How do Buddhists show care?

Milo: Hi, I’m Milo, and I’m a Buddhist.

In Buddhism, we follow the teachings of the Buddha, which includes doing kind things for other people.

We have a word, ‘dana’, which means giving or charity.

And we also believe in karma, the idea that good actions make ourselves and the world a better place.

One way we do this is by making the temple open and welcoming to everyone.

There can be over 100 visits in a year from schools, colleges and other groups!

When people come, monks teach them about Buddhism and about the temple.

We also teach classes to people.

Anyone can take meditation classes and reflect on how to be kind and helpful.

Or they can learn about Thai music or dancing. These are very popular and happen four times a week.

The temple helps our neighbours, and they also help the temple.

During big festivals, such as Vesak, the Buddha’s birthday, we have as many as two hundred people volunteer to help.

And many other volunteers help to maintain the temple’s garden all year round.

It’s nice that our community does so much for the temple… and that we can do so much for our community!

The Buddha was a wise monk who had many followers who wanted to learn from him. He was someone who wanted to teach others about kindness.

Devadatta, the Buddha's cousin, was a monk too. He was jealous and didn't like it when people listened to the Buddha and not to him.

Devadatta had a horrible plan to hurt the Buddha. He had heard about a huge, dangerous elephant called Nalagiri, who everyone was afraid of.

Devadatta brought Nalagiri to town and waited for the Buddha to walk up the street with his followers.

When he saw the Buddha coming, Devadatta started to hit the poor elephant with sticks.

Scared and in pain, the elephant began to run wildly down the street.

Everyone saw the angry elephant coming. Her ears were flapping and her trunk was waving high in the air, blowing like a trumpet.

Her heavy feet thundered on the ground.

Everyone ran away to hide from the angry elephant.

The Buddha didn't run away from the elephant like everyone else. He could see that Nalagiri was angry, because she was scared.

The Buddha's followers called out to him, "Get out of the way."

As the angry elephant came charging down the street, the Buddha stood still and held up his hand to her.

Suddenly, the elephant stopped. Nalagiri could feel the power of the Buddha's loving-kindness. She became calm and bowed her head.

The Buddha gently stroked her trunk and said kind words in her huge ear.

Because of the Buddha's loving-kindness, the angry elephant was tamed.