[Children in these picture books] have qualities that differ from what mature adults have, but they are valuable none-the-less. And actually, in the case of 一休 (Ikkyū) especially, he is often shown as being wiser in a certain way or at least more clever than the adults. [… They show that] naughty or mischievous behavior isn’t necessarily an endpoint, and that change and growth are possible. [… So,] you can think about how these stories work for both children and for the adult caregivers who might be reading them.

Their tools to create their own Buddhism are quite limited. And yet, the tale is one of success, as these children often find ways to affirm their own religious identities in contradistinction to their parents. Paradoxically, they do this by identifying their parents as the primary source for their encounter with Buddhism—theirs is a familial lineage.

Convert (typically White) American Buddhists largely hold to (racialized) narratives that denigrate “heritage” Buddhists-by-birth. But where does this leave their children?

In this highly theoretical book of post-colonial critique, Drew Baker (himself a second-generation Buddhist American) analyzes how scholars have missed this group of American Buddhists and then tells us about their experience of growing up Buddhish in America.

This book is recommended for parents in the West who are comfortable with jargon and are into Buddhism, but who aren’t sold on “labels.”

The parents are more comfortable with the ambiguity because they chose it, while their children are overtly driven and haunted by the question “well, what am I?”

There was a significant improvement on the Digit Letter Substitution Test, the Perceived Stress Scale, and three subscales of the Emotional Competencies Scale. Analysis of non-normal data on the Wilcoxon sign-ranked test revealed significant improvement in the Adequate Depth of Feeling subscale of Emotional Competence and all subscales of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.

In the past, the temple was the center for learning, where elders taught their grandchildren how to chant and pay respect to monks. But in contemporary Thailand, this system is quickly losing influence. Because of this, a number of strategies have recently developed to communicate Buddhist teachings to Thai youth. This paper investigates two significant strategies: private schools with Buddhist-inspired curricula and media targeted towards Thai youth.

youth initiatives have remained a popular vehicle for support and recruitment despite numerous criticisms and scandals over the past decades.

A faithful laywoman with a dear and beloved only daughter would rightly appeal to her, ‘My darling, please be like the laywomen Khujjuttarā and Veḷukaṇṭakī, Nanda’s mother.’

Neither laywomen nor nuns should wish for possessions, honor, or fame.

Sāriputta, see this
young boy coming,
carrying a water pot,
serene inside himself…

A prince or princess in the royal family, a snake, a fire, and a monk. These four things should not be looked down on or belittled because they are young.

King Pasenadi meets the Buddha for the first time. He wonders how the Buddha can claim to be awakened when he is still so young. The Buddha teaches him four things that should not be looked down on for their youth.

The [newborn] baby is bumped softly on the floor in order to acquaint it with the fact that harsh and startling events may occur in the world of the humans where it has now been received.

In the quantitative analysis of a survey of 417 13- to 20-year-old [British] Buddhists, the 48% who had undergone a religious or spiritual experience (RSE) were significantly more likely to self-identify as a spiritual person.

Buddhists who had undergone RSEs were also more positive about spiritual teachers, a monastic vocation, attitude to Buddhism, supernatural phenomena and mystical orientation.

Sopāka, let this
be your ordination.

The lion’s roar of a seven-year-old Arahant.

… all the things Cal doesn’t get to do. I want to curse

To contend seriously with the problem, you first have to let it in. And when I say “let it in” I mean “drag it towards you, press it down and sit with it.” Sit with it past the point of discomfort and pain and dispair until you can observe it without blinking, until its weight is just another thing about about you. In a way, “letting in” is too passive. What I’m talking about is fitting a hyperobject into your heart without it breaking.

A conversation about hope and despair as the effects of climate change bear down upon us.

… you have this young brain that has a lot of what neuroscientists call “plasticity”. It can change really easily, essentially. But it’s not very good at putting on its jacket and getting to preschool

A deeply optimistic and warm view of children as “explorers.”

When we think about spiritual formation, I think it’s done best when it’s amplified through a community.

A full-throated defense of teaching children (and adults!) the Dharma as a “first language.”

… the case of “youth Buddhism” in Ladakh highlights how youth play a vital role in the revitalization and reformation of [modern] Buddhism.

And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.

A much-beloved, short, poetic story (nominally for children) which captures poignantly the existential crisis of growing up in the modern world, and encourages us all to not lose touch with that simple, direct wisdom of our inner child.

Note that the original, illustrated translation by Richard Howard is still under copyright, so the link above will instead take you to a more recent, scholarly translation by M. H. Bowker published by punctum in 2021.

Move in your own resort, bhikkhus, in your own ancestral domain. Mara will not gain access to those who move in their own resort.

The parable of the quail and the hawk.

Thus, Rahula, you should train yourself, ‘I will not tell a deliberate lie even in jest.’

Using the “object lesson” of a cup of water, the Buddha explains to his son, Rāhula, the importance of telling the truth and reflecting on one’s motives.

“The person” has to be killed before one can be an arahant. If what we call “the person” has not been killed, there is no way one can be an arahant.

Transcribed from talks delivered to the students of Thammasat University in Bangkok in 1966, this short and readable series of question-and-answers gives a lucid corrective to many popular misconceptions and questions about Buddhism.