https://klicknirvana.rietberg.ch/en Check out the impressive collection of resources about different types of Buddhism on the Museum of Rietberg (Zurich) website. On their interactive site you can browse a glossary of terms, learn more about key works of art, or listen to scholars explain the answers to questions you’ve always wondered about! The resources have been […]

In the fifth session in our series “Who is the Buddha?” we explored how the Buddha of our time relates to other buddhas – past, future, and elsewhere. In addition, how do the buddhas of mandalas fit in, and what about bodhisattvas? Powerpoint file (including images and additional links and resources in the notes): Who […]

Here is the recording of the fourth presentation in our series on key concepts for RMPS teachers of Buddhism National 5 and Highers qualifications. Our theme this month was the eightfold path and five precepts, and we particularly focused on issues of ethics or good conduct (sīla). As always, the powerpoint file contains additional resources, […]

Here is a story that I find useful when discussing the five precepts (against killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, and taking intoxicants). This story is number 459 in a large collection of past-life stories of the Buddha (the Jātakatthavaṇṇanā) found in Pali and preserved by the Theravada school of Buddhism. The text was probably composed […]

Our third session in the Key Concepts series for RMPS teachers explored understandings of kamma and rebirth, and of the attainment of nibbāna, the exit from the cycle of rebirth altogether. Here you can find a recording of the presentation part (though not the Q&A) and the powerpoint file. The latter contains links to additional […]

Many teachers use images of the bhavacakra (wheel of rebirth, also referred to sometimes as samsāra-cakra) in class as way to prompt discussion. Here is a story of how these images came to exist. Note that it refers to a fivefold wheel, excluding the realm of the asuras (antigods, demons, demigods) that is sometimes added […]

The second session in our Key Concepts series for school teachers of the Buddhism part of the Highers/National 5 RMPS curriculum addressed the three marks of existence, namely the position that all of our experiences are dukkha (suffering/unsatisfactory), anicca (impermanent), and anattā (not-self). The powerpoint slides contain additional notes and links to resources, and the […]

This is a fun little story from the Pali Jataka book (so early Indian and Theravada in affiliation) that explores a Buddhist karmic response to Vedic sacrifice through the character of a goat: “Feast for the Dead” Jātaka (Matakabhatta-jātaka, Jātakatthavaṇṇanā 18) “If beings only knew…” The Teacher [the Buddha] spoke about the feast for the […]

Here is a short story about illness and anxiety from an Indian Buddhist text called the Avadanasataka. The text is a Sanskrit collection from around the middle of the first millennium CE, and more information and a full translation of the story can be found in my book Many Buddhas, One Buddha (Sheffield: Equinox, 2020). What I […]

Buddhism through 108 objects in Scotland: Object 1 – A Gandharan relief of the Dipankara story This image at the National Museum of Scotland Edinburgh shows the Buddha-to-be in a past life, taking a vow to future buddhahood at the feet of the past buddha Dipankara. Confused? A few things to keep in mind: The […]