions.   Eleven arose out of Hinayana
and seven out of Mahayana.   None of these monor schools survived for very long.    Another form
of Buddhism is called Varayana or Tantric Practice or the Diamond Vehicle.    It is found mostly in
Tibet, Bhutan, Ladakh and Assam.
            The form of Buddhism which flourished under King Ashoka was Theravada, and this form spead to Sri lanka, Burma, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.       The other tradition, the Mahayana, spead to Nebal, Tibet, China, Mongolia.   The Soviet Union, Vietnam, Korea and Japan.   In recent
times there have been a number of worldwide Buddhist conferences and dialogues which attempt
to emphasize the unity of all the various forms of Buddhism, while retaining their distinctive forms.
 At the present Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism are speading in all parts of the world.   About
500 million people believe in Buddhism and fallow Buddhist path in their daily kife, both Therava-
da and Mahayana.    More and more people in the European and American continents and Australia
show increasing interest in Buddhist Teachings and Buddhist Meditation.
                                                 Lesson  6
Objectives:
     1.  To  teach  the student  the  three characteristics  of  existence  according  to  Buddhism.
     2.  To  teach  the  student  about  Buddhist  understanding  of  natural  phenomena 
     3.  To  inculcate  Buddhist  teaching  in  the  student,s  mind

Consequences: 
     1. The  student  knows about the  characteristcs  of existtence according to  Buddhism.
     2.  The  student  knows  about  the Buddhist  understanding of natural  phenomena.
     3.  The  student  can  explain  his  or  her  positive  feeling  about  Buddhism.
 
 

      Students may want to know what the Buddha taught about natural phenomena of the existence
of things.    Buddha taught that all living and nonliving things have three unique characteristics.
They are as follows:
     1.  ANICCA  LAKKHANA:  the characteristic of impermanence
     2.  DUKKHA  LAKKHANA:  the characteris of unsatisfactoriness
     3.  ANATTA   LAKKHANA:  selflessness
Anicca   Lakkhana
     Anicca Lakkhana means the mark of impermanence.  Everything is ever-changing subject to
destruction, quite unsatable and unnreliable.   Things are constantly decaying.        No matter how much we may try to hold it, no single thing is the same at this present moment as it was one moment
ago.  For example, when we closely observe and consider the flame of a burning candle,we observe
the flame and its five unique characteristics: momentarily arising, constantly developing, continuing
in its normal state, dying down, and dying away.  By observing and taking note of these five unique
features one can understand that the flame is an impermanent thing.    Similarly it could be unders-
tood that all things are changing and impermanent.
       This is the nature of things and of life itself, whether human, animal or ant.    Each experiences
growth, continuance, decay and death like a boy is born, grows up was young, becomes old, was healthy, becomes ill, was alive, then dies.   Seeds become plants yield flowers which wither and die
to bring seeds and its stalks decay to provide rich soil for new seeds to sprout from.
Dukkha   Lakkhana
            Dukkha Lakkhana means dissatisfaction experienced by humans and animals, makred by suffering, stress, frustration, pain, illness, unhappiness, instability and so forth.    Impermanence is also makred by suffereng or dissatisfaction, feared by ignorant people and recognized by wise people as Samsara, the cycle of birth and death.
                  Briefly speaking, there are at least thirteen marks of mundance suffering, namely:
      1.  Suffering  of  birth
      2.  Suffering  of  decay
      3.  Suffering  of  bodily  illness
      4.  Suffering  of  mental  illness
      5.  Suffering  of  death
      6.  Suffering  of  sorrow
      7.  Suffering  of  lamentation
      8.  Suffering  of despair
      9.  Suffering  of  due to  separation  from  loved  ones
      10. Suffering  due  to getting  undesirable  things
      11. Suffering  due  to non-fulfillment  of  wishes
      12. Suffering  due  association  with  unpleasant  people
      13. Suffering  due  to  living  in bad  circumstances
         Worldly happiness comes and goes, eventually becoming suffering.
Anatta    Lakkhan  a
           Anatta lakkhana or selflessness is the last common mark of every thing that exists.   We cannot find a part in anything which can be called the self.   Therefore, there is nothing to possess or control.     Each so-called "being" is composed of five components of existence:   body, feeling,
 perception (memory), mental function and consciousness.    No single one of these components can
be called the self.    Outside of these five factors there is no permanent self.      If one removes one
factor of these components nothing remains.
     All living and nonliving things consist of the four elements of EARTH, WATHER, FIRE, AND
WIND.    The human body can be further divided into thirtytwo different component parts such as
wather, clood, tears, oil, phlegm, saliva, bones, teeth, nails, hairs, flesh, liver,lungs and so on.   If any one of these parts is not functioning in the proper way, neither body nor life can exist.    The
Buddha realized and taught that only when the three fundamental evils of desire, (Raga), hatred (Dhosa), and delusion (Moha0 cease, one is freed from the bondage, of the self or ego**   Then
ignorance is destroyed and mind becomes enlightened.
      NOTE:       *  Bondage means servant, slavery, the condition of being bound.
                        *  Self means I, me, my, such as "I am a rich man, donot tell mr that,"  "She is my 
                            friend."   "This is mine," ect.

Objectives:
     1.  To teach the  student  about  the  Five  Precepts
     2.  To  teach  the  student  about  the  values  of  the  Five  Precepts
     3.  To  teach  the  student  about  the  importance  of observing  the  Five  precepts
Consequences:
     1.  The  student  can  learn  and  memorize  the  Five  Precepts  and  learn  how to observe them.
     2.  The  student  can  learn  the  importance  of  the  Five  Precepts.
     3.  The  student  can  learn  and  know how the Five Precepts control bodily and verbal actions.
     4.  The  student  can  explain  the  importance of observing the  Five  Precepts.
      What are the  Five  Precepts?