Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion that does not believe in a god. Instead, Buddhists follow the teachings of Buddha. Buddha preached that in order to be happy and feel free, a person must let go of their worldly cares and understand that all things in the universe are connected. Good things cannot happen unless bad things also happen, so you should not be upset when something bad happens. Buddha taught people how to live happily by following the Four Noble Truths.
The Four Noble Truths are statements that Buddhists think that people should think about or do.
- Your life will have suffering
- You should not think about why things happen; they just happen.
- You should try to stop worrying.
- You should meditate.
Does Buddhism follow a god? What do Buddhists believe in?
What are the 4 things that Buddhists think that people should think about or do?
Re-write each of the Four Noble Truths in your own words.
Buddhists believe that suffering and unhappiness are only caused by anger. If you can stop yourself from being angry, then you will never be unhappy.
You can free yourself from anger by practicing patience. When someone does something or says something you don’t like, you can stop yourself from being unhappy by being patient. One way to practice being patient in by meditating and learning how to let anger flow away from you instead of filling up your mind.
There are six things that Buddhists believe that you should practice every day. They are called the six perfections, because if you learn how to do them you will live a perfect life.
- Giving
- Moral discipline
- Patience
- Effort
- Concentration
- Wisdom
Some examples of using the six perfections in your life are:
Be generous (giving) without expecting anything in return (moral discipline).
Accept any difficulties involved with other people and don’t be annoyed if they don’t thank you (patience).
Give joyfully, (effort) pay attention (concentration) thinking “if I give to this person, they may see that giving is a good thing to do”
Giving Story - Geshe Langri Tangpa
Since Buddhists have great compassion they do whatever is needed to help others and to try to make them happy.
There was once a woman who gave birth to a baby girl. The woman had already lost one baby and was frightened that her baby girl would also die.
She woman told her mother how worried she was and her mother told her that children given Geshe Langri Tangpa to be looked after would not die.
Later, when the little girl fell ill, the woman took her to see Geshe Langri Tangpa, but when she arrived she found him sitting on a throne giving a teaching to a thousand disciples.
The woman began to worry that her child would die before the end of the teaching. She knew that Geshe Langri Tangpa was a Bodhisatta and would show patience, and so she walked up to the throne and in a loud, rude voice she said 'Here, take your baby. Now you look after her!' She turned to the audience and said 'This is the father of my child', and then turned back to Geshe Langri Tangpa and pleaded softly 'Please don't let her die.'
Geshe Langri Tangpa just nodded his head. As if he really were the father of the child, he wrapped it tenderly in his robes and continued his teaching.
His disciples were very suprised and asked him 'Are you really the father of that child?' Knowing that if he were to say no, the woman would have been thought crazy and the people would have laughed at her, Geshe Langri Tangpa said that he was.
Although he was a monk, Geshe Langri Tangpa acted like a real father for the child, delighting in her and caring for her.
After some time the mother returned to see if her daughter was well.
When she saw how healthy the child was she asked Geshe Langri Tangpa if she could have her back again. The Geshe then kindly returned the girl to her mother.
When his disciples understood what had happened they said 'So you are not really the father after all!' and Geshe Langri Tangpa simply said 'No, I am not.'
Geshe Langri Tangpa acted with pure compassion, without any selfishness and knew what was the best thing to do at each time.
Summarize the story in your own words.
What Noble Truths does the woman in the story forget or ignore?
Would she have been happier if she had followed the Noble Truths?
Which of the Six Perfections does the story focus on?
What do you think is the message or moral of the story?
Can you relate this moral to your own life? How?
If you practiced the Six Perfections, would you behave differently? Why or why not?