Theravada Buddhism

Images of the Buddha's life (courtesy of the Scotland Theravada Buddhist Monastery)

Two excellent texts from a Theravadan perspective were compiled by Bhikkhu Bodhi, an American-born scholar-monk and former editor of the Buddhist Publication Society (Kandy, Sri Lanka). These texts are anthologies of prominent Buddhist discourses arranged by theme with helpful commentary.

• In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon
• Numerical Discourses of the Buddha: An Anthology of Suttas from the Anguttara Nikaya

2008 Bodhi tree visitor, the edifice at the site of the Great Enlightenment, Bodh Gaya, India

Ven. Sona answers a question about salient distinctions between modern Theravada and Mahayana schools of Buddhism in a Dharma talk at Birken Forest Buddhist Monastery, Canada.

As seen in this Burmese footage, ordination in the Theravada school is voluntary, often temporary, and reputed to be very meritorious since it is extremely rare over the course of Samsaric existences.