It's a pleasure, Bob. Well, you've asked me to talk about two things today – to give a brief introduction to the history of Buddhism, and then to talk a bit about my own experience of the religion. Now, I know from Bob that you've all read about Buddhism already and therefore know something of the basic beliefs and practices, so I'll be concentrating on more specific aspects.

So, to begin, Buddhism can be seen as both a religion and a philosophy, a way of seeing the world and behaving within it. It began over 2,500 years ago in India with the birth of Siddharta, a prince in what is today Northern India. He was raised as a Hindu and lived a life of great luxury. He was well-educated, and in time, like all princes of the day, was married and had a child. Despite all this material wealth and apparent happiness, Siddharta was not happy, and at the age of 29 he escaped from his palace one night, disguised himself as a commoner, and set off to find truth and enlightenment. There's not really time here to go into more details of Siddharta's early years of wandering, but, at the age of about 35, he sat under a tree – a Bodhi tree – and decided to stay there until he had found the enlightenment he was looking for. Through meditation, his mind became very clear, and he came to understand the world and all that was in it. Thus, he found the enlightenment he sought and reached the end of his spiritual searching, and came to be called the Buddha.

That's how it started, then. Since those days, Buddhism has spread all over the world, and has grown and changed with time.

After Buddha died, his followers continued his teaching and practices. But as time went on, some of them believed that Buddhism needed to move away from its focus on personal enlightenment and become more open to everybody. A new group of Buddhists formed, who called themselves the Mahayana school. Those who stayed closer to what they saw as Buddha's original teaching called themselves the Theravada school. These are the two main groups today. The Theravada school is sometimes referred to as Southern Buddhism, and is found in Sri Lanka, Thailand and Burma, for example. Mahayana Buddhism is referred to as the Northern school, and is found in China, Tibet, and also, in the form of Zen Buddhism, in Japan.

Now, I'd like, briefly, to discuss the differences between these two schools of Buddhism. The Theravada school is sometimes seen as that which is closer to the original form of Buddhism, and in this school, individual effort can lead to enlightenment. In the Mahayana school, on the other hand, the individual must work within society to achieve enlightenment. In Theravada Buddhism, the individual strives towards wisdom, whereas Mahayana Buddhism grew out of the belief that compassion was an essential part of the individual's growth and behaviour; thus, while Theravada Buddhism centres purely on meditation and personal dedication to spiritual purity, Mahayana Buddhists are encouraged to practise in the world, in their own community. Theravada Buddhists use analysis and reason to study the world, whereas Mahayana Buddhists have a more emotional approach to the world and its people. In many ways, Theravada Buddhism can be seen as a philosophy, while Mahayana is more like a religion, with the Buddha and the Bodhisattvas – enlightened beings – seen as figures to follow and emulate.

Now, turning to my own experience of Buddhism, I'd really like to say that ....