Penn State U. Students studied Buddhism

Greeting by Ven.Dr. Thanat Inthisan


Introduction to Buddhism

1. Cautioning Monks and Nuns Against Having Sensual Feelings: The Lord Buddha warned his monks of the dangers in the arising of sensual feeling between a monk and nun or laywoman. He warned that the opposite sex captures the minds of a person, whether walking, standing, lying down, laughing, talking, singing, crying, sick or even dying. He mentioned that desires for the opposite sex enter the mind in eight ways, physical appearance, smile, talk, singing, cries, behavior, delicious meals, and through caress. To maintain the order of the Sangka the Lord Buddha advised his monks and nun to refrain from activities that would lead to sensual desire, because if they were to engage in sexual intercourse it would mean that they would be defeated
2. Rules of Buddhist Nuns: Nuns have 311 rules they must follow which is 84 more than a Monks 227. This is because Nun must, in addition, do the follow: greet every monk with respect regardless of stature, must not spend a rains retreat in a place without a monk present, meet with the monks every 2 weeks to ask the date of the Uposatha (special meeting day for the Sangka to recite the rules [วันพระ]) and listen to their teachings, must annual receive feedback from the Sangka regarding her service as a nun after the rains retreat, a nun that has misbehaved must the punished with a probation by both the monk and nun orders, nun ordination is conducted by both monks and nuns and only after she has followed the Buddhist rules for 2 year prior, nuns cannot scold monks.
3. Famous Buddhist Laywomen: Visakha Migara-Mata - was one of the chief female lay disciples of the Buddha; she erected a monastery for the Buddha known as "Migāramātupāsāda" (Pali for "Migara's mother's palace"), near Savatthi Sujata - a maiden who, offered the Buddha a bowl of milk porridge after he had given up the path of asceticism following six years of extreme self-mortification. Bandula Mallika – offered her ornamental items to remains of the Lord Buddha during his funeral procession