Lesson video

Let's look at that key question.

It says, who is the Dalai Lama? We'll be learning about reincarnation, which is the Buddhist notion of rebirth.

We'll learn about karma and the belief that one's actions determine whether the rebirth is positive or negative.

We'll then go on to learn about the Dalai Lama, who's someone the Buddhist believe has reached enlightenment, but remains on earth to help other Buddhists reach enlightenment and then Nirvana.

In this lesson, we'll learn about reincarnation, also known as samsara, karma, Nirvana, and the Dalai Lama.

You'll need an exercise book or a piece of paper, a pencil, and your brain.

Pause the video now so you can get those things if you don't have them already.

Let's go through our star words.

I'm going to say them.

And I want you to repeat them after me.

Buddhism, enlightenment, reincarnation, the wheel of life, karma, the Dalai Lama.

So, Buddhists believe in reincarnation, also known as samsara.

Now, this means that they believe that people are born, they die, they're reborn, and then they die again.

Now this doesn't always relate to people.

This relate, this cycle relates to beings.

So when we talk about a being, we might be talking about an animal or a person.

But Buddhists believe that there are other types of beings as well.

And we'll learn about those too.

Now, this idea of reincarnation is all about the soul going into another being, it could be a new baby or an animal or a spirit after death.

Now, this endless cycle of rebirths or samsara is a belief that's held not just by Buddhists, but also by other religions, such as Hindus or Hinduism and Jains or Jainism.

Now, the Buddha taught that this reincarnation is duhkha, and that means that reincarnation is painful and causes suffering.

True or false? Buddhism is the only religion that believes in reincarnation, true or false? The Buddha taught that reincarnation is painful and causes suffering, true or false? Pause the video now.

So you can answer those questions.

Did you remember? Let's have a look at the answers.

So Buddhism is the only religion that believes in reincarnation.

This is false.

Remember, Hinduism and Jainism are other religions that believe in reincarnation.

B, the Buddha taught that reincarnation is painful and causes suffering.

That's true.

Remember the Buddha taught that reincarnation is duhkha, which means that it's painful and causes suffering.

Pause the video now, if you want to tick or fix your answers.

Lets carry on.

This image shows the Mahayana reincarnation wheel of life.

Remember that Mahayana is one of the schools or branches of Buddhism.

Now, reincarnation is an extremely complex idea and this image demonstrates just how complicated and layered the idea is.

There's a lot going on in this image.

Have a closer look.

You can pause the video while you take a closer look at it.

Now, the wheel of life, or this image represents six realms of rebirth and existence.

How many realms? That's right.

Six realms. Now, there are three good realms of rebirth and these include gods, demigods and humans, the three good realms. And there are three bad or negative realms, including animals, hungry ghosts and hells.

Now, all these realms are held by a demon and the Buddha stands outside of the realms. Have a closer look and you can see that I've labelled some parts of the wheel of life.

So there's the Buddha standing outside the wheel of life.

Here is the realm of humans, that's of animals, the hungry ghosts.

And of course there are the other realms that of the gods and the demigods.

Pause the video if you'd like to take another closer look at the wheel of life.

You need to choose the correct answer for this task.

How many realms are there in the wheel of life? A, two.

B, four.

C, six.

Pause the video so you can answer that question.

Did you remember how many realms there are? There are six.

Pause the video now so you can tick or fix your answer.

Let's move on.

Now, it's important to say when we talk about karma on this slide, that not all Buddhists interpret reincarnation in exactly the same way.

And each school of Buddhism interprets the teachings of Buddha slightly differently.

And so what we read and what we learn about throughout these slides will vary depending on which school of thought or which type of Buddhists you speak to.

Let's read this.

I'll read it and you can read it at home.

Buddhists believe in karma or intentional action.

The Buddha used the Eightfold Path to teach Buddhists how to live a good life.

Buddhists use these paths, such as right to meditation, hoping to either gain enlightenment or to ensure a better life for themselves.

Buddhists believe that good actions will result in a better rebirth while bad actions will result in a bad rebirth.

Depending on the actions performed in previous lives, rebirth could be as a human or animal or even ghosts.

Being born as a human is seen by Buddhists as a rare opportunity to work towards escaping the cycle of samsara.

The escape from samsara is called Nirvana or enlightenment.

Once Nirvana is achieved and the enlightened individual physically dies.

Buddhists believe that they will no longer be reborn.

On this slide, we have that same body of text that we've just read through.

And there are two questions.

You need to answer the questions using the information in the text.

That's read them.

One.

What did Buddhists follow to try and live a good life? Two.

What type of being do Buddhists believe one has to be reborn as in order to escape the cycle of samsara? Pause the video now so you can answer those questions using the text.

Excellent work everyone.

Let's have a look at the answers.

The answer to number one is, Buddhists follow the Eightfold Noble Path to try and live a good life.

And number two.

Buddhist believe that one has to be reborn as a human in order to escape the cycle of samsara.

Pause the video now, so you can tick or fix your answers.

Great work everyone.

So, Nirvana.

Now, we've talked about Nirvana a lot, and the fact that Buddhists follow a very strict life and a very strict regime, and they follow Buddhist teachings in order to try and reach enlightenment.

And they meditate the majority of their life to do this.

Now for Buddhists, the final goal is to be released from the endless cycle of rebirths.

And this happens after someone completely understands their own mind and body, and they achieve enlightenment.

After a Buddhist has achieved enlightenment, they're no longer born again.

They have been extinguished just like that candle.

It's like their soul goes out just like the flame of a candle.

They have reached Nirvana.

However, some Buddhists believe that enlightened Buddhists can make a choice at the point of enlightenment.

They can choose to reach Nirvana and become extinguished, or they can choose to remain on earth and continue teaching others about how to reach enlightenment.

In the Mahayana tradition, these Buddhists are called Bodhisattva.

Now one such Bodhisattva is Avalokiteshvara.

And he was one of these individuals who decided not to reach Nirvana, but decided to remain on earth in order to help other Buddhists achieve enlightenment.

Now, we're going to move on to the Dalai Lama.

Another school of Buddhism that believes an enlightened being can remain on earth to help others reach enlightenment is the Geluk tradition.

Which was founded in Tibet at around 1400 CE.

Take a close look at this map.

You can see Tibet has been coloured in red.

Here's an image of the Dalai Lama.

We're going to read about him.

I'm going to read, and you can read along with me at home.

The leader of Gelek Buddhism is called the Dalai Lama.

Followers of this school believe that whenever the Dalai Lama dies, his soul is reincarnated into a new body.

This is because the Dalai Lama uses his enlightenment to help others instead of achieving Nirvana.

Whenever a Dalai Lama dies, a search begins for the new Dalai Lama.

This will be a baby born at the exact time that the Dalai Lama died.

It can take years to find the new Dalai Lama, but they usually found in Tibet.

Here you've got that same body of text and there are some questions next to the body of text.

They relate to that text.

Let's read the questions.

One.

Why does the Dalai Lama reincarnate into a new body? Two.

When the Dalai Lama dies who becomes the new Dalai Lama? Use the text to help you answer these questions.

Pause the video now while you do that.

Well done everyone.

Let's have a look at the answers.

One.

The Dalai Lama is reincarnated into a new body because the Dalai Lama uses his enlightenment to help others instead of achieving Nirvana.

Two.

When a Dalai Lama dies, the new Dalai Lama will be a baby born at the exact time that the Dalai Lama died.

Pause the video now so you can tick or fix your answers.

Great work everyone.

Well, this is the current Dalai Lama.

His name is Tenzin Gyatso and he is the 14th Dalai Lama to have existed in the Buddhist tradition.

For over 50 years, the Dalai Lama has been living in India in exile, that means that he's not allowed to return to Tibet.

Now, he was born in Tibet.

And Tibet used to be an independent country.

That means it used to be run by its own people.

However, the 13th Dalai Lama led a Tibetan Army against China and was defeated.

Since then, Tibet has been controlled by China.

In 1959, the current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, led another uprising against China to try and win back independence for Tibet.

However, it failed.

And the Dalai Lama fled to where he lives in India.

He has not been allowed back to Tibet ever since.

Now we know a little bit more about the Dalai Lama, where he comes from and the tradition that he's part of.

I'm going to show you some quotes.

He's known throughout the world.

And he's said to be a very loving and kind individual.

And these quotes demonstrate ways that Buddhists, but also all people could live their life.

Each of these quotes holds a message.

We're going to read the quotes first.

"Give the ones you love wings to fly, roots to come back and reasons to stay." "Whenever possible, choose kindness.

It is always possible." "We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves." "If a problem can be solved, it will be.

If it cannot be solved, there is no use worrying about it." I'm now going to show you four different behaviours or ways to live our lives.

Now these relate to one of the quotes.

What you're going to do is match the behaviours to the quotes.

Let's read the behaviours first.

Love yourself and look after yourself before trying to help others or the world around you.

B, focus on things that you have power over, for example friendships or work hard at school.

C, supporting your friends and family even if it means you cannot always be with them.

D, always being kind, even when you're feeling upset, angry, or frustrated.

Your job is to write out the quotes and then write out the correct behaviour next to the quote that you think it matches.

Pause the video now, while you match the quotes to the behaviours.

That was a tricky task.

And I'm wondering how well you did.

I'm sure you've worked really hard and I bet you've managed to match all if not most of those quotes to behaviours.

Let's have a look at the correct answers.

Give the ones you love wings to fly, roots to come back and reasons to stay.

That matches to this behaviour, C.

Support your friends and your family even if it means you cannot always be with them.

Two, whenever possible, choose kindness.

It is always possible.

That matches to always being kind, even when you're feeling upset, angry, or frustrated.

Three, we can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.

That matches to A, love yourself and look after yourself before trying to help others or the world around you.

And four.

If a problem can be solved, it will be.

If it cannot be solved, there is no use worrying about it.

That relates to B.

Focus on the things that you have power over, for example friendships or work hard at school.

You can pause the video now so you can tick or fix your answers.

Now, I'm not a Buddhist, but I really liked reading those quotes and matching them to those behaviours because I felt like even I had something to learn from the Dalai Lama.

There were some really nice lessons in those quotes.

And that's why I think that I've learned a lot from Buddhism throughout this unit.

It's really fantastic to think about kindness and loving others and being respectful, even if you're not a Buddhist.