______________ BUDDHISM COURSE FOR BEGINNERS ______________
Nibbana.com

      Theravada is a Buddhist sect which tries to maintain the Buddhist scriptures and traditions as they are, without modifying the original Buddhist Teachings. The followers of this tradition live predominantly in Burma, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Cambodia. There are not many centres in the West, practising Theravada Buddhism, compared to the other tradition, Mahayana.

      The aim of this lecture is to highlight how this issue is being tackled by Internet websites which are committed to the promotion and the propagation of the Theravada Buddhism. The Organisations and the people behind these websites apply the Internet communications technology to help make the Buddha's teachings freely available to all.

      All preceding lectures in Basic Buddhism dealt with the fundamental aspects of Theravada Buddhism. You are now familiar with the general concepts. If you wish to continue to live as a Buddhist, you adhere to the Five Precepts, 24 hours a day, pay homage to the Triple Gem, study the Dhamma and meditate regularly. As you have a late start, you may have to supplement your knowledge by relying on the World Wide Web especially when a vihara is not near where you live. Just imagine the Internet existed in the Buddha's time. The whole world would have benefited from his Teachings and there would have been millions of Arahats. But it is not too late. We are still in Buddha Sasana. There is hope if you make the right efforts towards the ultimate goal, Nibbana.

      General Buddhism Sites:

      These are the major sites covering all traditions of Buddhism. The visitors to these sites need to be very selective in choosing the webpages. The beginners can get confused easily if he or she decides to follow all traditions. I will mention some major sites.

      BuddhaNet: It remains number one as the best Buddhism Resources site. It provides information and services to all Buddhist traditions.

      Buddhism Depot: The Buddhism Depot website contains a Discussion Forum, chat room, mailing list, largest collection of Dhammapada translations on Internet, Buddhist humor, a Buddhist art gallery, outline of the Tripitaka, an on-line bookstore, and is home of the Meditating Buddhists. Many Buddhists gather together at the site to chat and discuss Buddhist topics.

      Buddhist Society UK The official web site of the Buddhist Society UK. Founded in 1924 by Christmas Humphreys, it is one of the oldest Buddhist societies in Europe. The Society presents the major Buddhist Schools and traditions, and in its extensive library there are books on all Buddhist subjects. The Society holds lectures, classes and activities in the Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana schools.

      Pali Text Society The society was founded in 1881 by T.W. Rhys Davids. During the Society's first 100 years of existence the entire Pali canon was published in the Roman script, and the greater part was translated into English.

      Sadhu: It has an updated Web Directory of Theravada Buddhist organisations.

      UK Association for Buddhist Studies: This is the website of the UK Association for Buddhist Studies, based at the University of Sunderland. The UK Association for Buddhist Studies aims to act as a focus for Buddhist Studies in the UK, and is open to academics, postgraduates, and unaffiliated Buddhist scholars or interested Buddhist practitioners. It also has a comprehensive list of UK courses relating to Buddhism.

      BuddhistNet.co.uk: The Buddhism Database for the Buddhist Establishments in the United Kingdom - It lists the websites of Monasteries, Meditation Centres, Organisations, Courses, Publications and personal Buddhist pages.

      Theravada Buddhism Sites

      Access to Insight : It provides useful information concerning the practice and study of Theravada Buddhism, in the form of hundreds of suttas, books, talks.

      DharmaNet's World Guide: An extensive list of Theravada Buddhist organisations around the world.

      Nibbana.com: This Theravada Buddhism Site from London aims to make available to all international readers the vast treasures of Theravada Buddhism as understood, practised and taught by the continuous lines of imminent Sayadaws and lay Teachers from Myanmar (Burma). It is the Gateway to Theravada Buddhism as Burma is regarded as the place where Theravada Buddhism flourishes most, where the monks and the lay followers practise and study with enthusiasm and devotion.

      Theravada.Net: General information and special contents are available now in several languages: English, Indonesian and Thai.

      Vihara sites

      Sadhu's Buddhist Organisations' page : It lists monasteries, meditation centers, libraries, temples, societies world wide.

      Burmese Viharas worldwide, as compiled by the Nibbana.com website.

      Meditation Centres

      The International Meditation Centers : There are five International Meditation Centres (outside Burma) in the Sayagyi U Ba Khin Tradition: in England, in Western Australia, in East Australia, in the U.S.A. and in Austria. All the Centres are guided by Mother Sayamagyi and Sayagyi U Chit Tin, two of Sayagyi U Ba Khin's closest disciples.

      Vipassana Research Institute: A Resource Center for students of Vipassana Meditation. This web site has been created with the purpose of providing reference material and information on the core teachings of The Buddha and specifically on the Vipassana Meditation Technique as taught in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin under the guidance of his chief disciple, S. N. Goenka.

      Sae Taw Win II Dhamma Center: It was established by Dr. Thynn Thynn, a Burmese born Dhamma teacher in Sebastopol, northern California in March, 1997.

      Meditation Centres in Myanmar: It lists and describes the major Meditation Centres or 'Yeiktha', mostly in the capital Yangon.

      On-line Libraries

      BuddhaNet File Library: An excellent download-source of the Buddhist Teachings as understood by the followers.

      Buddhism Publishers

      Shambala's Publications : A major Buddhist publisher - worth a visit for the excellent offerings.

      Wisdom Publications is a leading publisher of books on Buddhism, Tibet, and Tibetan culture, including books by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

      The Journal of Buddhist Ethics: The Journal of Buddhist Ethics is the first Buddhist periodical established for the express purpose of furthering our understanding of the ethical concerns in Buddhism. The JBE is electronically published and has an editorial board comprised of a number of established Buddhist Studies scholars from the United States, Canada, Japan, England, and elsewhere.

      Forums/ Discussion:

      Dharma Ring Sangha - Discussion List:Buddhist discussion for all Buddhist topics of all traditions. All persons are welcome to join and participate in the discussions here. (657 members on 24-06-2000)

      Dhamma List: The dhamma-list is a mailing list on Theravada Buddhism. Its membership has an international flavour with people from Asia, Europe, America, Pacific, etc. Membership consists of monks as well as laities. Its emphasis is on the practical aspects of Theravada Buddhism, rather than scholarly discussions. It is highly suitable for people who wants to understand Theravada Buddhism or to further their knowledge of it. (366 members)

      Upasika: This list was created by Upasika of the Theravadin Forest Sangha Tradition. The list's foremost purpose is to disseminate information about activities of the Forest Sangha Parisa (i.e. the "Fourfold Community" of bhikkhus, nuns, male lay practitioners, and female lay practitioners), and to support and deepen the understanding and practice of lay practitioners within this Tradition through discussion and sharing. (179 members)

      Insight Practice: The members of this group discuss the practice of insight (vipassanâ) meditation and its application to everyday life, also considering various traditional (especially Theravâda Buddhist) teachings, depending on the interests of the group. (178 members)

      Triplegem Buddhism Correspondence: The members discuss various Theravada Buddhism Issues and benefit from exchange of views. Started 12 months ago and still growing in membership. It is associated with the Nibbana.com group of Buddhism Websites. (156 members)

      WebRings and Net Rings

       These are the group of websites sites that share a common theme. Visitors can move from one member site to another just by clicking ‘next’, ‘back’, ‘random’, etc. of the respective HTML code for that particular ring. Webring hosts many sites and it is very easy to join and become new members.

      Dharma Ring : The largest Ring of all Buddhist sites of various traditions.

      DharmaNet International WebRing: DharmaNet International is an electronic publisher and a central clearinghouse of networked Buddhist resources around the world.

       Meditating Buddhists Web Ring: It is part of the Buddhism Depot.

      Theravada Buddhism Webring:This webring is to link Theravada Buddhism websites in order to facilitate searching of related materials.

      Buddhism in Myanmar (Burma) Webring: It lists the Buddhist sites with Burmese connection.

      Buddhism Courses

      Basic Buddhism Course 2: On-Line Buddhism Course for the Beginners, starts in July, 2000. 6-month course with weekly lectures, posted to registered members. The Panel of Lecturers includes monks and some lay persons from the UK and USA. (Theravada Tradition only)

      Buddhist Freebies (Tipitakas, Books, Tapes, Images, etc.)

      Tipitakas CD-Rom: From Vipassana Research Institute, Pali Publication Project Chattha Sangayana Tipitaka CD-ROM, Pali version in Romanized script.

      Theravada CD-Rom:A Handful of Leaves: Readings in Theravada Buddhism from 'Access to Insight'.

      Pali Fonts: FTP Address for a NEW set of Pali Fonts: Available in True Type and in various other formats used by other systems (such as TeX). Because fonts are reportedly more difficult to develop for the Macintosh platform, there is only one style, Times Roman, now available. All these fonts, for Mac and PC, can be downloaded from this site.

      Books: Sasana-nuggaha International: free books donated by well-wishers for Dhamma dana.

      Free Danas: Here the sponsors of the schemes pay when a visitor clicks a banner. The examples follow.

      'Dana and good-will': This webpage at the Nibbana.com site lists the following schemes:
      1. HungerSite Homepage to donate free food.
      2. Save the children page: Your donation for children was paid for by the sponsors, so it's free. 100% of each donation is distributed through organizations working hard to better the lives of children around the world.
      3. Help the homeless Page: Your donation for children was paid for by the sponsors, so it's free. 100% of each donation is distributed through organizations working hard to provide shelter for those without a home.

      Free money for charitable deeds: If you enjoy free Internet calls or pay a fixed monthly fee for Internet call charges, the money earning schemes are not to be ignored. If you you spend 1 hour a day on average, visiting your favourites sites, that will generate $15 dollars a month plus referral earnings . You can use the free money you earn for buying Dhamma books or give it away for good causes. There are more than 20 such schemes and AllAdvantage.com and SurfMiles are very popular. You can join them via the following links where the members of those schemes have declared that all the money they earn via those schemes will be donated to the book-fund of a charity which offers free dhamma books on the Net. You can do the same at no extra cost to you.

      Conclusion

      This is the end of the first course on Basic Buddhism, lasting 6 months. We hope all of you have benefited and wish that you carry on studying or practising in the future.

(It is the final lecture of this Buddhism Course No.1)

(25 Previous Lectures)