Buddhism in its initial phases Unit Guide

IB World Religions SL Unit #5

Unit Description: This unit will consist of four main parts:

  1. In the first part we will look at the Buddhist answer to the question: Why are we here? As you’ll soon find out, Buddhists care very little about this question and it is one of 14 Shakyamuni refused to answer. However, we will trudge on discussing how Theravada and Mahayana Buddhists feel about creation. We will look at what it says about the values and culture of the religion.
  2. The second part of this unit will try to answer the question: What is the human condition? from a Buddhist perspective. We will look at the nature of humanity and its grounding in Buddhist sutras, from the Pali Canon to the Lotus Sutra. We will also consider the importance of suffering, impermanence and the three poisons. We will look at the ideas of the cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth; what human understanding of this is; and how it has changed between sects, cultures, and “real” and theoretical time.
  3. In the third part of this unit we will consider the question, from a Buddhist perspective of Where are we going? We will look at Buddhists ideas of reincarnation and their goal and role within society. We will closely examine, the six states of being and how they impact daily Buddhist life.
  4. In the final part of the unit we will consider the final question of How do we get there? To do this we will look at the multiple lists that lay out the multiple lessons of life for humanity. We will consider the role of the Sangha in both religion and culture and we will closely compare and contrast how this manifests itself in both Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism.

Themes & Key Ideas:Buddhist

India

Buddha

buddha

the middle way

Four Noble Truths

Theravada

Mahayana

dukkha

anicca

Readings:Norton Anthology of World Religions text:

from The Pali Cannon

from Lotus Sutra

from The Tibetan Book of the Dead

On the power of Amida’s vow by Shinran

from “Letters from a Zen Master” by Dahui

from The Pure Land

from The Foundations of Buddhism by R. Gethin

from The Blue Cliff Record

Living Religions text

Projects:

  1. Eightfold Path drawing exchange: You will have to draw one part of the Eightfold Path before passing it around the room to get an idea of what each part means and how different the path is.
  2. Meditation: After reading about the ideas and skill behind meditation, we will go to small gym and spend a period practicing meditation.
  3. Socratic Seminar: After reading a bunch of Buddhist texts, we will have a major Socratic seminar about Buddhist beliefs, practices and the world today.

Skill Development:Understand religious texts

Religious Diversity

Roles & impact of religion in historic and modern culture & society

Discussing sensitive issues