What answers might be given by Buddhists and
other people to questions about life and
suffering?
(8-12 years)
Get a
Perspective:
insights from inside
the religion and
belief traditions
Subject
Knowledge
and links to
further
information
Questions
for pupils and
questions
pupils ask
The
Bhavachakra:
Buddhist Wheel
of Life
Focus for
Learning &
Assessment:
pedagogies and
areas of enquiry
Learning
Activities:
supporting pupils’
progress
RE:ONLINE Banquet
What answers might be given by Buddhists and other people to
questions about life and suffering? (8-12 years)
Subject Knowledge
Here is some key vocabulary to help you prepare for using this resource:
• Kamma / karma: Action. Intentional actions that affect one’s circumstances in this and
future lives.
• Bhavachakra: the ‘Wheel of Becoming’ or ‘Wheel of Life’.
• Yama: ‘The Lord of Death’ or ‘Demon of Impermanence’. Yama is often pictured as the
monster holding the Wheel of Life, symbolising the fact that suffering and death comes
to all living beings. He is also known as a protector of Buddhism and Buddhists against
evil.
• Buddha: the ‘Awakened’ or ‘Enlightened’ One. Many Buddhists believe there have been
many Buddhas through history, but that the Buddha of our age is the enlightened person
Siddattha Gotama (Pali) / Siddhartha Gautama (Sanskrit), who lived in what is now
Nepal around 2,500 years ago.
• Dhamma / dharma: Universal law; ultimate truth. The teachings of the Buddha.
Some of these terms are also key concepts. Here is some further background to some of
these to help you prepare for the teaching and learning activities:
• Kamma / karma: The Buddha taught that effects depends on volition. This marks the
Buddhist treatment of kamma as different from the Hindu understanding of karma.
• Dhamma / dharma: In this banquet, pupils investigate Buddhist ideas about life, truth
and suffering. In particular they focus on the symbolism within the Bhavachakra as a
way of finding out what Buddhists believe about the ‘bad attitudes’ that can lead away
from true happiness and towards increased suffering.
• Wheel of life: Also known as the ‘Wheel of Becoming’. Presented here in diagrammatic
form, showing the Buddha preaching / teaching in each of six realms of existence. The
Buddha is working to save beings and to help them towards enlightenment what ever
state they find themselves in.
We think the following links related to this resource should prove useful if you would like to
explore the subject further:
• Beliefs and concepts in Buddhism >> [ http://www.reonline.org.uk/knowing/whatre/buddhism/ ]
• BBC basic introduction to Buddhism >> [ www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/ ]
Articles about and pictures of the Bhavachakra – the Buddhist Wheel of Life:
Interactive Wheel of Life: www.buddhanet.net/wheel2.htm
• www.thebuddhistsociety.org/resources/The_Wheel_of_Life.html
• www.exoticindiaart.com/article/wheeloflife/
• https://picasaweb.google.com/1003fuss/RADdesLEBENS20091000fuss#541581755759
9976754
© 2013 RE:ONLINE
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RE:ONLINE Banquet
What answers might be given by Buddhists and other people to
questions about life and suffering? (8-12 years)
Focus for Learning and Assessment
Approaches to learning in the aims of the Learning Activities for this Resource
1. Mostly using the human development: learning about / learning from approach:
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•
encouraging children to develop their own patterns of belief and behaviour through
exploring religious beliefs and practices and related human experiences;
providing opportunities for children to develop spiritually, morally, socially and
culturally.
2. Elements of the phenomenological approach:
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helping pupils know and understand some Buddhist beliefs and teachings;
developing pupils’ ability to give accounts of the impact of some Buddhist teachings
upon believers.
The sample learning activities provide an introduction to some key teachings of Buddhism
as expressed in the Bhavachakra – the Wheel of Life paintings. The linked activities are
designed to help pupils learn about these teachings. They also contain ideas for pupils to
ask their own questions and to learn from Buddhism as they think about how human nature
contains the seeds of much suffering in the world.
The example makes potential cross-curricular connections with the following:
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PSHE, e.g., in reflecting on spiritual, moral, social, and cultural issues, using imagination
to understand other people's experiences;
ICT, e.g., in using ICT to develop and refine their ideas by bringing together, organising
and reorganising text and images as appropriate.
The lessons could be used in discrete RE time or as part of a ‘creative curriculum’ approach
where RE links with other curriculum subjects around a theme or key question, such as
‘The Circle of Life’.
© 2013 RE:ONLINE
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In terms of assessing pupils’ progress in RE, the focus for this example is on the following
Areas of Enquiry:
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•
Area A (Beliefs, teachings and sources) and
Area E (Meaning, purpose and truth).
Pupils participating in the investigation of this resource might be expected to make progress
within the following range of expectations:
Expectations: A & D refer here to the focus areas of enquiry identified above.
By the end of this sequence of learning:
All pupils can:
Most pupils (majority class Some pupils can:
expectation) can:
A2
recall aspects of the
Buddhist Wheel of Life and
say some things that people
believe.
A3
describe what a
believer might learn from the
Wheel of Life.
A4
make links between
the beliefs (teachings,
sources, etc.) of different
religious groups and show
how they are connected to
believers’ lives.
E2
talk about some
things in the Wheel of Life
that make people ask
questions.
E3
ask important
questions about life and
compare their ideas with
those of other people.
E4
ask questions about
meaning and purpose of life,
and suggest a range of
answers which might be
given by them as well as
members of different
religious groups or
individuals.
© 2013 RE:ONLINE
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RE:ONLINE Banquet
What answers might be given by Buddhists and other people to
questions about life and suffering? (8-12 years)
Questions
As well as the key question, this example can be built around questions that pupils ask
about the resource.
How to develop pupils’ question-making powers, e.g., http://p4c.com/articles/communityenquiry-framework
How to build pupils’ enquiries into the assessment scheme, e.g.,
http://amv.somerset.gov.uk/syllabus/standards-and-assessment/assessment-guide/ > 1.8.
Here are some examples of questions pupils might ask, based on this Resource:
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Who is that monster holding the Wheel? [Yama – ‘The Lord of Death’]
Who are all those people round the edges of the Wheel? [See the interactive Wheel for
answers]
Why is there a pig, a cockerel and a snake in the middle? [See the interactive Wheel for
answers]
Why are there six worlds? [In some traditions there are five – combining the worlds of
gods and half-gods – but they represent all possible types of existence]
Why do they do these paintings? [Used mainly in Tibetan Buddhism, for meditation: it
helps to reflect on the process of life and on helpful and unhelpful feelings, thoughts and
actions. Buddhists call this world samsara, ‘the continuous flow of life’.
Here are some more questions to ask the pupils, some that may provoke learning about
religion and belief, and some that may inspire learning from religion and belief:
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What it might mean to behave ‘like an animal’ or a ‘hungry ghost’?
Why do some people practise meditation?
How might contemplation of a religious painting help someone in their life?
How can anybody be really happy when there is so much suffering in the world?
How can we all help to make life better for each other?
© 2013 RE:ONLINE
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RE:ONLINE Banquet
What answers might be given by Buddhists and other people to
questions about life and suffering? (8-12 years)
Get a Perspective
Here are some links to what Buddhists say that may be relevant to this resource:
•
Children Talking >> [ www.natre.org.uk/db/profile2a.php ]
•
The Buddhist Society: explanations of the Bhavachakra – the ‘Wheel of Life’ >> [
www.thebuddhistsociety.org/resources/The_Wheel_of_Life.html ]
Or, you can search for Buddhist answers to your questions at: http://pof.reonline.org.uk
or email a Buddhist or an RE Expert to find out an answer to your own question(s).
© 2013 RE:ONLINE
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RE:ONLINE Banquet
What answers might be given by Buddhists and other people to
questions about life and suffering? (8-12 years)
Learning Activities
This sequence of learning activities is built around the Bhavachakra – the Buddhist ‘Wheel
of Life’: http://www.reonline.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Banq-Bud-0001Res1-Wheel-of-Life-v06-JR.jpg
An alternative, interactive version of the Wheel of Life can be accessed at:
http://www.buddhanet.net/wheel2.htm
Here are some ideas to use in the classroom to make the most of the Resource.
Assessment opportunities are given to show where you need to watch for pupils’
participation and contribution to the lesson. At key points you may wish to make a record of
individual responses.
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Explain that pupils are going to investigate how the Buddha is believed to change the
lives of people, animals and spirit beings, wherever they find themselves. This will help
their investigation of what people believe about life and suffering.
Remind them that the Buddha was a great teacher who lived around 2,500 years ago,
and that his followers are called Buddhists. They believe that the Buddha, through his
own great efforts, found out the best way to live. Explain that Buddhists believe that
every action has a consequence for good or ill and that in the diagram you are going to
show them this is symbolised in different ways. Every form of being, wherever it is, is
subject to this law of cause and effect, known as karma. So – human beings and
animals cannot avoid cause and effect, and even if you think there are worlds beyond
this one – like heaven and hell – karma still works.
Put the Bhavachakra image up on a whiteboard and take them round the diagram,
especially the six worlds of existence, showing how there is suffering everywhere, but
that in each world the Buddha is there to help. Explain that it is possible to take this
account of six worlds literally, i.e., that beings may be reborn in different worlds, but that
it may also apply to our lives here and now in terms of the way people behave. Ask
pupils what it might mean to behave ‘like an animal’ or a ‘hungry ghost’, for example.
On the board, put six ‘bad attitudes’ that might be linked to each state of being:
Jealousy, Selfishness, Wilful ignorance, Pride, Greed and Planning To Do Evil. Can
pupils think of examples where each of these might lead to bad consequences? List
some of these on the board. Ask pupils to imagine interviewing people who had done
these bad actions. What questions would they ask and what answers / excuses do you
think they would receive? Compare answers across the class.
[Assessment opportunity: E3 ask important questions and compare their ideas
with those of other people.]
Provide pupils with a printed version of the Wheel of Life http://www.reonline.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Banq-Bud-0001© 2013 RE:ONLINE
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Res1-Wheel-of-Life-v06-JR.jpg . Ask pupils to work in pairs to recall aspects of the
Wheel, labelling the different sections with key points about what Buddhists believe is
being illustrated/symbolised.
[Assessment opportunity: A2 recall aspects of the Buddhist Wheel of Life and say
some things that people believe]
Encourage pupils to discuss the details of the picture in their pairs and then to share
ideas on the most interesting or puzzling aspects. Prompt their thinking by asking how
they can tell that one figure in each of the six ‘worlds of existence’ is the Buddha [He is
the largest figure; he has a halo; he carries something to help the beings in that realm];
whether they can think of other religions that picture special people in this way [e.g.,
Christian Saints, Jesus, Sikh Gurus, etc]; whether they can work out what kind of beings
are living in each of the six parts of the main picture, and so on. Use the information in
the Buddhanet interactive guide for further ideas.
[Assessment opportunity: E2 talk about some things in the Wheel of Life that
make people ask questions.]
Now ask pupils to note what the Buddha is carrying in each world. [See Wheel of Life
Symbolism - http://www.reonline.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/BanqBud-0001-Res2-Wheel-of-Life-Symbolism.doc ] Ask pupils to imagine that a being in
each world has got a chance to ask the Buddha ONE question. Pupils can work out their
ideas in small groups, write them down, then compare across the class. Keep a note of
the questions for the final activity (below).
[Assessment opportunity: E3 ask important questions and compare their ideas
with those of other people.]
Point out the monster [Yama] holding the whole wheel and ask: Why does a monster
hold the wheel of life? [Because, Buddhists believe, all of life is in the grip of suffering
and death.]
Explain that you would now like them to work out how the Buddha might be helping the
creatures in each world. Divide the class into six groups. Print Wheel of Life
Symbolism (http://www.reonline.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/BanqBud-0001-Res2-Wheel-of-Life-Symbolism.doc ) onto card and cut up into the six
sections. Provide each group with one of the cards. Ask each group to read the
information and the question on the card and to write down their answer – give each
group just 3 or 4 minutes for each card. They then pass their card on to the next group
and so on until all groups have tried all the questions. Share some of the answers
across the class.
[Assessment opportunity: E2 talk about some things in the Wheel of Life that
make people ask questions.]
In preparation for the next lesson, use the ‘Post-It’ tool found in www.classtools.net.
Paste a digital version of the Wheel of Life [ http://www.reonline.org.uk/wordpress/wpcontent/uploads/2013/04/Banq-Bud-0001-Res1-Wheel-of-Life-v06-JR.jpg ] into a new
Post-It template and add three labels for each of the six worlds (use three different
colours): use a yellow label to name each of the six worlds; use a red label for each of
the sinful attitudes; use a green label for each of the Buddha’s gifts that he carries to
each world. See ‘Guide to the Worlds of Existence’
(http://www.reonline.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Banq-Bud-0001Res3-Guide-to-the-Worlds-of-Existence.doc) for labels. Upload the template to your
school network.
Provide access for pupils to computers. Direct them to your preloaded Post-It tool on the
school network and invite pupils to work in pairs and to drag the black dots to label the
Diagram correctly.
© 2013 RE:ONLINE
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Ask pupils to then add their own labels saying what they think is good about each of the
Buddha’s gifts, e.g. ‘The lute plays music’, ‘The flaming sword is powerful’, ‘The alms
bowl provides food’, ‘The book is for wisdom’, ‘The jar of nectar brings sweetness’, ‘The
flaming torch brings light and hope’. Provide pupils with some of these words to help
them. Of course the symbolism goes deeper than this; the idea is to start pupils thinking
about how the Buddha helps people who are suffering in a variety of ways.
[Assessment opportunity: A3 describe what a believer might learn from the Wheel
of Life.]
Explain that Buddhists believe that the Buddha’s teaching can help everyone to stop
suffering, wherever they are [by stopping self-centred desires]. Many Buddhists use
paintings of the Wheel of Life to meditate on. They might look at each section and
carefully consider what it means for them. Other Buddhists prefer not to use such
paintings for meditation, but instead to meditate on a single thought or point. Ask pupils
to say which method they think might help a Buddhist to lead a happier life and to give
some reasons.
[Assessment opportunity: A4 make links between the teachings of different
religious groups and show how they are connected to believers’ lives.]
Remind pupils of the questions they wrote for the Buddha and ask them to choose three
of the best. Ask them to work out in their groups what answers they think the Buddha
might give to these questions, bearing in mind the ‘gifts’ that he is carrying in the Wheel
of Life pictures. What answers would pupils give if they were being asked those
questions?
[Assessment opportunity: E4 ask questions about meaning and purpose of life,
and suggest a range of answers which might be given by them as well as
members of different religious groups or individuals.]
© 2013 RE:ONLINE
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