ATHENS BUDDHIST VIHARAYA

No 41, Syntagmatos street , Guydi, Athens , Greece .

Tel & Fax (0030) 210 7757597 E mail- vendhammika@gmail.com

What is Buddhism?

Buddhism is a path of practice and spiritual development leading to Insight into the true nature of life. Buddhist practices such as meditation are means of changing oneself in order to develop the qualities of awareness, kindness, and wisdom. The experience developed within the Buddhist tradition over thousands of years has created an incomparable resource for all those who wish to follow a path - a path which ultimately culminates in Enlightenment or Buddha hood.

Because Buddhism does not include the idea of worshipping a creator god, some people do not see it as a religion in the normal, Western sense. The basic tenets of Buddhist teaching are straightforward and practical: nothing is fixed or permanent; actions have consequences; change is possible. Thus Buddhism addresses itself to all people irrespective of race, nationality, or gender. It teaches practical methods (such as meditation) which enable people to realize and utilize its teachings in order to transform their experience, to be fully responsible for their lives and to develop the qualities of Wisdom and Compassion.

What is Meditation?

There are many things in life that are beyond our control. However, it is possible to take responsibility for and to change one's state of mind. According to Buddhism this is the most important thing we can do, and Buddhism teaches that it is the only real antidote to the anxiety, hatred, discontentedness, sleepiness, and confusion that beset the human condition.

Meditation is a means of transforming the mind. Buddhist meditation practices are techniques that encourage and develop concentration, clarity, and emotional positivity. By engaging with a particular meditation practice one learns the patterns and habits of the mind, and the practice offers a means to cultivate new, more positive ways of being. With discipline and patience these calm and focused states of mind can deepen into profoundly tranquil and energized states of mind. Such experiences can have a transformative effect and can lead to a new understanding of life.

Over the millennia countless meditation practices have been developed in the Buddhist tradition. All of them may be described as 'mind-trainings', but they take many different approaches. The foundation of all of them, however, is the cultivation of a calm and positive state of mind.

Each year thousands of people learn meditation with the FWBO. They learn two basic meditations that develop these qualities: the Mindfulness of Breathing and Loving-Kindness meditation or Mettabhavana .

Sri Lanka and Theravada Buddhisam

Emperor Ashoka sent one of his sons, Mahinda, and one of his daughters, Sanghamitta, a monk and a nun, to Sri Lanka ( Ceylon ) around the year 240 bc.  The king of Sri Lanka , King Devanampiyatissa, welcomed them and was converted.  One of the gifts they brought with them was a branch of the bodhi tree, which was successfully transplanted.  The descendants of this branch can still be found on the island.

The fourth council was held in Sri Lanka , in the Aloka Cave , in the first century bc.  During this time as well, and for the first time, the entire set of Sutras were recorded in the Pali language on palm leaves.  This became Theravada's Pali Canon, from which so much of our knowledge of Buddhism stems.  It is also called the Tripitaka (Pali:  Tipitaka), or three baskets:  The three sections of the canon are the Vinaya Pitaka (the monastic law), the Sutta Pitaka (words of the Buddha), and the Abhidamma Pitaka (the philosophical commentaries).

In a very real sense, Sri Lanka 's monks may be credited with saving the Theravada tradition:  Although it had spread once from India all over southeast Asia, it had nearly died out due to competition from Hinduism and Islam, as well as war and colonialism.  Theravada monks spread their tradition from Sri Lanka to Burma , Thailand , Malaysia , Cambodia , and Laos , and from these lands to Europe and the west generally.