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... Sacred Texts The Buddhist corpus is expansive and not contained within one single book. Buddhist texts were first orally transmitted, then written down centuries after the Buddha’s death. The earliest forms of Buddhist texts reflect this nature, as they co ...

... General Beliefs Dhamma The term ‘dhamma’ (dharma in Sanskrit) is a core concept in Buddhism that has various meanings. Generally, the term can refer to the natural order or universal law that underpins all existence at all times. This reality was realised ...

... Islam is the official religion of Afghanistan and the majority of the population is Muslim (approximately 99.7%).1 There are some very small residual communities of other faiths, including Christians, Sikhs, Hindus and Baha’i. However, the ...

... Do’s A welcomed topic of discussion is one’s occupation. Inquiring into the type of work one does is quite a good icebreaker. Be sensitive to maintain the ‘face’ of yourself and your Thai counterpart. To do so, avoid embarrassing someone by criticising or ...

... Regionalism Language Francoism Uncertainty Avoidance Pride Sociability Late-Night Culture Spain is a southwestern European country located between France and Portugal. It borders the North Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, occupyin ...

... National Holidays New Year's Day – 1st January Iraqi Army Day – 6th January* Not observed in Kurdistan National Day of Tolerance and Coexistence – 6th March Persian New Year – Varies each year Labour Day – 1st May End of Ramadan (3-day hol ...

... The Iranian census claims that 99.4% of the population are Muslims, of whom 90-95% are Shi’a.1 However, this official figure is not representative of actual religious affiliation and obscures the state’s active hostility toward irreligiosi ...

... Basic Etiquette People will often say ‘please' and ‘thank you.' For example, when getting off a bus, most people will thank the driver. Irish will usually queue in a line and wait their turn to be served. In a social setting, it is polite to shake hands wi ...

... Hong Kong was the main point of departure for thousands of Chinese during the gold rush era of the 1850s, and many people from Hong Kong jumped on board these ships. The White Australia Policy significantly hindered the entry of the Hong Kongers of Chinese ...

... Verbal Indirect Communication: In attempts to avoid offending others or coming across as too harsh, Samoans tend to be vague and will go around a point when conversing. However, depending on the context, they can be pointedly direct. Encou ...