Theravada Buddhism Culture Kit•a complete list of items contained in the kit

•featured themes •curriculum ideas

Item Description Qty

Lotus Flowers

The lotus flower, an important Buddhist symbol, refers to the complete purification of body, speech and mind, and the blossoming of wholesome deeds in liberation. The lotus refers to many aspects of the path, as it grows from the mud (samsara), up through muddy water, it appears clean on the surface (purification), and finally produces a beautiful flower (enlightenment). The white blossom represents purity. The stem stands for the practice of Buddhist teachings which raise the mind out of the (mud of) worldly existence, and leads to purity of mind.

(1)

Monk’s fan for chanting ceremony.

A fan used by a monk during the Precepts and Refuges ceremony. The monk will hold the fan before the face to de-emphasize the identity of the monk. This is so that precepts are given on a more symbolic, rather than personal level. The fan can also be used as a ‘divide’ when a monk speaks with a woman. More ornate fans are generally given to older monks.

(2) One fan comes in three parts

that need to be assembled:

(1) loose knob (2) black handle

(3) fan itself

Set of Monks Garments

This set was probably gifted to the temple or individual as monks are not supposed to buy anything. However, monks would also scavenge cloth from rubbish heaps and cremation grounds to create their robes. Buddha taught the first monks and nuns to fashion their robes from “pure” cloth, i.e. unwanted cloth. This could include cloth chewed by rats or oxen, scorched by fire, or soiled by childbirth or menstrual blood. After being washed and unusuable parts trimmed away, the cloth was dyed using vegetable matter (tubers, bark, flowers, leaves) and spices (turmeric or saffron). Theravada monks of southeast Asia today still wear spice-colored robes in shades of curry, cumin and paprika as well as blazing saffron orange.

(2) sets Includes:

-under robe, -upper robe,

-shoulder cloth-bathing cloth,

-belt cloth

Lid of a monk’s alms bowl The lid of an alms bowl (for offerings). Can also be used as a plate. (1)

Buddhist Flag

This flag features the ‘Wheel of Dharma,’ or the ‘Wheel of Law.’ The 12 spokes on the dharma wheel represents the Twelve Laws of Dependent Origination, which states that one condition rises out of another, which arises out of prior conditions. These twelve laws attempt to explain the causes of suffering and rebirth. The twelve links of the chain are (1) Ignorance, (2) Volitional formations , (3) consciousness, (4) mind-and-form, (5) sense-bases, (6) contact, (7) feeling, (8) craving, (9) clinging, (10) becoming, (11) birth, (12) old-age-and-death.

Plaque of the Emerald Bud-

dha Statue

The Emerald Buddha is the palladium of the Kingdom of Thailand. A palladium is a figure thought to provide protection. The sculpture of the sitting Buddha is made of green jasper (not emerald) and clothed in gold.*See Appendix for a History of the Emerald Buddha

A monk’s alms bowl and stand

(inside)

The alms bowl, along with the shaven head and robes, is one of the main visual signs of a monk. Alms giving is a common practice in Buddhism, usually done at the break of dawn when Buddhist monks begin their alms rounds. Laypeople, who wish to offer support for the monks, prepare food and water for the monks, which are placed in the alms bowl. During the act of alms giving, the donor should have a pure mind and pure intention to donate so that the action of alms giving becomes an act of merit-making. Female alms donors are prohibited from making any physical contact with the monk when she offers the food. After acceptance of the food, the monk recites a short prayer as a form of blessing.*See Appendix for the story of Buddha and the Middle Way

Set of Brass Water Offering

Bowls

5 cups, 1 bud-dha bowl and

plate

Incense

This package of incense has an illustration of the goddess of compassion “Jao Meh Kuan Yin”. Three sticks are burned simultaneously for Buddha, the Dharma (Buddha’s teachings), and the Sanghka (Buddha’s followers). When only one stick is burned, it is often said that one is worshiping ghosts.

(2)

Incense BurnerThe burning of incense takes place both in the home and in the temple, and serves as an offering to the Buddha or various deities. It is also an import-ant ritual act that is believed to clear the air of evil spirits.

(1)

Small Buddha Figurines

The main function of a Buddha statue is to communicate peace of mind and discipline, where one controls conflicting emotions and has a hold over the mind and negative feelings such as greed, jealousy, etc. In states where people are illiterate and unable to grasp the true meaning of his teachings, Buddha statues play a crucial role to convey such messages. Buddhists believe that respecting the statues by bowing to it and offering flowers, incense etc. is an expression of their aspirations to adapt the same spiritual and sacred thoughts as the Buddha himself.

(2)

Small Depec-tion of Buddha

Depictions of Buddha are often worn or displayed as a means of good karma and protection. Objects meant to offer protection or good karma are referred to as amulets and vary greatly in size, content and worth.One depiction of Buddha mounted inside a miniature, embellished, al-tar-like object.Another is on a necklace pendant

(2)

Buddhas for Every Day of

the Week

Each figurine represents a different Buddha image for each day of the week. (in box)

Sunday (pang

thawai net)

standing with arms crossed in front of the waist with the right hand covering the left hand. Buddha obtained enlightenment while sitting under a bothi tree. The image represents a time just after Buddha obtained enlightenment when, for gratitude, he stood and admired a bothi tree for one week without blinking an eye.

Monday (pang ham

yati)

standing with the right hand raised to shoulder height with the palm out and the fingers extended (the abhaya mudra). This image represents Buddha pacifying the relatives. When Buddha returned from heaven after three months, his relatives were arguing about the rights to water flowing through their land. Buddha persuaded them to compromise.

Tuesday (pang sai

yat)

lying on his right side, head resting on his arm, toes even. It represents when Buddha entered parinibbana at his death on a Tuesday.

Wednesday(pang

umbat)

standing and holding an alms bowl with both hands. It indicates the time Buddha returned to see his father. In the early morning, monks make their alms rounds to collect food. Buddha did the same and his father was upset that Buddha was “begging” for food.

Thursday (pang samti)

sitting in a full lotus position with soles upward and visible, the hands resting in the lap, right above left with all fingers extended, palms upward.In this position, some believe the body is receptive to energy entering through the top of the head and through the open palms.

Friday(pang ram

pueng)

standing with both arms crossed over the chest with the right handcovering the left. This position indicates contemplation and consideration, and represents Buddha contemplating the subtle nature of dhamma and ponders on how to reveal this to mankind.

Saturday(pang nak

prok)

sitting in a full lotus position in meditation on the coiled body ofthe naga Muchalinda that uses its head as a cover against rain. This pose represents a time during the sixth week after Siddhartha’s Enlightenment, when the naga king protected the meditating Buddha against heavy rainfall by making a shelter with his multi-headed hood and lifted him above the flood waters by coiling its body under him.

The Life-Story of the Buddha in Thai Mural

PaintingsBooklet

[in both English and Thai]In general, images of Buddha are meant to depict specific episodes from the life of the Buddha. In Thai mural art, the life-story of the Buddha is depicted in more detail than in any other branches of art. The tradition of painting the life-story of the Buddha in murals dates back to the Sukhothai Period.

(2)

Pamphlet of Buddhist Figurines

(4)

Poster of Buddha with

Animals

Poster of Buddha

Teaching

The illustration depicts Buddha in the Dharmachakra mudra position. Dharmachakra in Sanskrit means “Wheel of Dharma.” This mudra symbol-izes one of the most important moments in the life of Buddha, the occasion when he preached to his five companions the first sermon after his Enlight-enment in the Deer Park at Benares. This event is often referred to as the setting into motion of the Wheel of the teaching of the Dharma.Incense for

(1)

Poster of Buddha Sitting

on a Lotus

The illustration depicts Buddha sitting under a Banyan tree atop a Lotus flower in the Dhyana mudra position. The Dhyana mudra is the mudra of meditation, of concentration on the Good law, and of the attainment of spiritual perfection. It indicates the perfect balance of thought, rest of the senses, and tranquility.The depiction holds heavy Indian influences. Bud-dha is believed to have achieved enlightenment in India while meditating under a special banyan tree known as the Bodhi Tree.

(2)

Buddhism in Thailand Anniversary of the 25th

Century Book

Big and heavy, but resourceful. This book contains large black and white photographs of important Buddist temples and artifacts in Thailand. A brief history of Buddhism is included. Descriptions accompanying the drawings and photographs are written in English, French, Thai and Pali (a language similar to Sanskrit).

(1)

Gold and Silver Foil Leaves

Poster of Shwedagon

Pagoda

The 2,500 years old Shwedagon Pagoda, located in Yangon Myanmar, en-shrines strands of Buddha’s hair and other holy relics. It is one of the holiest Buddhist pilgramige sites. The pagoda is covered with hundreds of gold plates and the top of the stupa is encrusted with 4531 diamonds; the largest of which is a 72 carat diamond. The Chan-thar-gyi Buddha Image is the largest image in the pagoda. People believe that worshipping the image will fulfill wishes.

Traditional Thai Wedding

Ceremony Decorations

This conch shell is used for a Buddhist Water Blessing Ceremony (also known as a Shell Ceremony or Rod Nam Sang) during traditional Thai weddings. Guests take turns pouring water over the couple’s hands into a bowl as a symbolic act of well wishes. In addition to being a container for holy water during Buddhist rituals, the conch is also used to call together religious assemblies and as a musical instrument. The conch shell is one of the eight major Buddhist symbols. A white conch that coils to the right represents the sound of the Dharma reaching far and wide, awakening beings from ignorance.

(in box)

Assorted Buddhism

PostersMajority are in Thai but show a variety of Buddhism-related images.

Buddhist Monks of Southeast Asia and their Accoutrements

A Buddhist monk’s attire consists of a lower robe that is secured around the waist by a belt and falls to just below the knees. An upper robe resembling a tunic is then wrapped around the body while a kind of sleeveless one-shouldered waistcoat can be worn under this robe. For religious services inside the monastery, the monk also wears an additional robe which is folded in a very particular way into a long rectangle and hung over the left shoulder. The robes come in different sizes and are usually made of cotton, silk, nylon or some other man-made fabric, but they are always cut to the same pattern and design according to monastic regulations. The colors and ways of wearing the robes differ depending on the country and monastic order one belongs to. For example, the monks of the Dhammayuttika Nikaya in Thailand wear brown colored robes and the Shwegyin Nikaya (erWk¥c\ nikay) in Burma wear maroon colored robes. Both groups, however, wear their robes in similar ways: the large upper robe is generally wrapped around the body with the two ends rolled together. This roll is taken over the left shoulder and under the left arm so that its end can be held in the left hand or pressed firmly between the arm and the body. Inside the temple the robe is worn so that the right shoulder is exposed, but outside the temple both shoulders and arms are covered.

Below are sketches of various ways robes are worn in different parts of Southeast Asia as illustrated in Francois Bizot’s Le

Appendix

History of the Emerald Buddha

According to legend, the Buddha was created in present day Patna, India, in 43 BC by Nagazena, a Brahmin-turned-Buddhist sage. The 45-centimetre-tall figurine made of a single piece of green jadeite (not emerald) depicts a sitting Buddha clothed in fine gold. The Emerald Buddha was venerated in India for some 300 years before being sent to Sri Lanka to protect that country from civil war.

The legend continues that in 457, King Anuruth of Burma sent a mission to Ceylon to request Buddhist scriptures and the Emerald Buddha in order to promote Buddhism in Burma. Though the request was granted, the ship lost its way on its return to India and landed instead in Cambodia. The Emerald Buddha enjoyed an opulent home in Angkor Wat before the Thais captured it in 1432. The Buddha reportedly made a stop in Laos, and Cambodian historians recorded its capture in their famous “Preah Ko Preah Keo” legend. The well-traveled Buddha was then carted off to Ayutthaya, Kamphaeng Phet, and Chiang Rai, all in present-day Thailand, where it was hidden by a city ruler. There the Buddha statue remained until an earthquake struck the city, cracking a stucco wall of a pagoda and revealing a glinting gleam of green jade. The

Appendix

Buddha was unearthed, mistaken for emerald, and given its misnomer of a name.At this point in the legend, the Emerald Buddha takes on legendary status: King Sam Fang Kaen of Lannathai reportedly wanted the Buddha in his capital, Chiang Mai, but when an elephant carrying it refused, three times, to turn in the direction of Chiang Mai, it was taken as a divine sign and the elephant allowed to carry the Emerald Buddha where it pleased. The Buddha continued its southeast-Asian circuit, making stops in Lampang, Chiang Mai, the Lao capital of Luang Prabang, and Vientiane.

Finally, in 1779 the Thai General Chao Phraya Chakri captured Vientiane and returned the Emerald Buddha to present-day Thailand. When he went on to become King Rama I of Thailand, Chakri, amid great ceremony, moved the Emerald Buddha to its current home in Wat Phra Kaew, on 22 March 1784.

Since then, the Emerald Buddha has stayed in the main of the temple in Wat Phra Kaew, finally resting after its nearly two centuries of wandering. At the changing of the seasons, the King of Thailand changes the Emerald Buddha’s fine gold clothing, three gold outfits for the three seasons of Thailand.For more read Eric Roeder’s article, “The Origin and Significance of the Emerald Buddha” in Explorations in Southeast Asian Studies: A Journal of the Southeast Asian Studies Student Association. https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/2542/1/The%20Origin%20and%20Significance%20of%20the%20Emerald%20Buddha.pdf

Buddha and the Middle Way Story

Before becoming the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama was born into a royal family in the village of Lumbini in present-day Nepal, and his privileged life insulated him from the sufferings of life; sufferings such as sickness, age and death. One day, after growing up, marrying and having a child, Siddhartha went outside the royal enclosure where he lived. When he went outside he saw, each for the first time, an old man, a sick man, and a corpse. This greatly disturbed him, and he learned that sickness, age, and death were the inevitable fate of human beings - a fate no-one could avoid.

He decided to leave his protected royal life and live as a homeless holy man where his travels showed him much more of the the suffering of the world. He searched for a way to escape the inevitability of death, old age and pain first by studying with religious men and later with ascetics.

For six years, Siddhartha Gautama traveled with five companions, all ascetics. Together they sought enlightenment through extreme deprivation and self-mortification -- fasting, sleeping on stones, living outdoors with little clothing -- in the belief that making themselves suffer would cause a spiritual breakthrough.

Siddhartha Gautama eventually realized that enlightenment would be found through mental cultivation, not through punishing his body, When he gave up ascetic practices to prepare himself for meditation, his five companions left him in disgust. After his awakening, the Buddha remained at Bodh Gaya for a time and considered what to do next.

What he had realized was so far outside ordinary human experience or understanding that he wondered how he could explain it. According to one legend, the Buddha did describe his realization to a wandering holy man, but the man laughed at him and walked away. Yet as great as the challenge was, the Buddha was too compassionate to keep what he had realized to himself and sought out his five companions to describe what he had learned.

This became his first lesson: “Setting the Wheel of Dhamma into Motion”. It is preserved in the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, and a translation by Thanissaro Bhikkhu can be found here: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn56/sn56.011.than.html.

Appendix

For more information about the symbolism of Buddhism in Southeast Asia and to view sample curriculums, visit SEAP’s website: http://seap.einaudi.cornell.edu/buddhism

Theravada Buddhism Culture Kit

Complimentary Library Materials: •Buddhism - Louis Frederic

•Calliop World History for Young People: Buddhism•The Wisdom of the Buddha - Jean Boisselier

The Daily Life of Buddhist Monks•Temple of Twenty Pagodas [VHS] - Brian Hannant•Buddhist Monks and Nuns in Myanmar [VHS]•Sons of the Buddha: The Early Lives of Three Extraordinary Thai Masters - Kamala Tiyavanich•Forest Recollections- Kamala Tiyavanich•Thai Women in Buddhism - Chatsumarn Kabilsingh

Buddhist Stories•The Buddha in the Jungle - Kamala Tiyavanich•Buddhist Storytelling in Thailand and Laos - Leedom Lefferts and Sandra Cate•Families and their Faiths: Buddhism in Thailand - Frances Hawker & Sunantha Phusomsai•Thai Tales: Folktales from Thailand - Margaret Read MacDonald & Supaporn Vathanaprida•I Once Was A Monkey - Jeanne M. Lee•The Hungry Tigress - Rafe Martin•Buddha - Demi

Buddhist Art•Buddhist Art and Architecture - Robert E. Fisher•Temples of Gold - Santi & Sankti Leksukhum•Worshiping Siva and Buddha: Temple Art of East Java - Ann R. Kinney, Marijke J, Klokke & Lydia Kieven