Class Three- Buddhism
23 Feb 2024
Class Three have had a very busy but positive start back to the second half of this short spring term! The highlight to the week has to be our visitor today who has really helped us to understand what it is to be a practicing Buddhist monk.
Earlier in the week we learnt that Buddhism originated in India around 2500 years ago. It is practiced most prevalently in Asia, but we also learnt that in the 2021 census in Britain, over 23000 citizens identified Buddhism as their belief.
The children learnt that the beliefs and practices of Buddhist come from the teachings of Buddha. Buddha, meaning enlightened one, was formally a prince who then choose to explore the meaning of suffering and how life is. He followed many paths to try and discover the answers, but it was through meditation he became enlightened.
Buddha taught his followers about the four noble truths and how to live by these truths through following the Eightfold path. The symbol for this is often used to represent the Buddhism faith. The Buddha described the Eightfold Path as a means to enlightenment, like a raft for crossing a river.
On Wednesday afternoon we looked at Buddhist Temples, what they are used for and other important buildings and structures in Buddhism. We watched a video about worship in a Buddhist Temple and the children were given different topics to research independently. We also learnt more about Vesak, also known as Buddha Jayanti, Buddha Purnima, and Buddha Day, which is a holiday observed by Buddhists and some Hindus. It commemorates the birth, enlightenment, and death of Siddhartha Gautama, who is commonly known as Buddha. Vesak takes place during the full moon in May. After our class discussion the children were given a quiz sheet to demonstrate what they had learnt.
Then on Friday we were joined by a Buddhist Monk. He led us in a 5 minute session. Before we began meditating he explained how to sit correctly and then what we should do whilst meditating. We then all followed his instructions and silently meditated. Afterwards he explained how he would meditate for 30 minutes at a time up to 8 times a day. There are lots of different types of meditation and not all involve sitting. Later in the morning we tried some walking meditation.
The monk brought lots of photographs to show us of the monastrey where he lives. He talked through what life is like as a monk. We then finished the session with a final meditation.
Thank you to all of you who were able to send in donations they were very well recieved by the monk.
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Buddhism is a fascinating religion, quite different to others we have studied so I am sure the children will have a lot to talk to you about at home!
Have a lovely weekend.
Miss Rogers and Mrs Lewis