Life of Siddhartha

• To be able to recall the story of Siddhartha & his enlightenment•To consider the impact of suffering on life

Buddha & Buddhism

• What we know about Buddhism will vary due to our previous experience and primary school learning

• We are all going to play the clapping game to see what we already know

• Be ready with a word or phrase that YOU relate to Buddhism (don’t worry if it’s not quite accurate)

• 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 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.

Why was the Buddha’s birth

special?

Siddhartha 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.

1. An old person2. An ill person3. A corpse4. A holy man

Gotama leaves homePrince Gotama left the palace and went into the city. He saw four sights that changed his life. 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.

•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.

The enlightenment of the Buddha

•Gotama became fully enlightened while meditating under a Bodhi tree.

•He experienced perfect peace, and awareness of the cause and end of all suffering. He became the Buddha, the Enlightened One.

The Buddha taught The Middle Way between luxury and self-denial.

Luxury Self-denial

Living the life of a prince with everything

Living a life deprived of all

luxuries

The Middle Way of Buddhism

Task Two

• Watch the following clip about the story of Siddhartha Gotama

• Then on your leaflet, summarise the story using the pictures as a prompt and including as many of the words from the box as you can

Task Three

• Once you’ve completed the comic strip, move onto the comprehension questions over the page

•Please write in as much detail as you can

•Consider your answers carefully before writing anything down

Finish for Homework• Buddha believed that suffering comes

about because people do not want things to change. He realised that bad things always happen and nothing lives forever. By accepting this you can stop suffering.•Think of recent news stories from around the world. List of all the different types of suffering that you have found in these reports.•Then write down who is responsible in each case. If no-one is responsible write down why it happened.

•The Buddha was born in Stockport about 2500 years ago. His father was an astronaut who was told that his son would either be a great painter or a pop idol.The difference would be if Siddhartha saw adidas trainers. Siddhartha’s father tried to keep him away from adidas trainers so that he would become a pop idol.

Plenary

• One day he left the Planet of the Apes with his servant and saw four kittens who would change his life.

• He saw a ginger kitten, a tabby kitten and a kitten with really long hair.

• He had never seen kittens like this before and it led him to ask, “Why do people suffer in life?”

• He also met a kitten with spots who told him that the answers he was looking for were not to be found in the Planet of the Apes.

• Siddhartha left the Planet of the Apes and set out to find enlightenment.

• On the way he studied under four planks of wood who taught him how to meditate.

• The four planks of wood were denying themselves pleasures in order to find the truth.

• Siddhartha gave up MTV for six years. • In the end he realised that this was

not the way so he sat under a horse and meditated to find enlightenment.

• He discovered that the reason why people suffer is…

Presentation by Wirral Grammar School, for Girls, Religious Education Department