I Wonder Why

I had been in Singapore just a few days when a young man appeared at my door. "Can I ask you some questions about Buddhsim?" he queried. We sat down and began to talk. Some of his questions were similar to the ones that westerners who were just meeting Buddhism would ask. Yet others were peculiar to Asians who had grown up in societies where Buddhism and the old folk religions were often mixed up, at least in the minds of the lay people. As I began teaching in Singapore, I noticed...
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I had been in Singapore just a few days when a young man appeared at my door. "Can I ask you some questions about Buddhsim?" he queried. We sat down and began to talk. Some of his questions were similar to the ones that westerners who were just meeting Buddhism would ask. Yet others were peculiar to Asians who had grown up in societies where Buddhism and the old folk religions were often mixed up, at least in the minds of the lay people. As I began teaching in Singapore, I noticed over and over again that the same questions were being asked. Especially the young people, who were intelligent and educated, were earnestly seeking to understand Buddhism and its relationship to modern life.

Soon thereafter, another man came to see me, and in the course of our discussion he said, "We need to hear about Buddha's teachings in everyday English, a clear explanation without a lot of Pali and Sanskrit terms that we do not understand. Why not print a book with some of your talks? I would be happy to help you."

The idea to write this small book thus came from these two people -- Lee Siew Cheung and Robert Gwee. My motivation has been to benefit others, although my knowledge is limited and my writing style poor. Any mistakes are due entirely to my own ignorance.

Thubten Chodron