Lesson video

Hello, welcome, my name is Ms Pauvaday.

Today we are going to continue our lessons on Buddhism.

We're going to be doing some revision practise to consolidate all the wonderful things, all the excellent things that you have learnt so far.

So make sure you're nice and ready and join me in a moment.

Today we're going to be looking at practises, revision of practises, but you are going to need a few things.

So you're going to need two different coloured pens to do some corrections, paper as usual, and make sure that our minds are nice and switched on, so that we can really kind of analyse what we're learning, analyse how Buddhist practise today.

If you can go somewhere nice and quiet, away from anything that's distracting you and pause.

Go ahead and pause and join me when you're ready.

Okay, so today we're going to be looking, we're going to be drilling and consolidating ideas from this entire unit, we're going to do it in three stages.

In the first one we're going to look at practises and then we're going to look at denominations.

And then we're going to look at Buddhist festivals, and hopefully that's going to give you a whole-rounded view.

We're going to come back, revisit everything that we need to from this unit.

And you're going to leave feeling really confident that you know what you're doing.

So let's have a look at practises first.

Have a look at these questions.

Now at any point if you want to pause throughout this video, just do so.

I'm going to run ahead as usual, but that doesn't mean you have to either.

So just take it your own pace, pause when you want to, and then get your answers down.

So, which of these are not used in Puja? It's a Buddha statue, flowers, incense, or diamonds.

So have a think about that.

Write it down and rejoin me when you're ready.

Okay, the answer is diamonds.

Diamonds are not used Puja, but a Buddha statue would be used to kind of give a reference to the Puja as a great teacher, flowers and incense are beautiful.

They smell good, but they are impermanent.

So it's that reminder of this, this one of the marks of existence, there's nothing permanent in this world.

Okay, what's are prayer beads used for? Are they used to pray to God? Are they jewellery for Buddhists or do they help count mantras? They help count mantras.

So Buddhists use this for meditation and they, as they're kind of calling out mantras, they just kind of count them as they go along.

It helps focus the mind.

It helps get into a deeper state of meditation.

Okay, which of these are Buddhist practises? So you've got a few here that you could possibly answer.

So have a look, pause if you need to and join me when you're ready.

Okay, so we'll look at the answers.

So you've got meditation, definitely a Buddhist practise.

Canting, that definitely happens in some forms of Buddhism.

And mindfulness, which is the Eightfold Path, effectively being mindful of what you're doing.

Your actions.

And Puja, Puja happens as well in many Buddhist traditions.

Right, okay, let's have a go at a four mark question.

So your question is to explained two ways that Buddhists practise their faith.

Remember it's four marks.

So if you remember to previous lessons, you need to make a point.

You need to explain it.

You need to make another point and then you need to explain.

That's how you get your four marks.

So go ahead and pause.

Write out the question and answer when you're ready, come back and we will look at the answers.

So here is a possible answer.

Remember, my answer might be different from yours, but the most crucial thing is that you've got your points.

You've explained it.

You've got another point and that you've explained it.

And that you've got key terms in there as well.

So explain two ways Buddhists practise their faith.

Grab your pen for any corrections, so you can correct your work as you go along.

The first point here I've put is a key practise of Buddhism is meditation.

And my explanation is, "Meditation is seen as a really important practise "to help in becoming aware "of what is in the mind and the heart." My second point is the Eightfold Path requires that Buddhists develop mindfulness.

So I'm showing there's actually a slight difference between meditation and mindfulness.

Mindfulness is the practise strengthened through meditation that helps Buddhists be mindful of what they think, do, and say.

Okay, so I've explained, I've said what my point is, and now I've explained it.

And so I should get four marks.

So go ahead, look at your work.

Think, "Have I done that? "Have I explained two practises, "two things that Buddhists do?" And have I explained why they do them and then give yourself the marks.

I'm sure you did really well.

Right, let's have a look at denominations.

What does Buddha mean? Does it mean God? Does it mean Prince? Does it mean Brahman or does it mean awakened? It means awakened.

So, but remember Buddha is not a name, it's a title.

So it means awakened being.

What is an Arhat? Is it an enlightened being? Is it a Buddha? Is it Brahman or is it an Aryan? Okay, yes, a Arhat is an enlightened being.

So Arhat, this is particularly in the Theravada tradition.

They are aiming to become Arhats and really trying to escape suffering, because then the next birth will be Nirvana.

Okay, what is a Bodhisattva? Is it an awakened being who focuses on self-liberation? Or is it an awakened being that vows to help others to escape samsara? Okay, so an awakened being that vows to help others escape from samsara.

So Bodhisattvas are awakened beings, but they stay in, they stay in the cycle of rebirth they're there to kind of help people keep escaping, to kind of teach the Dharma to help people escape samsara.

What does karma mean? Does it mean what goes around comes around? Does it mean revenge? Does it mean teachings or does it mean actions? It means action.

So karma means action and from karma comes certain consequences.

So it's basically the idea that the actions that you have produce either good karmic effects or they produce bad karmic effects and that it's going to come back to you.

Okay, right, let's have a look at this.

So pause the video if you need to.

Which denomination claims to be the oldest, do you think? Okay, and the answer to that question is Theravada.

They claim to be the oldest.

They believe that they're Sangha, they're monks and nuns, can be traced all the way back to Buddha.

And remember, Theravada really started to grow in Sri Lanka, which is where the Tripitaka was written down, the first text of Buddhism.

Okay, which denomination is known as the greater vehicle? Okay, this is known as the Mahayana vehicle, it's known as the greater.

Maha means great.

Yana means vehicle.

And the reason it's known as that is because it has so many, so many schools, hundreds about, and they have this idea that they want everyone to become enlightened.

So that's why you have bodies that stay in samsara to help as many people, as many beings as possible to become enlightened.

It's a greater vehicle, it's a greater escape vessel to get away from suffering.

If you think of it in those terms. Okay, which denominations uses Tantric teachings? Okay, the answer to that is the Vajrayana, typically known as Tibetan Buddhism.

They use Tantra teachings, which are originally Hindu, but the whole point of Tantra is to use kind of the body, energies in the body to help, help liberate the mind basically.

And they see this as a kind of more direct, straightforward, faster, more efficient way of helping people to become liberated.

But, okay, let's have a look at this, which of these can be found in their Tripitaka? So go ahead, do pause, because there's quite a few on here.

So have a think, and then rejoin me when you're ready for the answers.

Okay, so let's have a look at the answers.

So you've got the Vinyana, which is the Vinyana Tripitaka, which is the teachings of the monks and nuns in the Sanger.

You've got the Dhammapada, which are sermons and sayings of the Buddha.

So you would find that in the Sutta Tripitaka, it's one of the books inside the Sutta Tripitaka.

The Abhidhamma Tripitaka is the kind of deep philosophical teachings for people who are really kind of up there.

They're getting there.

They've got a kind of real sense of the kind of subtle and complex nature of reality.

So these teachings are to help guide those people who are quite far into their journey towards enlightenment.

The Sutta Tripitaka are the teachings and the sermons of the Buddha.

And we mentioned the Dhammapada is part of that.

Oh, I went too quickly.

So the other ones, don't get confused.

Mahavamsa is the historical texts that were written down in Sri Lanka, kind of showing the history of Sri Lanka.

Mahayana Sutras are texts that Buddhists in the Mahayana tradition will follow.

So it's not part of the Tripitaka.

Vedas are the ancient Indian Hindu texts.

And the Tantric Sutras are used in Tibetan Buddhism as well.

They're not part of the Tripitaka.

Okay, I'm just going to move myself over here a little bit.

So do pause the video.

Look at this 12 Mark question.

So give yourself some time to do this.

Look at the statement.

Remember in RE or religious studies, whatever it's called at your school, sometimes it's known as philosophy and ethics.

Basically you start with a statement.

So, many students get confused with this and it's completely understandable why, because it doesn't look like a question, but in philosophy and ethics, or RE, your job is to be critical.

Your job is to, not be critical in a negative sense, but your job is to kind of be able to think from both sides of the coin.

That's what we mean about being critical.

So you start off the statement and then your job is to kind of argue both sides of the statement.

And then you give your conclusion at the end.

So this statement is saying, "Theravada Buddhism is the most important Buddhism." And that's worth 12 marks.

That means you need to come up with a couple of bullet points that agree with this statement.

Just a couple of reasons that might agree with this statement.

And then a couple that disagree with the statement.

And once you've got those, and you can start thinking about your arguments, because you need to argue your way through, and do use key terms. Do use examples because that's where you're going to get marks.

And don't forget your paragraph at the end, a conclusive paragraph, which is the conclusion.

It's very, very important.

Don't skip on it because that's where you're going to get a lot of your marks.

Explain what you think.

So you said, "This is possibly a reason.

"This is possibly the reason of something "that might disagree with the statement." You've done that a couple of times.

And then finally you get to the point where you think, okay, but this is actually what I think about the statement.

So what you're doing is you're saying, "I've thought about both sides.

"I thought about people that would agree "with this statement.

"I've thought about people who would disagree "with the statement.

"And now this is what I think, "having listened to all these different arguments." So go ahead and pause.

Take some time, map it out, write out your answer and when you're ready, join me and we will go over some potential answers.

Okay, so here are some-- I'm just giving you some examples of things that you might put down.

So Theravada of Buddhism is the most important type of Buddhism.

Some things that might agree with that is you could say, well, it's the oldest surviving.

It's the closest that we know to the teachings of the Buddha.

That's what they claim.

They claim to also trace their lineage back to the Buddha.

So the teachings that they have from current monks in the Theravada tradition, they claim that they can trace those teachers all the way back.

Going back, back, back, back, back to the Buddha himself.

You can say that it was Theravada Buddhists that wrote down the Tripitaka, which are the, the teachings of the Buddha.

And these were supposedly remembered by monks.

They remembered what the Buddha said, and then kind of passed down through the Sangha.

So you could say, okay, that's why it's more important because it's more authentic and you can say, and also they deny any kind of, they're not really interested in any kind of supernatural focus because they were more interested in just being human because the Buddha was human and he was able to get to enlightenment.

So you can say they don't need anything else.

They just need the Dharma and the support of the Sangha.

And then that way you can reach enlightenment.

So you can argue those things.

You can argue any of those.

You're not going to make so many arguments because you probably would just use two.

But the most important thing is that you need to be clear.

So you use examples, things like the Tripitaka, you could talk about lineage.

You can talk about that it's the oldest surviving.

Those are examples.

Let's have a look at disagree.

So statements that are going to disagree with, with this idea might be that you could say, well, Mahayana schools, they aim to bring everyone out of suffering.

So it's not self-liberation.

They're trying to get everyone, all beings out of suffering.

Therefore it might be more important because you have lots of enlightened beings, are supposedly supporting the system of trying to help lots of people, lots of beings out of suffering.

You can also say, well, in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition, they claim that the Tripitaka doesn't contain all of the Buddhist teachings, there are some of the focuses that can be found in the Mahayana Sutras and that they focus on a different part, which they might think is more important.

And you can also say that you've got a lot more, a lot more assistance in this system because you can call upon other Bodhis and deities to help you to get to enlightenment, because it's not an easy thing to do.

It's quite an extreme thing to do.

You've got to be extremely dedicated, which many people are, and maybe this form of Buddhism, it just gives you a bit more support perhaps.

So you could argue those kinds of things.

So whatever you decide, remember you need a couple of arguments that agree a couple of arguments that disagree, and then your conclusion.

So it's okay to go back to another point and say, well, actually I kind of agree with this point, but you need to state it and you need to explain why you agree with that.

Okay.

And that's how you're going to get your marks and make sure that you are, that you've got your point, that you're explaining it.

And that you've got a key point.

So think of it in these terms, you get a tick for a point, a couple of ticks for really explaining it.

And a couple of ticks for any key terms, key terminology that you use you'll get marks for.

Right, let's have a look at Buddhist festivals.

I'm just going to move my face again.

Right, so go ahead and pause.

Which festival celebrates the main achievements of the Buddha's life? What do you think that is? So pause, come back when you're ready.

Okay, so this festival is Vesak.

Vesak is a very popular a festival in Theravada countries and celebrates his birthday, but also all the achievements of his life.

Which festival remembers the Buddha's death? So again, if you want to pause, go ahead, come back when you're ready for the answer.

So the answer to this would be Parinirvana, which is the day that particularly Mahayana Buddhists, they will commemorate, they will remember the time that the Buddha went into the final Nirvana as well.

And it helps them remember that he bought, he talked for 45 years and it reinforces his idea of compassion in Mahayana countries, Mahayana Buddhism.

Which festival is seen as the world's largest water fight? And the answer to that is Songkran, particularly in Thailand, but you will find it in Cambodia, and the Theravada countries.

And yeah, it's basically the Buddhist new year, mid April, I think it is.

And it's just a massive water fight.

And you can't really walk down the street without someone chucking a massive bucket of water over your head.

And it's not just for kids, it's for everyone.

So I distinctly remember seeing a little old lady having a massive bucket of water being chucked over her head, and she just laughed it off.

She thought it was hilarious because it's part of the culture.

Water represents purity.

It's a new year.

It also helps them understand they have to purify their minds.

Coming back to this idea of meditation and mindfulness as well.

Okay, which festival gives thanks to all Buddhist teachers? Okay, the particularly famous one in Tibet is known as Monlam.

And because in Tibet and Buddhism, you've got this extra refuge where you take refuge in a guru.

So in Tibetan Buddhism, you have a teacher, you have a guide that's going to help you towards the path of enlightenment.

So this Monlam festival gives thanks to all teachers, gurus, previous teachers, past, present, and future, that kind of idea.

Right, okay, so now here's your question.

It's another three mark question.

Nice and straightforward.

You need to outline three Buddhist festivals.

Now note the key term here is outline.

It's not explain, it's not state, it's outline, which means that you have to say what it is, and then you need to write a sentence outlining what it is.

So if you're going to say Parinirvana for example, you need to say what it is.

You need to say Parinirvana, and then you need to say what it is.

And that's going to give you one mark, and you need to do this three times to get your full three marks.

So have a look at the question, pause, join me in a moment when you're ready.

Okay, so these are, again, you might have slightly different answers, but the thing that we are most concerned with to make sure that you get the marks is that you are stating the festival.

And then secondly, you're explaining it.

And if you can do that, that gives you one mark.

You need to do that three times for this question.

So I've put here, Wesak.

So there's my festival.

And now I'm going to explain what is Wesak.

Wesak is known as the Buddha's birthday, but it celebrates all the achievements of his life.

So that would give me one mark.

So you can give yourself a tick if you have that, but you can correct your answers as you go along.

My second one is Parinirvana Day, which celebrates when the Buddha finally went to Nirvana.

And my third point is Songkran.

Songkran is known as the world's largest water fight and it's a Buddhist New Year celebrated in April.

So as long as you have got three statements that have you stating a festival, and you're explaining what that festival is in every statement, then that's your three marks.

So go ahead, give yourself tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, as you go along and make any corrections if you need to.

Right, okay.

So your last task for today is to go ahead and create a recall and revision map.

So this is going to help you just remember all of this.

You've spent so much time doing all of this, you know, congratulations, well done.

It's not easy, but you've done it.

So you should be proud of yourself.

But it's easy to forget this stuff, particularly a school with so much knowledge and being kind of crammed in all the time.

So by creating a revision map, what you're doing is you're not relearning it.

What you're doing is you're creating something that's going to trigger the knowledge that you already have.

So organise your mat under practises, denominations, and festivals.

Include the key information for those three topics.

Include Pali and Sanskrit terms and highlight them, write down what they are in English.

And any kind of important events that you can add to your mat as well.

Do use colour and pictures, because we know that we are more likely to recall things through colour and pictures.

So if you've just got a bunch of writing, you're not going to remember that.

So use as much colour and pictures as you can.

And please, please, please, if you can share them with us, we would love to see them.

We really would, but you must ask permission.

Well done.

Well done, another great lesson.

I'm sure you did brilliantly.

I'm sure that really helped consolidate lots of different types of knowledge, lots of key terms, and that you're nice and clear on Buddhist practises now.

You should, as usual go ahead and we need to do two things now.

You need to go and do the summary quiz because that will really drive home any last kind of confusions.

Make sure that you've really consolidated it.

And again, just share what you're learning, because it just such a good tool to help you articulate your thoughts, articulate what you've learned.

Really good for memory as well.

And yes, a big well done, really well done on this lesson.

And I will see you again next time.

Bye.