Lesson video

Hello, welcome again.

My name is Ms Pauvaday and I welcome you to another lesson on Buddhism.

Today we are going to be doing some recap and practise I've been over these lessons, been throwing quite some heavy tough ideas at you.

So we're just going to recap them.

I'm sure you're doing brilliantly, this is not easy stuff, for many this beyond our kind of experiences.

So it's good to just keep recapping and practising and eventually it will really start to make a lot of sense to you.

So make sure that you've got all your bits and pieces ready and join me and let's get started.

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

We need to be really thinking about our answers today.

So we've got, we need our minds switched on, and if you can go somewhere nice and quiet away from any distractions that you can work nice and quietly really effectively, and be proud of yourself after this lesson.

So go ahead and pause, make sure you're nice and ready and then join me when you're ready.

Today we're going to be looking at some we're going to be revisiting some of the ideas, big ideas and key terms from lesson one to lesson five.

So, but it's practises, we're going to be looking at key words, key practises, and we're going to do some exam practise.

So how do we get our ideas clearly down on an exam paper? So a lot of people, students, they might feel not so confident this area totally normal.

Makes sense but the more we practise, the more once you know exactly what needs to go on there, it's a breeze.

So that's what we're going to do today.

Let's get ready for some recall practise now.

So we're going to, we're going to try and recall some key words.

So which of these means suffering? Samsara Dharma, karma or Dukkha.

Dukkha, well done.

What is the arm? Is it a symbol, a mark of existence, a sacred sound, or is it sound script? It's a sacred sound, I'm sure you did really well.

What festival is commonly referred to as the Buddha's birthday? Is it Parinirvana, Wesak, enlightenment or Diwali.

And it is Wesak.

What is the name given to a sound or word that is repeated for the purpose of prayer or meditation? Is it a mantra, is it Dhamma, is it Karma or is om.

Have a thing, which one do you think is? The answer is Mantra.

The mantra is the army's most famous mantra that you've been I'm sure many of you have come across it before.

What are the causes of suffering according to Buddhism.

And there's two answers here, is it ignorance, anger, desire, or guilt.

So take a moment, what do you think is? Okay, let's have a look, desire and ignorance.

So ignorance of the true state of things, the true state of reality, that things nothing's permanent.

So that's what they mean by ignorance and desire.

This, we're always chasing after desires, what was craving things that might not be necessarily good for us, or even if they are good for us, they don't last very long, And then we get sad about it.

So according to Buddhism, that is the cause of suffering, and we need to learn how to just appreciate things when we have them effectively.

Right, meditation is about trying to stop all your thoughts.

Is that true Or is it false? False meditation is a common misconception, but meditation is really about being aware of what's in your mind, being aware of how you're feeling what's in your heart, how your body feels.

And most importantly what's in your mind.

So it's just awareness, not trying to stop anything here.

Meditation is one of the eight fold path, it's one of the pathways on the eightfold path.

Is that true or is it false? It's true, it's probably, and it's probably one of the most important ones as well.

Okay, which holy symbol referred to Dharma was misused by the Nazis? Was it the arm? Was it a smiley face? Was it Sanskrit or was it a solicitor? It was the swastika, which is an ancient Hindu.

And then later on Buddhist symbol, which refers to Dharma.

And you will often see this in many Buddhist temples, not all of them depending on the tradition, but it's not uncommon to see a swastika in a in a Buddhist temple.

Okay, I'm sure you did really, really well.

Let's have a go at this word jumble.

See if you can find the correct terms, but have a go to refresh your memory and then go back and try again to see if you've missed any, go back, always go back if you need to, there's no rush, you don't need to follow it as we're going along.

So if you do need to go back, if you've made a few mistakes and go ahead and do that, that's completely fine, that's how we learn.

But let's start with our word jumble now.

Okay, Which of these are Buddhist practises or meditation Skandha, dhamma, Maya, karma, chanting, Siddhartha, or puja.

Okay, hopefully you've just unpaused and let's have a look at the answers, chanting, meditation and puja.

These are practises.

So the others are terms that we use in Buddhism, but we're looking at particular practises for devotion, that kind of idea.

Right? Okay.

Which of these are virtuous behaviours in the eightfold path, so good ethical behaviours.

So which of these are the eightfold path? Go ahead and pause, have a think and then write down the ones that you think are the correct ones.

Okay, so let's have a look got right for you, So that's making sure that you don't have any kind of unconscious bias.

Right, action making, making sure that your intentions are the right.

You're doing it for the right reasons.

Your actions are for the right reasons, right livelihood.

So any job, anything that you're going to do, is going to make money and it needs to be, it needs to be something that doesn't hurt or cause any harm to any other beings.

So where can you practise your faith if you're a Buddhist? So again pause, have a good look and then rejoin me when you're ready for the answers.

Okay so, Vihara see you can practise in our temple, vihara is particularly in the Southeast of Asia, that there are many Viharas other temples in China and Japan.

So you can practise your faith in a temple anywhere because mindfulness is about being mindful of wherever you.

Being Buddhist is something that you do everywhere in your home as well, for example, which of these are terms related to monks and nuns? I think back to monks and nuns, which of these are related to them, go ahead and pause, have a think, write them down if you need to and join me when wish to look at the answers.

Okay, so we've got the Vinaya Pataka, which is part of the Tripikana from the Pali Canon.

And these are rules and regulations for monks and nuns in the Sangha, the Sangha which is the next one, which is the community of monks and nuns, a Bhikkhu is a monk parley term from a monk, Bukuni is a nun.

Okay, well done.

I'm sure you did very, very well.

I'm sure those, they're not easy to terms because they're so different to what we're used to, I'm sure that you are really building up a bank of good Pali Sanskrit terms now.

So well done.

Now, we're going to have a go at answering some four mark questions and a 12 mark question.

We've done this before, but let's have another go.

We're going to try and apply to Buddhist practises this time.

So explain two ways in which Buddhist practise their faith.

And this is worth four marks, so remember you need to have a point.

You need to explain it those first two marks and you need another point and then you need to explain that.

And that's how you're going to get your four mark.

Try and use key terms if you can, make sure you try and really explain your answer.

You've got a few minutes, so go ahead pause, when you're ready.

We'll look at the answers and then you can unpause Okay, so here is how it might be answered.

So point one might be a one way is through meditation and so there's your point.

This is how Buddhists practise their faith, they meditate.

No need to explain it.

So in the explanation it says, Buddhist meditate at home or in the Vihara.

This is a quiet practise in which Buddhist practise being aware of what is in their mind.

There's the explanation.

So what you're doing is you're saying what is you're stating what the practise is, and then you're explaining what it is.

Okay, another way is through Puja.

Again, you're stating what is, then the explanation is, this is a ritual or ceremony that gives thanks to the Buddha and the Dharma, which usually involves symbolic things, such as flowers or incense to show impermanence.

There's another explanation, and there's your four marks.

And I'm sure I've explained this to you before, but if you get very good particularly at, the questions we've, short, small questions we call them.

The ones that don't give you many marks, actually when you add them up, that's a lot of marks that you have, and it can really push your grade up, some students might feel a bit worried about the big kind of essay questions and think, Oh, I don't know how to answer that.

So start off small, if you're worried about that, try and nail these four mark questions, and then even the practise of this will help you work out how to build your arguments in a 12 month question, anyway.

So, these are really good practise on lots of different levels and also they keep pushing your marks up quite an easy way to get full marks.

I'm sure did really well, go ahead, mark any corrections, your answer might not be exactly like mine, that's fine.

As long as you have made the point and you've explained it and you've done this twice.

Right, let's have a look at the 12th mack question, now is usual in philosophy in Aria, you start off with a statement rather than a question.

We just call it a question because these are what happened.

This is what comes up in the exam.

So the statement is the only way to reach enlightenment is to join the Sangha.

So in this question, you definitely need to know what is meant by enlightenment.

And you definitely need to know what a Sangha is.

So if you know these things, and then you can get really good marks.

So look at the support box.

So what you need to do is you can start off by just bullet pointing three arguments that agree with the statement, three state, three bullet points, agree that you have to join the Sangha if you want to be coming enlightened.

And then now what you can do is bullet point three points that disagree with the statement.

So three ideas that say, actually you don't have to be part of the Sangha.

And then what you need to do is later on, you're going to develop these by explaining your points, and then you add a conclusive paragraph.

So have a look at the support box, go ahead and pause, have a good thing, and then write out your answer and then join me against who have looked at some possible responsive.

So one of the ways that you might, some of the arguments you might have had that agree with the statement.

So the only way to join to each an item is to join a Sangha.

You might have said, well, the three jewels say that in order to gain refuge, you put your faith in.

You take refuge in the Buddha as a role model, who was obviously part of the Sangha because he was the teacher, the Dharma, his teachings and the Sangha.

So in all three of those, you've got reference to the Sangha because the Dharma includes all the teachings, but also specific most of monks and nuns for people.

If you look at the Abbi Dharma, Pataka, that is for people, who've really reached a certain state of consciousness through really deep, deep, deep, deep meditation.

And you could argue that that can only really happen if you're in the Sangha, you've taken yourself out of society.

So the Sangha mights, this leads us on to the next point.

The Sangha might provide the right environment because you're surrounded by other monks and nuns.

You have very good easy access to the teachings of the Buddha.

You've taken yourself away from the distractions of normal life and you support, you have the support of the other monks and nuns around you and possible teachers.

You can think you can argue that ascetics historically removed themselves from society.

So after the Buddha experienced the four sites and decided that he wanted to find out the truth of being, he went off and he went into the forest, but that's not something that he invented it already existed.

There was a long history, a very, very long history of people, kind of meditating or doing these other kind of techniques, meditative techniques, yoga techniques, to really understand the mind and body and the nature of reality.

And what they would do is take themselves away from society.

So it was something that happened before.

So you could argue, well that's the point of the Sangha it existed already because people wanted to become enlightened.

And, we've mentioned the Vinaya and Abhitama, Abidama, Pataka, which has specific teachings on how to get there.

So you could have used any of these points, in your essay that agrees with the statement.

Remember you were looking at, two points on either side, really five or six in total, and then your conclusion.

Now, if you wanted to disagree with the statement, you could say well, actually the Buddha was self-taught.

He didn't have a teacher, he did it by herself, so that means anyone can do this.

You can argue that there are many, many lay Buddhist.

So there are many, many Buddhists who haven't joined the Sangha who just live their normal lives, but are on the path to enlighten and they're trying their best.

And that doesn't mean that they can't actually achieve enlightenment one day.

And you could argue that the four noble to show how to become enlightened.

So it explains the basics and then the eightfold path tells you exactly what you need to do as a guide.

And you still got even more.

It's not like you can't access any of the Buddhist texts.

You can still do that, if you are part of the Sangha, you could still go to temple.

So you could argue those things.

And that leads us to the final point that you still get support from the Sangha, that you can still go and learn about the Buddhist teachings, and you can still go and get support from, you don't actually have to be part of the Sangha to become enlightened.

You can argue any of those things, a good argument, kind of pings, pop, ping, pongs, back and forth a bit like if you watching two Buddhists having an argument, one agrees with the statement and the other one disagrees, and you can see them kind of arguing.

That's sort of good essay looks like maybe, like I said, probably about five or six points and a good conclusion.

A good conclusion really is, it's not a good conclusion isn't one line.

It has to be another paragraph and it needs to really revisit and go back to the arguments that you've made and then reach a conclusion, your conclusion.

What do you think of the statement? Do you agree or do you disagree and tell me why on your essay on your conclusion and that if you can do all of that, break it down into these little sections very quickly, you'll see the mark starting to add up.

So well done again for another great lesson, I'm sure that you did brilliantly with your answers and your practise exam questions.

So, and hopefully the more it's kind of going in and all the pieces are starting to connect.

What I need you to do now is go ahead and after this finish the summary quiz.

So we're going to keep doing some more practise after that.

And again, as usual just keep talking about what you're learning.

It just helps consolidate all the knowledge that you have been picking up.

And I will see you again, next lesson.