The Dharma is free and it matters not what school you study in

The Dharma is free to all, its part of the Buddhist belief that no one should be allowed to pay for the Buddha’s teachings. It was never meant to be used to make a profit, it was meant to change the world. The Buddhist literature and all Dharma materials are free to anyone, if not then it’s not Buddhism. Do you know what the sacred text collection of Buddhism is?

It’s known as the Tipitaka or Tripitaka by the Chinese or the Pali canon to English speakers. The Tipitaka is all the Buddha’s/Buddhist teachings called discourses, sacred texts, and sutras. It is a collection of 64 volumes all of which are around 2000 pages each canon or book. Literally about 5 feet of bookshelf space it would take up and would cost you over 2K to own the whole set. "Sutras" is Pali -sutta is Sanskrit; these two words are used extensively in the canon.

Most monasteries would have a set, mostly in Pali or Sanskrit or Chinese. Almost impossible to find in English, but my contact has them in English. There is a lot available out there, but before you buy any Buddhist literature, Contact the author first because he can probably show you how to get it for free. Monasteries distribute the Dharma worldwide and he has access to these places usually.

The author just got a new collection in the mail today matter of a fact and added to the growing Buddhist library, it was a nice day! If you search youtube for Buddhist or Buddhism you will find a multitude of teaching videos, they are good to use for teaching your kids Homeschool most of them are really good. You do know that the two main schools of Buddhism are Theravada and Mahayana right?

Theravada is the original, the first school ever and Mahayana are most of the other schools such as Pure Land, and Zen Buddhism. Here is the difference in a nutshell because in Buddhism it matters not what school you are with, they are all about 99 percent the same.

Theravada has two differences they believe you are not Buddhist if you are not Monk or born into Buddhism like in the family. And they feel not all can attain Buddha-hood, and that Arahat is as high as some can get to. Mahayana, on the other hand, does not support those two beliefs, hence the different school. They feel Buddha hood is attainable by all, and it matters not who you are, all can become a monk or be Buddhist without becoming a monk.

They also do not believe in immediate enlightenment, Theravada does. Mahayana believes everyone can obtain enlightenment in this life. All can obtain enlightenment and all have a Buddha nature within themselves, these were Buddha’s words. No matter whom you are and all can become Buddha’s as well and innumerable beings have, again Buddha’s words.

To learn some of all the schools is very normal and very good, you want to do this, in fact, the Tipitaka is Theravada and it is used by all Buddhists. The thing with Buddhism, as you may know, is that it teaches equality, 100% no one or nothing is looked down on, each different school is accepted as its own.

It is not that way in religion. “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world. Since everything is a reflection of our minds, everything can be changed by our minds.” -The Buddha.