Download Gotama Buddha - Founder of Buddhism

Gotama Buddha
– Founder of Buddhism
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Who was Gotama Buddha?
Gotama Buddha was the founder of Buddhism. He lived
around 2,500 years ago in India.
He gained the title Buddha, meaning ‘the awakened one’,
when he became enlightened at the age of 35.
For the next 45 years he taught the Noble Eightfold Path
to enlightenment and the end of all suffering.
The wheel is the main symbol of Buddhism.
It symbolizes the Noble Eightfold Path to
enlightenment.
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Where and when was the Buddha born?
The Buddha was born in Kapilavastu, India in 563 BC.
Before he became the Buddha he was known as Prince
Siddhartha Gotama.
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Map of the Buddha’s life
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The life of the Buddha
Date
Event
563 BCE Birth
Age
0
Place
Lumbini
547 BCE Marriage
16
Kapilavastu
534 BCE Renunciation
29
Kapilavastu
528 BCE Enlightenment
35
Bodh Gaya
528 BCE First sermon
35
Sarnath
483 BCE Death
80
Kusinara
Fill in the missing information. Check your answers
and then write a short ‘Life of the Buddha’.
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Why was the Buddha’s birth special?
Before he was born, Gotama’s mother – Queen Maya –
had a dream that a white elephant entered her womb. Ten
months later she gave birth to her son on a full moon night
at Lumbini while on her way home to see her parents.
When he was born it is said that he leapt onto the ground
and where he touched it a lotus flower sprang up.
Astrologers predicted he would either be a great ruler or
a great religious teacher.
Buddhists today visit Lumbini
during the festival of Wesak in
April–May.
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Gotama the prince
Prince Gotama grew up surrounded by luxury. His
father tried to keep him in the palace as he wanted him
to rule the kingdom. Astrologers had predicted that if he
saw suffering he would become a great religious
teacher.
Gotama married at the age of 16
and had a son. However, he
became dissatisfied with his life.
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Gotama leaves home
Prince Gotama left the palace and went into the city
of Kapilavastu. He saw four sights that changed his life.
1. An old person
2. An ill person
3. A corpse
4. A holy man
We all grow old.
We all get ill.
We all die.
You can be happy
without wealth.
He realized that life involves suffering. He gave up
his life as a prince, and set off to find out why people
suffer. He was 29 years old.
Why do you think Gotama left home?
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The enlightenment of the Buddha
Gotama went to live in the forest, in the company of five
wandering holy men. He ate only the minimum to stay alive,
but, after six years, he realised he was no closer to knowing
the meaning of life. He then decided to live a life between
the extremes of luxury and self-denial.
Gotama became fully enlightened
while meditating under a Bo tree
at Bodh Gaya. He experienced
perfect peace, and awareness of
the cause and end of all suffering.
He became the Buddha, the
Enlightened One.
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The Buddha’s teachings
The Buddha decided to teach others the path to
enlightenment and gave his first sermon in the deer park
at Sarnath. His teachings are called the Dhamma.
The Buddha’s teachings include:
The Four Noble Truths
The Five Precepts
The Noble Eightfold path
How did the Buddha achieve enlightenment?
What effect did achieving enlightenment have on the
Buddha?
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The Middle Way of Buddhism
The Buddha taught The Middle Way between luxury
and self-denial.
Luxury
Living the life of
a prince with
everything
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Self-denial
Living the life of
a holy man with
nothing
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Wisdom
The Buddha said that you need to have wisdom to
know the cause of suffering and how to find release
from it. Here is an example of wisdom.
A warrior is hit by a
poisoned arrow on the
battlefield.
A) He refuses to remove
it until he knows
everything about the
arrow and who fired it.
B) He finds a doctor who
can remove the arrow
quickly and safely.
Which do you think is the wisest solution?
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The Four Noble Truths
Life is full of suffering
Suffering is caused by desire
Suffering can be ended by overcoming desire
The way to end suffering is by following the
middle path through life
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The Five Precepts
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The Noble Eightfold Path
The Buddha listed eight steps to guide his followers
through life. These steps form the Noble Eightfold Path.
Right mindfulness
Right views
Right effort
Right intention
Right concentration
Right action
Right livelihood
Right speech
How do you think these steps could be put into practice?
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Practising the Noble Eightfold Path
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Mystery object
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Buddha statues
This is an ancient statue of the
Buddha from Sukhothai in Thailand.
It shows the Buddha meditating. One
hand touches the ground as witness
to his enlightenment. The symbol on
his head reminds Buddhists of the
enlightenment too.
This picture shows a statue of
the Buddha as he was attaining
Nirvana. It is in Wat Pho – The
Temple of the Reclining Buddha
in Bangkok, Thailand.
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Buddhist countries
Buddhism is practised across the world, including in
Nepal, Mongolia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Korea, Sri Lanka,
Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Burma, China and Japan.
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Buddhist meditation
Step 1 – mindfulness of breathing
The first step in Buddhist meditation is to calm the mind.
This can be done by focusing on the breathing.
Step 2 – insight meditation
Then you can begin to develop
insight into things as they really are
because your mind is more alert.
Step 3 – loving kindness
You can also develop compassion
and love towards all living beings.
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How important is the Buddha today?
Buddhism is a way of life.
The Buddha wanted us to
try things out for ourselves
rather than just accept what
he taught.
Without the teachings of
the Buddha we would
not know how to
achieve true happiness.
Meditation helps me to
understand how the mind
works. It helps me to
become more aware.
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How important is the Buddha today?
Write an answer to the question above.
Use these paragraph headings in your answer:
What Buddhists think about the Buddha
What I think about his teachings
The most important things I have learnt
The reason why the Buddha is important today.
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