Lesson video

Hello, welcome to the final lesson, lesson 13 on a Buddhist philosophy and beliefs and today, we're just going to do some deliberate practise.

All that means is we're going to be really drilling the big ideas and some of the key terms. So let's make sure that we're nice and ready and let's get started.

So for today's lesson, you're going to need two different kinds of pens.

We're going to need some paper and we need to make sure that our minds are switched on, that we are somewhere nice and quiet, if you can manage it.

Move away from anything distracting and really, this is our last opportunity to really kind of drill the terms and the big ideas for this whole series of lessons.

So take a moment to pause, go and get yourself nice and ready, go and get everything that you need and join me when you're ready.

Okay, so like last time, we're going to be drilling and consolidating ideas under these four main topic ideas.

The Indian context and the Vedic tradition.

So to me and you, that's Hinduism.

Teachings of the historical Buddha, the Dhamma Buddhist practise and Buddhist scripture.

Let's start with the Indian context and see what we remember.

So what I want you to do is you've got a minute, have a good look at this screen.

Pause it for a minute and try and remember as much as you can and then once you're done, move on to the next task, after you've unpaused the screen.

Okay, so look at the gap fill and see what you can include.

What terms are missing? So go ahead and pause now and copy this out and then add in the correct terms and then rejoin me.

Okay, so Buddhism began in the sixth century BC.

So I'm going to go over the text, I'm going to read it out and you can see the highlighted terms are the ones that we need to fill in.

So just tick them as you go along, add them if you need to.

So I'm going to start again, Buddhism began in India in the sixth century BCE before Christ or before the Christian era.

The Buddha was already influenced by Hinduism.

So give yourself a tick if you've got that correct.

A religion that technically does not exist.

It was given this name when the British invaded for all Vedic religions.

These are religions that have the basic beliefs found in the Indian Holy books, The Vedas.

Give yourself another tick if you've got that as well.

These books were written in Sanskrit, another tick and is associated with Hinduism.

Hindus believe in one God, which is described as an ultimate energy known as Brahman.

That's another tick for you.

This should not be confused with one of the Trimurti.

That's another tick.

Brahma, who is an important deity and also Vishnu and Shiva.

Hindus believe that people go round and round this cycle of rebirth and reincarnation.

I'm sure you've got that correct as well.

If you break the cycle of Samsara, you too will return to this pure energy state and this is known as moksha.

This universe is seen as a positive creative thing and is often symbolised with a symbol of the swastika, which was misused by Hitler.

The Buddha was influenced by some of these ideas which appear in Buddhist texts written in pali.

So good.

I'm sure you've got many of those.

Make sure you've ticked all the ones that you've got correct and add the ones that you need to and let's move on.

Okay, teachings of the Buddha.

So another memory challenge for yourself.

Again, go ahead and pause.

Have a good look for a minute and maybe you need a bit longer.

That's fine.

That's totally okay.

Try and remember as much as you can because there's some tasks coming ahead that are going to be based upon these ideas.

So go ahead and pause and join me when you're ready.

Right, okay, let's see if you can match the picture with the key terms. So we're looking for Four Noble Truths, three marks of existence, Nirvana, Skanda's and Cycle of Samsara.

So have a good look at the pictures, pause, add the answers in a moment and then when you're ready, join again.

Okay, so the first one is the Four Noble Truths, which is associated with doctors.

The Four Noble Truths is often seen as the Buddha kind of really kind of describing the causes of suffering and how to basically come out of those causes.

Three marks of existence.

So you've got that picture that says impairments and that's one of the marks of existence, anicca.

Nirvana and also you've got the idea of an anatta, which is no permanent self.

So you've got two pictures there for that one.

Nirvana is, some of you have attacked this where they're in this kind of mystical state that he might be in.

Skandas, which are the constructing of thought, the way that thought was deconstructed by the Buddha.

And the Cycle of Samsara is birth, death, rebirth, going round and round and round in circles.

So again, give yourself a tick, notice where you have got them correct and if not, don't worry.

All of this is a process of learning, that's how we learn.

Now, I'd like you to complete the definitions.

Have a look at this, have a good read, take your time, pause.

What terms need to go in here and join me when you're ready.

Okay.

So this is a complete definition.

These are the answers I was looking for.

Four Noble Truths, this teaching shows the causes of suffering and how people can overcome it.

Nirvana is the final place after death that is free from suffering for enlightened things.

But you might have some variations on this but that's okay, as long as it fits with these definitions.

Three marks of existence are Anicca, Anatta and Dukkha.

The Skandas are the deconstruction of thought.

Cycle of Samsara is the cycle of birth, death and rebirth.

Okay, so give yourself some ticks as you go along.

I'm sure you've done really well.

Add any answers that you need to.

Pause the video while you're doing that and then come back when you're ready.

Now, we're going to look at Buddhist practise.

What I'd like you to do now is look at each of these paths and think, what kind of example can you add beneath it? So give yourself some time, pause the video, take it slowly.

Add an example to each one and rejoin when you're ready.

Okay.

So for the Eightfold Path.

For right speech, I've put down speaking with honesty and kindness.

You might have said being nice to people, making sure that you're not using any hate speech or anything like that.

Right action is act in a way that doesn't harm people.

So you might have said similar thing or using good intentions when you're acting.

Right livelihood is you might've even given an example of a job and that's completely fine.

Jobs that don't cause any suffering to any beings, that's the right livelihood.

Right intention, this is making sure when you're acting that you are acting for the right reasons, for the correct reasons and not for any selfish reasons.

Right concentration is developing the skill of concentration.

So some of you might have included things like mindfulness or meditation or yoga, even.

That's totally fine as well, Right effort, this is having the right attitude when you are doing something.

So going in the attitude of, I'm going to try my best, I'm going to not worry about making mistakes.

I'm just going to do what I can and I'm going to keep going.

That's having the right attitude.

Right view, you might have written down something like racism or sexism, not being racist, not being sexist, those kinds of things.

Making sure that you don't have any unconscious judgments or biases towards anyone.

So it could be something even as simple as thinking someone in your school is a certain way but you not actually having any experience of that.

So really giving that person a real chance without you judging them, it's that kind of idea.

Right to mindfulness is again, being aware of any negative emotions that we might have clouding our mind.

So you might have even had the experience an example of making sure that if you're angry with someone that you don't take it out on someone else.

So those are all fine.

Go ahead and tick your answers and add any things that you wish to, as you go along.

Pause while you're doing that, take your time and then rejoin me when you're ready.

Right, now we're going to look at Buddhist scripture.

We've got some traffic light questions here.

You've got a support box in the middle.

You've got three questions here.

So the pink questions are a bit tougher.

Green questions are perhaps not so tough.

Yellow questions are an extend one and as I said, the pink ones are like a challenge question but I'm sure that you can do all of them.

Use the support box if you need them.

And if you can, write out the question and write out your answer.

So go ahead and pause and do that and then join me in a moment for the answers.

So, what is the collection of Buddhist scripture know as? It's known as the Tripitaka.

Which scripture is associated with the Buddha's teaching on Dhamma? Remember there's lots and lots of them.

It's the Sutta Pitaka.

Which scripture is associated with deep, philosophical teachings on the nature of reality? That is the Abhidamma Pitaka.

Give yourself a tick where you've got them correct.

I'm sure you've got all of them correct.

If you haven't, add them, that's completely fine.

That's how we learn.

And now, another fill.

So copy this out, add the right answers.

Take your time and join me when you're ready.

So we can look at the answers.

Okay, so hopefully you've had a chance to do that.

Let's have a look at what the answers are.

I'm going to read out as you go along.

Tick and add any answers that you nee to.

At any point, don't be worried, you can pause at any point as you go along.

So don't feel like you have to rush this, take your time.

So the Buddha taught for 45 years all over India and in Sri Lanka but his teachings were not written down in his lifetime.

After he died the first Council of Buddhism was set up to discuss how to preserve his teachings.

It was decided to separate his teachings into and the first answer is three different sets of teachings.

So give yourself a tick.

It was decided to separate his teachings I've mentioned that, three different sets of teachings.

The first was the set of rules for monks and nuns.

This became known as Vinaya Pitaka.

So correct that if it's wrong, give yourself a tick if it's correct.

The teachings on Dhamma, which became known as Sutta Pitaka.

Again, give yourself a tick or a cross and add it if you have made a mistake and don't worry about that, that's fine.

We make mistakes.

And the final set focused on deep philosophical observations of the nature of reality.

This was called Abhidhamma Pitaka.

So again, give yourself a tick or add it if you need to.

His teachings have been preserved because the monks and nuns memorised them.

Okay.

So add that now or tick it.

It wasn't until 83 BCE that his teachings were finally written down.

This was named after the baskets that they were preserved in, the whole collection became known as the Tripitaka.

So good, final tick as you go along.

See how you get on, go back and make any corrections, pause if you need to, go back if you need to, that's completely fine.

Make sure that you've got everything in the right place.

Right, Okay.

So the last task that I'm going to give you is you have learned so much, you've learned so much information and you are going to be experts by now.

So go and show this off.

Go and show off what you know about Buddhism.

And there's this kind of a famous adage.

Supposedly it's linked to Einstein, I don't know if that's necessarily true but the adage is "If you can teach it, then you know it." So if someone asks you a question, you'll find that you can easily talk about it and really explain it and that means that you actually know it.

So go and find someone, a friend or a family member and go explain it to them.

That's why I tell you each time, go and explain this stuff to people that you know.

And a fun thing that you can do is with your phone, or maybe you've got a laptop camera, go and create your own videos, your own lessons like this.

One or two minutes on a couple of topics on a particular topic, create your own lesson and then go and share it with someone.

So in the support box, I've got some ideas for you.

You can explain three main teachings of the Buddha.

It could be the Four Noble Truths, the three marks of existence or the Eightfold Path.

And you can explain how the Buddhist scriptures came to be written down.

So you can choose one of those lessons or do both of them.

And as usual, do ask permission but we'd love, love, love to see them.

So show me and show us all what you've done.

Be proud of what you've done.

Be proud, you've done brilliantly.

And I will see you next time.

So really, really well done.

Some excellent learning throughout this whole series and definitely in this lesson.

Hopefully, you've really consolidated all the things that you know about Buddhism and you feel okay, I'm going to be excellent next time we play Trivial Pursuit or something like that.

But also in your lessons, you're going to really, really impress your teachers with the amount of things that you've picked up.

So well done and I will see you for the next series.