Message of Greeting
We are living in a global village. The world is getting smaller and our relationships are becoming more inter-connected. One of the big advantages of this inter-connectedness is access to knowledge, which is scattered all over the world and can be accessed by everyone. There are many facilities and a huge amount of information, which can be accessed whenever we open a website. It is like a field full of gems.
The Dhamma is a wonderful store of knowledge. From that store we have to select things which are helpful for children and can be published on this website. Also, children can actively participate by writing and sharing their own, original ideas. What they need is knowledge and creative power. Their creations could sometimes be based on their experience, or it could come from their imagination. This is a good opportunity for them to share their creation with others.
According to my understanding, the best example of a model child is the life of samanera Rahula. At the age of seven, little Rahula was in a pavilion with his mother. The Buddha was walking nearby with some bhikkhus. Then Rahula’s mother pointed out his father and told her son to go and ask his father for his inheritance. Rahula followed the Buddha right up to the monastery, holding onto his robe. The Buddha asked Ven. Sariputta to ordain little Rahula in order to give him his seven kinds of noble inheritance, satta ariya dhana. They are: saddha (confidence in correct things), sila (morality or discipline), hiri (shame for evil things), ottappa (fear of evil things), sutta (learning and developing inborn talents), caga (sharing or doing charitable work), and panna (deep understanding). Rahula acquired these treasures and became a living example of these qualities. Through our Dhamma education we train our children to develop these same qualities and accustom themselves to ways of right living.
London Buddhist Vihara has a Dhamma school, where we give Buddhist classes almost every Sunday. We are now introducing this website, in order that we may better achieve our educational purposes and help children to lead a fruitful life in accordance with Buddhist principles.
The name of this website is Buddharashmi. Buddha means “enlightenment” and rashmi means “warmth”. I want to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Gamini Bandara, the producer of the website, and to all the teachers of the Dhamma School for their voluntary service.
I give my best wishes for the success of Buddharashmi and everyone who uses it.
Ven. B. Seelawimala
Head of the London Buddhist Vihara