For most monks, a simple greeting of putting your palms together near your chest in a prayer-like fashion and bowing your head slightly, eyes facing down, is sufficient. For higher monks, such as a highly regarded lama known as a Rinpoche, the greetings become slightly more complex.

Pali (/ˈpɑːli/) is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Pāli Canon or Tipiṭaka and is the sacred language of Theravāda Buddhism.

The Buddha spoke in a language called Magadhi Prakrit. Magadhi Prakrit is the spoken language of the ancient Magadha kingdom, one of the 16 city-state kingdoms at the time, located in the eastern Indian subcontinent, in a region around modern-day Bihār , and spanning what is now eastern India, Bangladesh, and Nepal.

Specifically, all Buddhists live by five moral precepts, which prohibit:

• Killing living things.
• Taking what is not given.
• Sexual misconduct.
• Lying.
• Using drugs or alcohol.

Yes, anyone can become a Buddhist. You will need to take refuge in the Triple Gem and follow a ceremony during which you take a vow to uphold the Five Precepts (to not kill, not steal, not commit sexual misconduct, refrain from false speech and not take intoxicants that lessen your awareness).

By Leo Babauta

1. Do one thing at a time. This rule (and some of the others that follow) will be familiar to long-time Zen Habits readers.
2. Do it slowly and deliberately.
3. Do it completely.
4. Do less.
5. Put space between things.
6. Develop rituals.
7. Designate time for certain things.
8. Devote time to sitting.

Both parts of it. Buddhist is just a word. The teachings are dhamma and the discipline is vinaya. Anyone can accept Buddha as their savior and call it a day, identifying with this particular religion when the need arises.

They do the things that make them communal — Mass, prayer, reflection, service. They also do the things that make them unique — exercise, collecting, composing, cooking.

Crying is a reaction to suffering, and the goal of Buddhist practice is to be free from suffering. So you may cry during your practice, and it’s normal for a worldling to cry, but a fully enlightened one will not cry, because he is beyond suffering.

The Dalai Lama said he monitors global violence, from the assaults on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar to the wars in the Middle East and Africa. On BBC and CNN, “I see too much … suffering. Sometimes I cry.”

Weeping Buddha is a sculpture representing a sense of introspection of one’s self, own mind. Not the physical introspection, it’s the mental analysis of our true being. Another Symbolism of Weeping Buddha is for a Shy Yogi, who assumed this “weeping” position to be the best pose to awaken the third mystical eye.

Besides being totally disrespectful, it’s bad luck to place Buddha in a bathroom. Also the statue should never face one. Dust accumulating on or around the statue is disrespectful. It will bring filth into your own life.

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Buddha statues across Asia are representative of the teachings and travels of Gautama Buddha. The hand gestures of the Buddha, called mudras, indicate teaching, meditation, enlightenment, and wisdom. Similarly, the postures of the Buddha each have a specific meaning.

Laughing Buddha

The reclining or sleeping pose of Buddha is one of the most poignant ones; it depicts the last moments of Gautam Buddha’s mortal life before he achieved Nirvana or freedom from the cycle of rebirth.

She appears as a female bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism, and as a female Buddha in Vajrayana Buddhism. She is known as the “mother of liberation”, and represents the virtues of success in work and achievements….Tara (Buddhism)

Officially, only men can become monks and novices in Thailand under a Buddhist order that since 1928 has forbidden the ordination of women. The country does not recognize female monks or novices. While Dhammananda’s monastery ordains female novices, it cannot do the same for those seeking to become female monks.