Under Parental Guidance
 
                   The parental direction of a child in the area of value acquisition is not to be mistaken with  parents encrusting  the child-mind with dogmas or items of compulsory belief  which are derived through religious and cultural traditions which can quite often be prejudicial. Such dogmas admit of no analysis or scrutiny,  evaluations or assessments, however necessitated by the development of scientific thinking or discovery of new challenging data. Inherited beliefs are often weighted down by age-old traditions of religion and society.

                    As far as Buddhism is concerned, all items of religious beliefs are open to analysis and examination. 'Come and behold' or Ehi-passiko is the hall-mark of all religious instruction imparted in Buddhism. Buddhist Dhamma is declared to be ehi-passiko. It basically means  ' See the truth of it yourself '. The process is what the English word verification means as  'establish the truth or correctness of  by examination  or demonstration'. This does not necessarily imply any distrust or lack of faith.  The essential quality of faith in Buddhism is what is implied by the term saddhâ  [Skt. sraddhâ] . It is a part of Buddhism as a creed. It is not ruled out. He who has faith or saddhâ does not necessarily have an apprehension of any latent incorrectness or inaccuracy leading to doubt or skepticism.

                   The truths of Buddhism have to be discovered and demonstrated by each individual, by himself for  himself, and that  through a growth of  one's own  wisdom  [paccattam veditabbo viññûhi]. Nobody need, in the name of Buddhism, bother to prove it for others through laboratory tests or extra-scientific experiments. We do not propose to itemize here such futile attempts which seem to be very much in vogue today.
 
                 It is in this spirit of inculcating and promoting Buddhist religious values in the minds of the younger, to be utilized in the process of day to day living, that these lessons are provided globally for the education and edification of the younger. Those who pursue and study these may be Buddhist or even non-Buddhist. We believe that in the world today, they can all benefit from the wise sayings of Buddhism,  from wisdom which dates back to more than twenty-five centuries. Please see it for yourself.

                   May all beings be well and happy. May there be peace on earth and goodwill among men.
                                                        Sabbe sattâ  bhavantu sukhitattâ