While Buddhism was born and has prospered in the Oriental world, blessing people with the teachings that guide them towards happy lives and both mental and physical wellbeing, people from the Occidental world have recently become increasingly more interested in Buddhist philosophy as a way to find the answers for their lives that cannot be explained by science and technology.
This book was derived from an introductory interview between Monica Øien, the hostess of a number of Norwegian TV programs, and Luang Por Dhammajayo, the abbot of the Dhammakaya Temple and president of the Dhammakaya Foundation, who sacrificed his valuable time from the duties of promoting world-peace through inner-peace, to answer all the challenging questions from western people who lack a background knowledge in Buddhism. His answers, which contain a lot of Buddhist wisdom, have given light to the interviewer who has spread this knowledge to a Norwegian audience via her television show.
The publisher considers this interview to be beneficial for all people who wish to access the Lord Buddha's teachings through simple, conversational language. For all non-Buddhists who are curious about Buddhism, this book is a quick guide that provides the fundamentals of Buddhist views. We have obtained permission from Luang Por Dhammajayo to publish this book.
A survey in Norway has revealed that there are many things people still wonder about in their lives, like human birth, how to raise children and lead a wholesome family life, the practice of a monk's celibacy, death and the afterlife, effective time management, and the Buddhist engagement in religious ceremonies. All these questions inspired the Norwegian producers from TV2, who have tried to provide some answers to these questions that will help the audience solve their problems and maximize their lives. This program is called "Gudene Vet" which means "God Knows" in Norwegian, where different religious leaders are interviewed for TV broadcast.
The presenter of this chat show is Ms. Monica Øien, a well established hostess and TV producer, who has traveled around the world in search of answers to the mysteries of life. She has met and interviewed many people from various religions, with different beliefs and from diverse backgrounds, who have given her various perspectives of their worldviews that form the foundation of her program.
The producers' team was very interested to hear the Buddhist worldview, so they researched the Buddhist countries and found a prominent organization that has become internationally successful in spreading the wisdom of Buddhism. The team asked for permission from the Dhammakaya temple to interview the abbot, Luang Por Dhammajayo (The Most Venerable Dhammajayo Bhikkhu), and record the Kathina ceremony, an annual offering of robes for Buddhist monks at the temple. After the sacred Kathina ceremony on 5th November 2006, there was an interview with the abbot the next day at the Tusita Pavilion of Dhammakaya temple. The interview ran from 2:00 - 5:30 pm. Apart from giving an interview, Luang Por Dhammajayo also taught the production team how to meditate, which brought each of them a unique experience of inner peace.
The program "God Knows" which is on TV2, one of Norway's most popular channels, broadcasted the conversation between the abbot of the Dhammakaya temple and Ms. Monica Øien from 11th February to 18th March 2007. This program was on the air during Sunday prime time, from 6 pm onward.
