The full moon in May is Buddha's birtday.

So we celebrate it with gifts, called dana in Pali.

This year we have a Monk visiting our Centre for Versak on 12 May.

Our new members will offer lunch to the Monk as dana. The Monk lives in Fiji and has been invited to Australia by friends of ours.

You might wonder what types of birthday presents would be suitable for Buddha to mark the anniversary of his birthday.

Since he also passed away on the full moon in May over 2,500 years ago, the anniversary of his passing away into Parinibbana is also celebrated.

The banter opens with: " What do you give a person who has everything?" The answer is: "More storage space!"

The fact that Buddha has everything is not in dispute so perhaps the simplest answer to the question of what is a suitable type of birthday present is just to show and follow Buddhist teaching advice.

After Lord Buddha spent his three-month Rain Retreat, there were 60 Buddhist Monks who had attained Arahanta-(meaning fully awakened).

Lord Buddha instructed all these 60 Arahanta who had all liberated themselves from all suffering (dukkha) to go out and educate the masses of the world so that they could be happy.

Lord Buddha emphasises that his Dharma must be taught at primary, secondary and tertiary levels, and include writing.

For this reason, our centre has assembled, over many years, a suitable Buddhist library. The catalogue of this library can be found on our Internet site at www.bdcu.org.au.

We are about to place much of our electronically formatted teachings onto our Local Area Network - our LAN. From our LAN, persons will be able to electronically search for keywords and so find what they are looking for.

If you are particularly skilled in installation and testing of Unix systems and wish to help us in our enterprise, please contact Rodney Johnston at our centre at 9754-3334.

We are talking about how Buddha instructed his Monks to teach persons and Deva (heavenly beings).

Beings in both the human world and the heavenly worlds have mental defilements (kilesa) in their mind (citta). In other words, you have not completed your training even if you get a heavenly birth.

Without teachers, humans and heavenly beings would miss out on the great benefits if they have no opportunity to listen to Buddhadhamma.

It can be said that when Lord Buddha instructed his Arahanta to go out and spread his Dhamma, these Arahanta had three important functions which have been described in Pali in the Tipitaka as:-

1. Caradhabhikhavecarigang

2. Phrahusanasukkhaya

3. Lokanukampaya

These refer to the instructions given by Lord Buddha to Phra Hutidhaya to lead the Sangha in preaching Dhamma doctrines to persons as well as in community development.

However, before delivering Dhamma principles which they have been practising until they became Dhamma Preacher or Dhamma Kassa, or Upaphedkassinnakadha, they must understand the purposes of their Dhamma preaching.

For example, to be able to teach it is necessary to know what the person you are teaching is doing at the present moment. It is not vital to know what they did in the past because it already shows in their behaviour.

If they did not keep precepts in the past, you would not expect them to have morality in the present.

It is advisable to keep 5 precepts.

The five precepts are as follows:

1. panatipata veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami:
to abstain from killing;

2. adinnadana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami:
to abstain from stealing;

3. kamesu micchachara veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami:
to abstain from sexual misconduct;

4. musavada veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami:
to abstain from lying; and

5. suramerayamajjapamadatthana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami:
to abstain from fermented liquor that clouds the mind.

Buddha advised people to keep five precepts. This is in accordance with the precepts of most religions which deal with the same morality aspects.

Teachers must always remember the original principles when Lord Buddha attained Enlightenment at the initial stage and what was in the mind of Lord Buddha.

These original Dhamma principles are very complicated for beings of the world who are full of defilments (kilesa) to understand.

Therefore, it is necessary to think about the benefits for the majority of the persons that results from Dhamma teaching.

Regardless of the time and place of Dhamma teaching: always remember the purpose of the teachings is to benefit the majority of the community.

For example, when people are poor and hungry, would it be easy to teach them to attain Nibbana?

The answer is no, because if you are hungry, your mind thinks "I want food": if you are poor, your mind thinks "I want money". These thoughts occupy your mind every minute, every hour, every day.

In Australia, we are fortunate to have no starving persons who cannot get food easily from either the Government services or charitable services. It is a totally different set of conditions here compared to, say, Bangladesh. Our centre collects money for an orphanage in Bangladesh. This is one of the ways we make merit.

Persons who have practiced Buddhadhamma for some time should consider the 'Paramattha Pajhodha' according to the accepted reality of the majority in general.

In other words, when we teach we deal with everyday problems first, and fix them up first.

So, if a person is having trouble relating to the opposite sex, we can advise them of different tactics which could help them suffer less.

Whether they take our advice or not is up to them.

When most of the everyday troubles have been sorted out, the mind realises that there is more to living than just work and play.

Some persons cannot be taught because they do not really wish to change their way of life even if it is harmful to them. We cannot teach such persons.

We only show the way to persons who wish to improve and are willing to make changes to their lifestyle coherent enough to bring about improvement.

The first set of improvements deal with undertaking the five precepts of morality.

Some persons can do this with practice, other persons cannot.

When the five precepts are well practiced, it is possible for persons to come to see, each for himself or herself, Nibbana.

When a person has Nibbana access, they benefit their community in many ways.

For example, the benefits to be gained by a community having persons with Nibbana access dwelling in that community is compared to be just like a bull with two horns.

However, it is quite an attainment and not so common.

Not all persons who call themselves followers of Buddhadhamma have attained Nibbana access which is termed: "Stream enterer".

For those persons who would have attained stream enterer Nibbana are comparable in number with bulls having pairs of horns whereas the number of persons who have attained stream entry can be compared with the number of hairs of the bull.

There are people who learn Buddhadamma but do not practice.....This is explained in the Valahaka Sutta, called "Thunderheads".

What type of Thunderhead are you?

What type of Thunderhead would you like to become?

Remember, you can change if you wish to.

There are four types of thunderheads.

Which four?

1. One that thunders but doesn't rain

2. One that rains but doesn't thunder

3. One that neither thunders nor rains

4. One that both thunders and rains

These are the four types of thunderheads.

There are no more types than these.

Similarly, these four types of persons resembling thunderheads are to be found existing in the world.

Which four?

1. The one that thunders but doesn't rain

2. The one that rains but doesn't thunder

3. The one that neither thunders nor rains

4. The one that both thunders and rains

Who thunders but doesn't rain?

This is a case where a person has mastered the Dhamma: dialogues, narratives of mixed prose and verse, explanations, verses, spontaneous exclamations, quotations, birth stories, amazing events, question & answer sessions (the earliest classifications of the Buddha's teachings).

Yet the person doesn't discern, as it is actually present that "This is stress".

He or she doesn't discern, as it actually is present, that "This is the cessation of stress".

He or she doesn't discern, as it actually is present, that "This is the origination of stress".

He or she doesn't discern, as it actually is present, that "This is the cessation of stress".

He or she doesn't discern, as it actually is present that, "This is the path of practice leading to the cessation of stress".

This is the type of person who thunders but doesn't rain.

This type of person, I tell you, is like the thunderhead that thunders but doesn't rain.

Who rains but doesn't thunder?

This is the case where a person has not mastered the Dhamma: dialogues....question & answer sessions.

Yet he or she does discern, as it actually is present that "This is stress".

He or she discerns as it actually is present that "This is the origination of stress".

He or she discerns, as it actually is present, that "This is the cessation of stress"

He or she discerns, as it actually is present, that "This is the path of practice leading to the cessation of stress".

This is the type of person who rains but doesn't thunder.

This type of person, I tell you, is like the thunderhead that rains but doesn't thunder.

Who neither thunders nor rains?

This is the case where a person has not mastered the Dhamma: dialogues...question & answer sessions.

He or she doesn't discern, as it actually is present, that

"This is stress".

"This is the origination of stress"

"This is the cessation of stress"

"This is the path of practice leading to the cessation of stress"

This is the type of person who neither thunders nor rains.

This person, I tell you, is like the thunderhead that neither thunders nor rains.

Who is the person who thunders and rains?

This is the case where a person has mastered the Dhamma: dialogues...question & answer sessions.

He or she discerns, as it actually is present, that:
"This is stress"

"This is the origination of stress"

"This is the cessation of stress"

"This is the path of practice leading to the cessation of stress"

This is the type of person who thunders and rains.

This person, I tell you, is like the thunderhead that both thunders and rains.

These four types of persons are found in the world.

We wish to encourage persons to thunder and rain.

This is the best birthday present for Buddha at Versak.

May you be well and happy.

This script was written and edited by John D. Hughes and Leanne Eames.

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