Year 10 - Religious education
The six perfections in the Mahayana tradition: patience and energy
Buddhism: Practices
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
In this unit pupils will examine practices in Buddhism such as puja and meditation. They will understand the considerable diversity of these practices among Buddhist adherents. Following that they wil look at the role of precepts and how these look different in Therevada and Mahayna Buddhism.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to explain the six perfections: patience and energy and how these teachings can be developed.
Key Notes
- Alternative Buddhist translations of patience include 'tolerance' and 'endurance'.
- Patience includes how you treat others and accept the challenges in your own life.
- Energy refers to the commitment and effort that is put into following the Buddha's teachings.
- The energy referred to is focused on achieving Buddhahood in line with beliefs about the Buddha-nature.
Vocabulary To Learn
- Bodhisattva: an enlightened being, who postpones their final escape from samsara in order to help living beings
- Buddhahood: reaching enlightenment
- energy: refers to making a courageous effort to attain enlightenment
- patience: being able to tolerate delay or problems without becoming agitated or anxious
- the six perfections/ paramitas: ethical principles in Mahayana Buddhism to lead a being to enlightenment
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Patience is often misunderstood as merely passively tolerating suffering or discomfort.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the lesson in two key points.
Alternative Buddhist translations of patience include 'tolerance' and 'endurance'. Patience includes how you treat others and accept the challenges in your own life.
2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'Bodhisattva'
an enlightened being, who postpones their final escape from samsara in order to help living beings.
3. Correct this common mistake.
Mistake: Patience is often misunderstood as merely passively tolerating suffering or discomfort. Correction: Patience is an active quality of acceptance, equanimity, and understanding. It involves the ability to face difficulties without anger, frustration, or attachment, whilst maintaining a sense of compassion and wisdom.
More Lessons In This Unit
- Buddha rupa, artefacts and offerings Study Guide
- Celebrations: origins and significance of Wesak and Parinirvana Day Study Guide
- Ceremonies and rituals associated with death and mourning Study Guide
- Compassion and loving-kindness Study Guide
- Kamma and rebirth Study Guide
- Samatha meditation Study Guide
- The five moral precepts: do not take life or what is not given Study Guide
- The five moral precepts: senses, falsehoods or intoxicants Study Guide
- The nature and importance of diverse places of worship for Buddhists Study Guide
- The role and significance of Puja for Buddhists Study Guide
- The six perfections in the Mahayana tradition: generosity and morality Study Guide
- The six perfections in the Mahayana tradition: meditation and wisom Study Guide
- Vipassana meditation Study Guide
- Visualisation of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas Study Guide
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