The Proper Way to Imaprt Buddhism

(1) Imparting Buddhism to children should be in accordance with the Dharma and appropriate to the character of the children.


(a) In accordance with the Dharma—Dharma lessons should not be contrary to the Dharma. Those who assume the duty of teaching Buddhism to the children should know the Dharma well and always continue their research in the Dharma field. We know that some children are very intelligent, of a curious nature, and may put embarrassing questions that can baffle the teacher himself. So those who teach Dharma to children must know how to answer the questions so as to enlighten them and not to lose prestige before them. Never be proud of your knowledge of the Dharma, for the Dharnia is infinite like the limitless ocean, and children's nature is fathomless like the bottomless sea.


(a) In accordance with the Dharma—Dharma lessons should not be contrary to the Dharma. Those who assume the duty of teaching Buddhism to the children should know the Dharma well and always continue their research in the Dharma field. We know that some children are very intelligent, of a curious nature, and may put embarrassing questions that can baffle the teacher himself. So those who teach Dharma to children must know how to answer the questions so as to enlighten them and not to lose prestige before them. Never be proud of your knowledge of the Dharma, for the Dharnia is infinite like the limitless ocean, and children's nature is fathomless like the bottomless sea.


Boys applaud at the act of the Bodhisattva sacrificing his life to the tigress, but stop short there without proceeding further, but the girls not noticing the act of bravery, keenly feel the atrocious suffering the Bodhisattva had to undergo, when torn to pieces by the hungry tigress. A good narrator generally draws applause from the boys and tears from the girls with the same story. Both boys and girls cherish the virtue of joy and equanimity. They are in the age of smiles, of a thousand flowers. When observing them playing, shouting, singing, so innocently and so prettily, we think it a crime to mar their innocence and cheerfulness by teaching to them suffering and all that is connected with the horror of human nature. We should also notice that among boys and girls, their temperament is very complex, subjected to frequent change, in accordance with their age, their knowledge and background, so that those who teach Buddhism to them must know their temperament and character and impart Buddhism to them accordingly. Do not try to teach them too much ; teach little, but suitable to their temperament and character.


(2) Invite monks and nuns now and then to teach Buddhism to children—in districts and places where monks and nuns 'who know Buddhism well and who understand children are available. Their life, deportment and conduct have a tremendous influence upon children, help them to understand .Buddhism and, what is more important, induce them to practise what they learn from Buddhism. The same lesson taught by one who really understands and practises Buddhism yields more influence upon children than the same lesSon taught by one who has no practice to his credit. Better to invite monks to teach boys, and Buddhist nuns to teach girls, at least once in a while.



Source: Buddhist School Lessons by The venerable Sumangala

How to Impart Buddhism to Children

Methods likely to be used—Buddhism is the best medicine to cure the mental disease of all beings, but i f imparted in the wrong way to the children, it might become a poison very harmful to them. Those who assume the noble responsibility of imparting Buddhism children must be very careful and well versed in ways and means if  teaching Buddhism. 

There are probably six methods of imparting Buddhism to children : 

(1) Teaching—Buddhist lessons are taught in the same manner as geography or chemistry is taught in the school. There must be a model lesson clearly couched in simple terms, to be given to the children at each Dharma class. The teacher expounds the lesson clearly and tries his best to help children grasp the meaning it implies without forcing them to get it by heart. This way has the advantage of following closely the syllabus adopted, of being regular and methodical; but has the disadvantage of being too theoretical, of bringing back the school-atmosphere which ought to be banned from a Sunday School or from a Buddhist youth movement.

(2) Narrating—The teacher is replaced by a narrator, who puts what he wants to impart to the children a narrative form. Here no lesson is needed. He just has a talk with the children, asking them questions, imggesting their replies, but following a plan already sketched mentally by himself. . While he narrates, he puts iinestions to the children, helping their answers, so that hey may participate in the narrative itself, and the class, i it may be called so, becomes active, vivid and homely. This way has the advantage of being highly attractive to the children, as questions well put may develop their IHtelligence and investigating habit. But the difficulty; here lies with the narrative itself, which is almost an art, and to keep a class alive with narrative alone requires some talents not accessible to everyone. This way has another drawback : as no written lesson is given to the children, they may forget what they have just heard, after starting for home.

(3) Suggestion, Reasoning, Explaining—No lesson, no class is needed. The monk or the layman in charge takes advantage of every possible opportunity to develop their faculty of understanding and reasoning and thus helps them grasp the meaning of the Buddha's teachings. For instance, he leads the children to the temple to worship Lord Buddha's image, and there he may explain to the children how Lord Buddha succeeded in possessing such peaceful eyes, and such entrancing beauty. All this is not a gift from nature, but a result of aeons after aeons' endeavours and exertions. He may conclude by exhorting children to follow the virtues of exertion and purity, to always try their best to follow in Lord Buddha's footsteps and not to harbour veil thoughts towards anyone. He may explain to them why, in the temple, the sparrows build their nests within the reach of everyone, having no fear of being molested or harmed by the monks. This is due simply to the fact that monks are keeping the vow of not harming any living creatures. And he may conclude by explaining to them that love attracts people while hatred and enmity keep them away, and by exhorting them to follow the virtue of compassion. 

This method has the advantage of developing the faculty of reasoning and observation in the children, of using the light of the Dharma to explain what is occurring in their daily life. But those who use such a method must be well versed in the Dharma, must know well the characters of the children, and must possess a very active mind. 

(4) By giving a proper background—The method here consists in giving to the children a proper background so that they can breathe the very atmosphere we need to impart to them. We know that children of genuine Buddhist . parents grow up as genuine Buddhists in a natural way, as at home they are well familiar with a proper Buddhist environment. When the children come on Sunday to be taught Buddhism, the leader has to create the necessary background. For instance if he wants to impart the virtue of purity he has to arrange the compound where children will assemble very clean and in order, and he himself must be a pattern of cleanliness with his hair well combed if he is a layman, and his dress perfect, not in smartness but in cleanliness. When the children come, he glances at their dress and their hands so as to know how far they are following the virtue of Purity, and if some-thing is lacking, he will remonstrate with them in a friendly manner. Do not inspect children as a captain inspects soldiers on parade. You will spoil at once the friendly atmosphere you want to create. If you want to impart to the children the notion of concord and harmony among themselves, you should try to create this very atmosphere among the batch of children under your guidance. You must treat all of them on the same footing of equality. You may have some preference for such and such children, but to be a good leader, you must nip all these feelings of partiality in the bud, and treat all children committed to your guidance equally. Of course, for some backward children, you may have more solicitude, but you should use it discreetly, especially before other children. When we fail to have such a quality, we cannot expect to impart this virtue of harmony and concord among children committed to our charge. 

This method has the advantage of disposing of the whole time the children come to the temple or a Sunday School, to impart what virtue we want to impart to the children, of having more efficacy than mere teaching. But to create such a background, as we need it, is not an easy matter. 

(5) By setting oneself as an example—Lord Buddha, although omniscient, seems remote to the children, who easily come under the influence of those with whom they come into contact in their daily life. Here the personality and behaviour of those who teach Buddhism play an important role in imparting Buddhism to the children. What we want to impart to the children, we need first to set an example of. There is no use in asking them to follow the virtue of Purity while we are ourselves a pattern of untidiness. Children are very confident by nature. They love, obey and follow those who love them and set a good example to them. If they find out that their leader pays merely a lip-service to the Dharma, they may lose their confidence, and their love may turn to disappointment and even to dislike, and then education becomes meaningless to them.. In a Buddhist movement, we cannot use authority and threats to win over children to us. By love alone, we may win their hearts and induce them to follow what virtues we need to impart to them. And love here always goes along with sincerity. Don't try to teach children what we are unable to put into practice ourselves. We waste our time and what is more dangerous, we may spoil the children committed to our charge.

(6) By intuitive knowledge—This method is rather abstruse and difficult to analyse. I shall give here an instance from my own experience so as to illustrate this method.

When I first became a Samanara (novice monk) in Vietnam, my teacher assigned me a duty that was to dust one table daily in the temple. I confess that I did the work rather unwillingly, as I thought I had not chosen to become a monk for the purpose of cleaning a table. When finished my work, my teacher would come and see my job done, put his hand to the remotest and innermost part of the table, extract some dust left there by me and ask me to do my job again, saying " How can you become a good monk without knowing how to dust a table? " I had to do my work again, more grudgingly of course, but anyhow, the work had been done nicely this time. One day he came to observe my doing the work, and after a time, he said " When you are clearing away the dust from this table. think as if you are clearing the Klesa dust within you." His words gave me a start, and in a flash, I grasped the meaning my teacher intended to convey to me, and needless to say, from this time onwards, I did my dusting work heartily. One day I put a basin of water before him rather clumsily and the basin struck the table with a clang. My teacher got up, took the basin up and put it down again on the table without a sound. He did not even glance at me, and resumed his work placidly, but I never forgot the teaching. So, this method is rather hazy and indefinite, to be known only between teacher and pupils. Usually the children are unable to grasp the meaning we want to convey to them through this method. But, anyhow, I mentioned it here so as to deal with the question exhaus-tively, and at the same time to give a clue to those really interested in this question of the education of children with the help of the Dharma. From personal experience, I find this method highly instructive and having a tremen-dous influence upon children. I may add that to those who have attained an advanced stage in meditation practice, and to those who really love children, this method may be the best. 

Now that the education of children based upon Buddhist morality is still in the experimental stage, the monk or the layman in charge of the children may use any of these six methods without stressing too much any particular one. He must know how to handle them in a flexible way and try to adopt a method which is appropriate to the children and suitable to the surrounding in which they live.

Source: Buddhist Sunday school lessons by The Venerable Sumangala

Why Buddhism Should be Imparted to Children

We stress the importance of imparting Buddhism to children, for the following reasons :

(1) Buddhism is a religion of wisdom, where know-ledge and   intelligence predominate, so that a Buddhist, even if he or she be a child, should  have a sound knowledge of  Buddhism.

(2) Buddhism teaches that the root-cause of suffering is ignorance or failure to perceive the Truth. A Buddhist child, in order to live up to the spirit of Buddhism should know the doctrine taught by Lord Buddha and ways and means to put it into practice. To know it he must study and experience it in his own life.

(3) Buddhism being a religion of wisdom, often is misunderstood as a religion of superstition because many of its followers are ignorant of the Buddhist doctrine. To avoid this deplorable ignorance of the Dharma, Buddhism should be imparted to the children from their infancy. 

Source: Buddhist Sunday School Lessoms by the Venerable Sumangala

(Admission of bhikkhunīs into the Order

After spending four vassas (residence period during the rains) after his Enlightenment, the Buddha visited Kapilavatthu, his native royal city, at the request of his ailing father, King Suddhodana. At that time, Māhāpajāpati, Buddha's foster mother requested him to admit her into the Order. Mahāpajāpati was not.alone in desiring to join the Order. Five hundred Sakyan ladies whose husbands had left the household life were also eager to be admitted into the Order.

After his father's death, the Buddha went back to Vesāli, refusing the repeated request of  Māhāpajāpati for admission into the Order. The determined foster mother of the Buddha and widow  of the re-cently deceased King Suddhodana, having cut off her hair and put on bark-dyed clothes, accompanied by five hundred Sakyan ladies, made her way to Vesāli where the Buddha was staying in the Mahāvana, in the Kūtāgāra Hall.

The Venerable Ānanda saw them outside the gateway of the Kūtāgara Hall, dust-laden with swollen feet, dejected, tẹarful, standing and weeping. Out of great compassion for the ladies, the Venerable Ānanda interceded with the Buddha on their behalf and entreated him to accept them into the Order. The Buddha continued to stand firm. But when the Venerable Ananda asked the Buddha whether women were not capable of attaining Magga and Phala Insight, the Buddha replied that women were indeed capable of doing so, provided they left the household life like their menfolks.


Thereupon Ānanda made his entreaties again saying that Māhāpajāpati had been of great service to the Buddha waiting on him as his guardian and nurse, suckling him when his mother died. And as women were capable of attaining the Magga and Phala Insight, she should be permitted to join the Order and become a bhikkhunī.


The Buddha finally acceded to Ānanda's entreaties: "Ānanda, if Māhāpajāpati accepts eight special rules, garu-dhammā, let such acceptance means her admission to the Order."

The eight special rules' are:

(1) A bhikkhunī, even if she enjoys a seniority of a hundred years in the Order, must pay respect to a bhikkhu though he may have been a bhikkhu only for a day.

(2) A bhikkhunī must not keep her rains-residence in a place where there are no bhikkhus.

(3) Every fortnight a bhikkhunī must do two things: To ask the bhikkhu Sarṅgha the day of uposatha, and to approach the bhikkhu Sarṅgha for instruction and admonition.

(4) When the rains-residence period is over, a bhikkhunī must attend the pavāranā ceremony conducted at both the assem-blies of bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs, in each of which she must invite criticism on what has been seen, what has been heard or what has been suspected of her.

(5) A bhikkhunī who has committed a Saṁghādisesa offence must undergo penance for a half-month, pakkha m ānatta, in each as¬sembly of bhikkhus and bhikkhunis.

(6) Admission to the Order must be sought, from both assemblies, by a woman novice only after two year's probationary training as a candidate.

(7) A bhikkhunī should not revile a bhikkhu in any way, not even obliquely.

(8) A bhikkhunī must abide by instructions given her by bhikkhus, but must not give instructions or advice to bhikkhus.

Mahāpajāpati accepted unhesitatingly these eight conditions im¬posed by the Buddha and was consequently admitted into the Order.

When and how the disciplinary rules were laid down

For twenty years after the establishment of the Order there was neither injunction nor rule concerning Pārājika and Saṁghadisesa offences. The members of the Order of the early days were all Ariyas, the least advanced of whom was a Stream-winner, one who had attained the first Magga and Fruition, and there was no need for pre-scribing rules relating to grave offences.

But as the years went by, the Sarhgha grew in strength. Undesir-able elements not having the purest of motives but attracted only by the fame and gain of the bhikkhus began to get into the Buddha's Order. Some twenty years after the founding of the Order, it became necessary to begin establishing rules relating to grave offences.

It was through Bhikkhu Sudinna, a native of Kalanda Village near Vesalī, who committed the offence of having sexual intercourse with his ex-wife, that the first Pārājika rule came to be promulgated. It was laid down to deter bhikkhus from indulging in sexual intercourse.

When such a grave cause had arisen for which the laying down of a prohibitory rule became necessary, the Buddha convened an as¬sembly of the bhikkhus. It was only after questioning the bhikkhu con¬cerned and after the undesirability of committing such an offence had been made clear that a certain rule was laid down in order to prevent future lapses of similar nature.

The Buddha also followed the precedence set by earlier Buddhas. Using his supernormal powers, he reflected on what rules the earlier.


Buddhas would lay down under certain given conditions. Then he adopted similar regulations to meet the situation that had arisen in his time.

Source: Guide to Tipitaka by Sayagyi U Ko Lay

Seven Kinds of Transgression or Offence, Āpatti

The rules of discipline first laid down by the Buddha are called Mfilapanizatti (the root regulation) ; those supplemented later are known as Anupaňňatti. Together they are known as Sikkhāpadas, rules of discipline. The act of transgressing these rules of discipline, thereby incurring a penalty by the guilty bhikkhu, is called Āpatti, which means 'reaching, committing'.

The offences for which penalties are laid down may be classified  under seven categories depending on their nature:

(i)      Pārājika

(ii)    Saṁghādisesa

(iii)  Thullaccaya

(iv)   Pācittiya

(v)    Pātīdesaniya

(vi)   Dukkata

(vii)  Dubbhāsita

An offence in the first category of offences, Pārājika, is classified as a grave offence, garukāpatti, which is irremediable, atekicchā and entails the falling off of the offender from bhikkhuhood.

An offence in the second category, Saṁghādisesa, is also classi­fied as a grave offence but it is remediable, satekicchā. The offender is put on a probationary period of penance, during which he has to undertake certain difficult practices and after which he is rehabilitated by the Samghā assembly.

The remaining five categories consist of light offences, lahukāpatti, which are remediable and incur the penalty of having to confess the transgression to another bhikkhu. After carrying out the prescribed penalty, the bhikkhu transgressor becomes cleansed of the offence.

Source: Guide to Tipiaka By Sayagyi U Ko lay

Vinaya Pitaka Disciplinary and Procedural Rules for the Saṁgha

The Vinaya Pitaka is made up of rules of discipline laid down for regulating the conduct of the Buddha's disciples who have been ad­mitted as bhikkhus and bhikkhus into the Order. These rules em­body authoritative injunctions of the Buddha on modes of conduct and restraints on both physical and verbal actions. They deal with trans­gressions of discipline, and with various categories of restraints and admonitions in accordance with the nature of the offence.

Source: Guide To Tipika by Sayagyi U Ko Lay